Proverbial Bits

“Women who behave rarely make history.” I’ve loved this bumper sticker for as long as I’ve known about it. I may even have a gym t-shirt with the slogan on it. For the first time, however, I’m hearing it with a twist and ambivalence that I’ve not felt here before. 

One, there seems to be an assumption that women want to make “his-story.” Two, listeners presume that women need or want to mis-behave according to terms set by us or “others.” I know it’s a bumper-sticker, and I know those are like poetry. Never good to over-analyze, in other words. But I find myself in a position to realize that a woman’s “way” contradicts both of the half-truths that made this so amusing for me in previous laughs about it. 

Many women I know have little interest in contributing to “history,” per se.  Finding oneself in the historical record is not necessarily a great achievement. Many also find “behaving” much less costly than “mis-behaving.” Many neither need nor want to mis-behave in these terms. Simply to “-have” would be sufficient, without assessment of appropriate-ness or “fit.”

Something to think about.

But not too much, of course. It’s only a freakin’ bumper-sticker.