4 myths that keep women from thriving

What female myths still exist today? Let’s talk about four of them that are holding back women.

Progress is being made, but many misconceptions about women remain

If you go back a hundred years, or even fifty, you’ll find many different attitudes than we see today. That covers all kinds of topics, such as gay marriage or marijuana legalization.

Just twenty years ago, gay marriage was a hot-button topic. Now, after it has been legal for several years, society has not collapsed. God has not struck us all down with lightning bolts as so many fire-and-brimstone preachers predicted.

Society’s attitude regarding women has changed as well. In the past, men wanted women to pop out babies. They didn’t want them to have careers outside the home. Men wanted them to be housewives and mothers, look pretty, and remain subservient to the men’s needs.

Society has mostly gotten away from these views, or at least Western society has. However, there are still some myths regarding women that we collectively perpetuate that we need to get rid of for good.

Let’s look at some of those for a moment.

1. Myths: Women are bad drivers

There are all kinds of destructive driving behaviors, such as:

• Reckless driving
• Talking on the phone or texting while driving
• Drinking or ingesting drugs and then driving

The penalty for these different activities varies according to the state in which you behaved that way. For instance, in Texas, reckless driving is a misdemeanor that can get you thirty days in jail in more egregious cases.

Whatever the poor driving behavior in which someone engages, no scientific study has ever determined that women are worse drivers than men. There has never been any proof that women allow things to distract them more easily, drink or do drugs and hop behind the wheel more than men do, or that they speed more than men.

There used to be plenty of “crazy woman driver” jokes, but thankfully, we’re starting to get away from that idea.

2. Women cannot hold public office

Here’s another shocking female myth that a lot of people believe. There has also been an idea for many years that a woman would not do well holding public office or any high-ranking business position. During Hillary Clinton’s presidential run in 2016, some voters admitted that:

• They did not vote for her because she was a woman
• They looked at her gender more than her stances or qualifications

Trump captured his presidency through the Electoral College. However, while many progressives felt disheartened by what had occurred, that year’s results did yield a moral victory. Clinton won the popular vote, which would have been unthinkable half a century before.

Now, Biden brings Kamala Harris to the White House as his vice president. She’s arguably the most powerful woman in this country’s history, and a woman of color, no less. That’s undeniable progress, though expect conservatives to critique her performance in office harshly based solely on her gender.

3. Women on their periods get cranky or irrational

There’s also an ongoing female myth that women on their periods get irrational, demanding, or have sudden mood swings while on their periods. Many men have claimed this, and some sincerely believe it.

It’s true that women have tremendous hormonal changes that happen in their bodies during this time. However, that does not mean they become irrational or unhinged once a month.

There are some things that men will never get to experience. Ovulation and childbirth are two of them. These are two uniquely female experiences, and because a man will never go through them, he should refrain from speaking ill of things that he can only comprehend from an outsider’s perspective.

If men were to get cramps, feel bloated, etc., once each month, they would absolutely think about the situation differently.

4. More female myths: Women want men to catcall them

There is also still an ongoing problem with some men choosing to catcall or otherwise harass women when they walk down the street or when they’re on public transportation. This makes many women uncomfortable or sometimes even frightens them.

If you ask a man why he engages in this behavior, he might say that he’s paying a woman a compliment. Some might also say that if a woman shows more skin, it means she wants attention.

This is the same as a detective in a rape investigation asking the woman what she was wearing when it happened. It’s the idea that what happened was her fault, or she was somehow asking for it.

Women ought to be able to clothe themselves however they want without men giving them unwanted attention. They don’t appreciate hooting and leering, regardless of what they have on.

Looking for more female myths? Here are the top misconceptions about fertility.