I’ve noticed a ton of blogs out there defending and explaining the “guy’s girl”, these are all of course from self-proclaimed “guys’ girls”. When I hear a female call herself a “guy’s girl”, I basically run the other way with my arms flailing above my head. In classic ‘run there’s an ax murderer chasing me’ posture. Usually the women saying this are actually quite passively aggressively mean and spiteful, with their back-handed compliments and superior attitudes and this is just another subversive way of being hateful towards other women. The old blame game at its finest. Believe me I know that there are women you don’t like and don’t get along with. That’s normal. Women ARE bitches (men are dicks, whateves), but certainly you can find some bitch that your inner bitch responds to? I have three best friends and then a bit wider group of 3 or 4 more close friends, plus the girls I still talk to in the city I grew up in. I’m not bragging about how many friends I have, but let’s break it down. You have come in contact with thousands of women in your life through childhood, school, work, marriage, kids etc. If you can’t come up with a few with whom you have real connection, you need to have a Come-to-Jesus moment that it may be you who has issues.
If you’re the kind of girl who says “girls don’t like me, I prefer to hang out with guys because there’s no drama”. Maybe you just prefer to use your sexuality rather than your heart and mind to make connections with people; maybe you are the drama, sweetie pie. You know, the girl who has to be the center of attention, always. If she does have girlfriends she picks ones that she can ‘one up’ in every way, or they’re a strategic friendship to gain something. All of my friends are beautiful, funny and know how to own a room in their own way. I love women with big personalities, hearts and minds. They all love attention, but none are attention whores. They have no need to be the only snowflake in a rainstorm. I actually like a real bitch, she takes no shit and knows what she wants, I find that incredibly attractive. The same characteristic in a man,,, is called being a man…
In all honesty I used to say it myself when I was younger (like 19!) and still figuring myself out. “I hang out with guys, girls are such bitches”. Hearing that come out of my mouth, the irony was, at that time, lost on me. However, that in itself is actually a pretty bitchy thing to say, no??? And that’s when it clicked. Saying that doesn’t sound cool, it sounds like I’m an asshole, it’s actually a bit misogynistic. And then I heard other women say it and thought- so you don’t like me or other women, well good on ya, I’ll keep it moving then. I decided then that I wanted to be a “girl’s girl”, the kind of woman other women want to be friends with and want to be around, the kind other women can trust and relate to. I realized how cool that is.
The Universe has brought me to all of the women in my life. It was love at first sight with the BFF. Literally. My husband had been trying to set us up on a date, but I didn’t trust his intuition after some previous disasters. Then we had a party; she came with her husband and across a crowded room, our eyes met. The moment we were introduced, we both knew and have been inseparable ever since. Ten years later, the rest is history. We bought houses 2 blocks from each other and that wasn’t good enough, so we bought acre lots next door to each other and that is where we are, forever; in each other’s faces and business every day. People often say to me, “how can you stand to be that close, what if you fight?” Well,,, guess what- we DO fight, but like I tell people, “what do you think I do when I fight with my husband?” This relationship is for life, YO! Then there is my “big sister”, I chose her. I watched her from a far for awhile and knew she was for me, once I decided, it was done. I typically get what I set my mind on having. Fortuitously, she was flattered to be chosen and courted, to be sought after by another woman. Then something happened that cemented the friendship and I believe opened her eyes up to what a real female friendship should be about. Not long after we became friends, someone had the audacity, the nerve to talk foul about her in front of me. I hold loyalty high above all other qualities in a friendship; I give it completely and expect it in return. I defended her and publicly shamed those talking badly. I don’t give a crap if you talk about us, I know people do (we talk about you too) just don’t be disrespectful enough to do it where I can hear you.
The women in your lives will be your rock in many instances, as close and as deep as a husband, but very different. You will never get from a man what a woman can give. I have had my best friend hold me in her arms while I cried from my soul for my dog who passed away. My husband couldn’t give me that, he felt bad and sad too, but he didn’t “know”. Most men do not show emotions as expressively as we do. And if your best guy friend is holding you like that, I guarantee he is imagining you naked with your boob in his mouth. My husband will pet my head when I put it in his lap, but he’s still hoping for a happy ending. When I do it to the BFF, she is just thinking “Oh her face is pretty, let me pet her pretty face!” Now guys, stop being pervs and picturing us naked having a pillow fight, that only happens when you are watching porn.
You can also never have the same escapades and hijinx with a dude. You won’t get dressed up and go out and giggle drunky in a stall peeing together, or make fun of other bitches’ poor choice of front pleated pants. You’re not going to be able to complain about your cramps, borrow a tampon or check to make sure that weird bump on your lady parts is just an ingrown hair with a dude. Just like a group of guys isn’t gonna want you watching football with them while they burp, scratch, fart and rank who has the best tits out all the girls they know. Oh I know some girl out there will argue she does do that, but you aren’t really part of that club, you can’t write your name in the snow with your man stick.
Don’t get me wrong I have guy friends. I had more before I got married and the remaining closest are from that previous time. I have a best guy friend I have had most of my life. However, I don’t categorize myself as a guy’s girl, it’s not how I define myself. And once you are in a committed relationship, your significant other really should be your best guy friend and if another has that spot, you should be worried for your relationship. I mean, be honest; do you want your significant other having a female that he considers a better and closer friend than you? Someone else with a vagina that he would rather confide in, that he wants to hang out with more than, or even just as much as you? Unless she is cross-eyed and 500 pounds with halitosis, don’t lie – that shit would fuck with your head and it should.
So for all you guys’ girls out there, here is an internet hug, from a woman. We are your people. Find your tribe and love them hard and you will never regret it. You will not be 80 years old sitting on the front porch with a man who is not your husband talking about the glory days, unless you are a fag hag with a gaggle of gay friends and in that case I am totes jealy of you, lucky bitch. And remember this – If you don’t like women, then you don’t like yourself…
I love this read….so true in the purest sense. Whenever I hear a woman ( especially in my age group) say they don’t like or have girlfriends, I think surely by now you should know yourself and women better. Oh and ” CODE RED! This chick comes with crazy head drama! Run! Run away NOW!” Awe sweetheart…you aren’t a guys girl, you just don’t know how to act like a REAL friend to another woman. Why you ask? Simple. You don’t know how to not compete with your own sex. Plain and simple. You can’t connect because you are constantly judging them against yourself. This is a sad truth for you. You are missing out on what can be something very precious as having a female friend can bring.
Agree 100%!
I still gotta say, it is more work dealing with women than it does men, especially in the social setting. I’ve found that men are more approachable, welcoming, and helpful. Of course, I’m not naive enough to believe that many men don’t allow their hope for an end game to dictate their present behavior, but at least they are approachable. Maybe women have a harder time at being as welcoming as men, because as women, we know that another woman have the potential to get deeper into our soul than other men. Maybe that is scary to some. I dunno, but it’s something to think about. You are so right in advising women to find their tribe and love them hard…especially your inner tribe. Layers, just like Shrek and his onion analogy….tribes have layers. Many women dance as they circle the camp, fewer dine on the feast and drink from the well. They are all important, but for me, only the most loyal and enduring enter the tipi of trust and forever love. My tribe is united in ways that defy explanation or understanding and again, you are correct, there are no regrets.
Well I think you mean “other women”, not YOUR women… I don’t get along with all women either and I know a lot do not want to spend quality time with me. You have to find your tribe, the women who get you and vice versa. It doesn’t always happen easily, but when you are lucky enough to meet a woman you click with on a real level, be the best friend you can be because it is such a special bond between besties. BTW LOVE your writing and analogies, very smart and clever.
Exactly!
OK speaks to me on SO MANY LEVELS! I too used to utter those words, “I get along better w guys”. But that’s bc I hadn’t yet, or had found so few women I got along w. Honestly, deeply, to the core. But having found those women (you know who you are) I believe no longer that credo, but believe rather that all of us, women, whatever our personalities, are meant to hold one another up. We NEED each other. In big or small groups. Don’t write off women bc you haven’t found your tribe..she, they, are out there.
So glad you found your tribe!
Some women are naturals at making lasting friendships; some are not. We are taught by example to view each other as adversaries and competitors so I think one factor could be that it takes some time and a little maturity, having established one’s territory, mapped out some successes, to be able to step back and reject that viewpoint and embrace friendship with other women. Woman-to-woman friendships can deeper, more complex, and take more time to develop and maintain. That’s hard to attain in such a mobile, almost nomadic, society, though more than worth the commitment.
That may be true, but friendships w/ men are easier, not really because they are easier, but because a lot of it is based on sexuality and nothing deeper. It’s a superficial friendship. AND to have one deeper w/ a man would often times take years or sex (sometimes not even then). We are also wired to have that sort of relationship w/ the opposite sex. But yes, I agree w/ your points, it is just so worth it. And when you find the right woman, it won’t be hard if YOU aren’t making it hard. Sometimes women get in their OWN way of having women friends. Basically any real relationship w/ any other human being is work, the only easy relationship I have is w/ my dog… 😉