Devil's Bargain

[Veronica75]

Here is a provacative theoratical question for the members here who identify as female and wish they were born as girls:

If you could wake up tomorrow morning as a genetic woman, with exactly the physical appearance you would desire for yourself, but you had to live the rest of your life in a mysogynist place such as rural Eastern Europe or elsewhere in the second or third world where women lack the rights and respect they are given in the USA, would you?

[Kerigirl2009]

No I value my rights as a human more so.

[Loni]

why would any sane soul, want to live in a place were just a thought can get you killed??:eek:

given your question...i would stay a male and contune to live in the U.S.A.:usa:

[sherri52]

No: I like my freedom and would rather be seen as a man in a dress than to live in a third world country with no rights.

[carolinoakland]

Personally I think this life is my karma for that previous life of living in mysogny... I'll be good now, put me back!!!!

[Staci G]

No: I like my freedom and would rather be seen as a man in a dress than to live in a third world country with no rights.

:iagree: Ditto baby. I'd rather be a free man in a dress

[Joni Marie Cruz]

Only if I can get a mini-burkha to wear with my black patent leather lace-up, orthopedic, CFMPs.

Seriously, no, I would not want to live in any country or culture that devalues women. Please see my signature line below.

Agghhh! What's that little blue winkyface icon doing there? I didn't click on it...I hate those things.

Hugs...Joni Mari

[Kate Simmons]

Sometimes in many ways, being a genetic woman can out weigh the potential disadvantages. Any accomplished woman will utilize customs to her advantage because what happens behind closed doors is known only to the couple and/or family.:)

[Schatten Lupus]

Only if it included a way out. I enjoy my freedom of thought and speech to much to forfiet to a society that would see me as being lower than what I'll be seen as when I begin my transition. And, all my college time would be for nothing.

[Joni Marie Cruz]

So not being able to leave the house without a male family member escorting you, not being able to drive a car, not being able to attend school, not being able to choose whom you will marry, not being able to obtain a divorce even if you're abused although your husband can divorce you simply by stating that he is no longer married to you, not being able to defend yourself against a charge of adultery that you can be put to death for, not being able to vote, being treated like chattel, being relegated to the status of some sort of second class citizen is somehow offset by what goes on in the bedroom? Really? What an interesting perspective.

-Joni Mari



Sometimes in many ways, being a genetic woman can out weigh the potential disadvantages. Any accomplished woman will utilize customs to her advantage because what happens behind closed doors is known only to the couple and/or family.:)

[sempervirens]

So not being able to leave the house without a male family member escorting you, not being able to drive a car, not being able to attend school, not being able to choose whom you will marry...
I think we're giving rural Eastern Europe a pretty bad name here, lol...

It would depend on the country and the extent of the inequality. Many second and third world countries do afford their citizens, both male and female, quite a few rights. There are four countries in the Middle-East in which women can't vote; everywhere else in the world where they hold elections, women can both vote and hold office. The quality of life, on the other hand, isn't so hot.

I think it's worth pointing out that rape is much more prevent in some countries (esp. Iraq and Afganistan), as is genital mutilation (e.g. Mali).

[Joni Marie Cruz]

Okay, so I was exaggerating for the purpose of making a point. A bit. I didn't mean to impute that all the things I mentioned apply to any one country or society in particular, however many of them are ingrained both socially and legally in several countries. What I was trying to say is that familial dynamics don't override culture and law.

Hugs...Joni Marie

[ReineD]

Sometimes in many ways, being a genetic woman can out weigh the potential disadvantages. Any accomplished woman will utilize customs to her advantage because what happens behind closed doors is known only to the couple and/or family.:)

It is difficult to use one's feminine wiles for survival when there is female infanticide (http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html), female genital mutilation (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/index.html), female murders in the name of honor (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA33/020/1999/en/9b4f6ae3-e063-11dd-9086-4d51a30f9335/asa330201999en.html), and severely limited female human rights (http://freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=384&key=164&parent=15&report=76), to name a few.

[Sweet Jane]

why would i swap one pain for another potentially more horrific pain?.....

[Sally2005]

I doesn't seem like a good deal. We already have freedom and can express our feminine side and we can even go all the way if we really want....'no deal!'.

[Rebecca Jayne]

Sounds like a chapter from "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" or as Flip Wilson use to say "the Devil made me do it." :eek:

[Veronica75]

Thanks for the (overwhelmingly "no") responses and the insightful comments.

Certainly most Americans who are used to freedom wouldn't want to live in the most extreme Muslim countries as males, let alone females. Certainly there is a spectrum of situations where females are relegated to second class, and I wonder where that line is for most people where the rewards of being genetically female would outweight the limitations of being so. Obviously the places that practically enslave women wouldn't be attractive, but there are still places in the world where women "have their place" and are subject to everyday, small bits of belittlement. So maybe the question should have been, what level of mysogyny would you be willing to endure?

Thanks again!

[SuzanneBender]

No flipping way. Freedom and equality is more important to me than anything.

[vikki2020]

No,No,No! That would seriously interfere with a lot of things I would want to do if I were a full time girl! We can wake up someday as the girl we want to be, just takes a little work. OK, a lot of work!:)

[giuseppina]

I don't wish to be a female, bit it seems to me that living in a misogynistic society is the greater of two evils by a wide margin regardless of gender. :sad:

I would be looking for an escape, and if I had a wife and family, I'd try to persuade them to join me rather than abandoning them.

[Alice Torn]

Nope! I'd rather be called a linebacker, or tight end in a dress, than be a female in those oppressive nations. I heard that China has tens of millions more single males, than females, because so many baby girls were killed, due to the one child policy there. Males were preferred. A social disaster for millions of Chinese bachelors! Can you imagine being a single lady there? There would be a long waiting list of lonely guys after you! I thought it was bad for bachelors here!

[KerryLynn]

I'll be a free man but only charge by the hour maybe rent to own ;)