A guide to women: Cheryl answers common questions
After reading Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, I decided a guide to women should also exist. Most of the people I’ve talked to — men and women — agree women are harder to understand than men.
I asked a few guys what it was about women that didn’t make sense. I was given mixed responses. One of the people I asked was Steve, a computer engineering major. He compared understanding women to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He said there are so many things about women that are hard to understand that they can be tied to the number 42.
Of course, this made no sense to me whatsoever. But for now, I’ll humor him. Apparently, 42 is what doesn’t make sense about women. 42 what? The 42 pairs of shoes in her closet? The 42 pounds she wants to lose even though she doesn’t need to? The 42 inches tall she was at the age of 6? The 42 guys whose hearts she has brutally broken, or even the 42 bodies in her basement?
If 42 really is all that doesn’t make sense about women, then why are men still so confused by them? Men think they’ve got it figured out so well they can easily date 42 women at once.
But seriously, what happens in that very dangerous territory known as the female psyche where many who venture in do not return with their sanity intact? As someone who has lived 23 years as a female, I will undertake some of the questions I encountered.
Why do women get mad when men don’t do things exactly how they want them?
I honestly don’t know, and I definitely don’t think it’s fair.
However, the general rule is in order to please a woman, you must be able to read her mind and know exactly what she wants and yet still not understand her and find her mysterious. Impossible? Definitely. So on this one, guys are off the hook. Women need to revamp their psyches.
Why do women wear revealing clothes and then get offended when men look?
Women mainly dress for other women rather than for men. It makes more sense to do that. Men don’t notice what they wear. Other women do. So dressing up for men is completely pointless.
Also, many women don’t understand just how much their clothes affect the other sex. So when a man is caught staring at a woman wearing a low cut top or a short skirt, she thinks, “I’m just a sex object to him! I want him to see me as a person.”
So men, if you look, be as discrete as possible. Get to know her and tell her what you like about her personality. She will love that. And above all, don’t make derogatory sexual comments about women. If you would not want to hear someone say it about your mother or sister, don’t say it around any female.
Why do women turn down nice men to go out with jerks?
If I lost a molecule of my body mass every time I heard that question, no two of them would be left stuck together.
The answer is fairly simple, though. Women have this notion nice guys aren’t exciting and jerks are. Jerks often seem more confident than nice men. Jerks are a challenge. Maybe, if the woman does all the right things, the jerk will change and treat her right.
The nice guy already treats her right, so he’s not a challenge. So should nice guys start acting like jerks? Of course not. If a woman is smart, she’ll see the jerk for what he is and not date him.
But smart women like a challenge, too. They want someone who is confident, doesn’t need them in order to have a life, has some spunk and doesn’t try too hard. You can be nice and still have those qualities.
Don’t call her every night. Do things that don’t involve her sometimes. Engage in some lighthearted banter with her. That way, 42 just might start to make sense and you’ll have a love life you understand a bit too.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum