Strong Women

• What is it about strong women that so intimidates people of both genders?
• Why are women who aggressively and passionately pursue their dreams and desires so frequently characterized as unfeminine, bitches, castrating man-haters, and frigid?
• Why do so many organizational constructs (whether they be regligious, polticial, or capitalistic) struggle with the idea of sharing power and leadership with smart, grounded, present women?
• Why do so many able, competent, brilliant women feel they need to purposefully "dumb themselves down" in order to be widely accepted?
• Why do we teach women and young girls to see other capable women as competition?
• Why can't Muslim women lead prayers?
• Why can't Catholic women become priests?
• Why can't an orthodox Jewish man touch his wife when she is mensturating?
• Why does it seem like a situational oxymoron to talk about hiking boots and stilletos in the same breathe?
• Why are stay-at-home mothers shunned for not having "real careers"?
• Why are little girls told they can't do math?
• Why does everyone assume that Carly Fiorino's departure from HP had something to do with her gender?
• Why do most people, upon reading my resume, assume I'm a man?
• Why is it that marriages between two individuals where the man makes less than the woman statistically more likely to fail than the reverse equation?
• Why is it assumed that the woman will change her name or at the very least hypenate?
• Why do most children have their father's name?
• Why hasn't the medical industry figured out a way to make the menopausal process more comfortable but we have 3 or 4 drugs to help old farts get it up?
• Why are women less likely to negotiate their salaries?
• Why are most culinary school graduates men?
• Why are only 1/3 of all MBA graudates women?
• Why do men feel the need to ask me if I need help everytime I use the free weights in the gym?
• Why do countries like China and India continue to practice infanticide against baby girls even when they currently face signficant gender inbalances?
• Why are the boys I go camping with always surprised to learn that I can carry just as much weight as them and still keep up?
• Why are women of color more likely to succeed than their male counterparts?
• Why did nearly all of the media reports about Martha Stewart mention the 20 lbs she lost in prison and her new svelte size 12 body?
• Why haven't we had a female president yet?
• Why did Billy Graham (not the pastor) cry when I beat him at arm wrestling in the 3rd grade?
• Why does this country have such horrible paternity leave policies?
• Why are sexually experienced women considered undesirable?
• Why do men want (as the rapper Ludacris so poetically phrased) "a lady on my arm and a freak in the bed?"
• Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what's on the other side?