From
The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense (published in 1980):
Children are often highly skilled in verbal confrontations with their parents, especially in Blamer Mode. Male children hone their skills and increase them as they grow older. Female children are somewhat more likely to accomplish what they want by virtue of their "adorableness," and to rely on their dimples and curls and sitting in people's laps being cute. In the process they forget any verbal skills they might otherwise have acquired, and when they cease to be adorable and are too big to climb into laps anymore, they are utterly vulnerable. If a woman is able to convince a man that she is cute and adorable, it may work. But it is unlikely to work on anyone except a man with whom she is living in an intimate relationship of some kind. Beating your cute little fists against the hairy chest of your boss, your professor, your male colleagues, and so on, WILL NOT WORK. That may be why systems of this kind are ordinarily recommended to women who prefer to remain within the confines of the home; and it shows great good sense on the part of those who devise them that they see this and state it quite frankly in their books, articles, and lectures.
a) This is so far from my own childhood experience that I'm not entirely sure what to say.
b) But I wanted to beat my cute little fists against the hairy chests of the male oppressors in my life! :( I like how there isn't even the option of the boss or the professor being female.
c) FEMALES HAVE NO VERBAL SKILLZ, YO. THIS IS BECAUSE WE ARE TOO BUSY WORKING ON OUR WILES TO, YOU KNOW, LEARN HOW TO SPEAK. OR SOMETHING.
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timeasmymeasure
