#and I think the kicker with stereotyping here is that women can be irresponsible and men can be cynical

[francesderwent]

let's get back to the classic catefrankie blogging we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted by my gauche airing of my personal crisis

so I think actually it's easier to talk about this coming at it negatively, because I think what we're circling around is less some inherent strength of masculinity or femininity as they were meant to be, and more some particular flaw that masculinity or femininity are prone to falling into. so I think for men it is irresponsibility - the irresponsibility of Adam standing by while Eve is tempted and threatened by the serpent, passively going along with her sin and then blaming her for it, instead of protecting her like he should have. the irresponsibility of perpetual-adolescent young men, of absent fathers, of detached husbands. but for women, what's crystalized for me over the last couple days is I think it is cynicism: the cynicism of Eve looking at her perfect situation in Eden and thinking that it can't be trusted and can't be relied upon to continue, so she has to take matters into her own hands. the willingness to quickly believe the worst, even of the God who loves her and walks with her in the garden. the cynicism of disappointed spinsters, of bitter mothers, of controlling wives. so men must work against their tendency by taking up responsibility, by purposely setting down roots and sticking to their commitments, making the choice to live for something other than power and pleasure. and women have to work against their tendency by clinging to the goodness that they find and believing in it, resisting the instinct to ferret out flaws and dwell on them broodily.

#everything I'm saying about women I am saying looking myself dead in the eye in the mirror #and I think the kicker with stereotyping here is that women can be irresponsible and men can be cynical #but a cynical man is going to have a heck of a time out-cynicism-ing a woman. #the worst atheistic philosopher barely sinks to the level of your average twenty-something girl on tumblr #and a girl can be irresponsible but they have to work twice as hard to be as irresponsible as your average college dude #cate writes