Reply #84: Not exactly...

[Misunderestimator]

Yes, I'm in my early 40s, but this dynamic I experienced this year brought to light for me a lot of other experiences that I have had in the past. Some of which I attributed to having been an opera singer, and the natural competition that comes with that from other women... fine, that's explainable. But others not so much. Early in my life, I had a horrible experience with a group of five friends who turned on me and gossiped about me and played with and betrayed my feelings. Then later in college, again, explainable since it was a music conservatory, therefore competitive. Then fast-forward to this past year, and it's not so explainable any longer as these were women I hardly knew and who hardly knew me.

I'm not saying that women are awful, just that in some cases they can be. And maybe it's just that it's so much more important that we stick up for eachother because we do have so much ground to cover, that it seems more obvious when we don't.

Yeah, maybe I'm a little down on the whole thing right now because of my recent experience. And yeah, men do have pissing contests, but the putting down eachother is so different than what we do when we put eachother down it seems.

I don't discount all the wonderful women I've known in my life who are confident and secure and loving and kind who don't fit this particular stereotype. And I appreciate you reminding me that I shouldn't. And I suppose in the end that women's brand of pettiness towards other women is less destructive in the end than men's. It's still an interesting topic to consider. Forgetting whether or not men do this to one another, why do we do this to eachother?

(And I know it's not an attack... I love you too, L :hug:)