Some things I’m learning about girls

There Are 17 Responses So Far. »

1. Comment by Kevin on 23 November 2008 at 12:21 pm:

   Never, ever try to inject too much logic or reason into an argument with a female, especially one that happens to be your girlfriend; it’s a recipe for disaster.

2. Comment by Joshua on 23 November 2008 at 12:24 pm:

   That comment is a recipe for disaster :)

3. Comment by female investment banker in NYC on 23 November 2008 at 12:33 pm:

   as a woman, i am deeply offended by this chauvinistic and conservative post. i don’t know you, but are you related to sarah palin?

4. Comment by Kevin on 23 November 2008 at 1:33 pm:

   This post is a recipe for disaster.

5. Comment by Joshua on 23 November 2008 at 2:35 pm:

   Dear female investment banker,

   Please calm down. I don’t think you’re taking this in the spirit it was intended. The women staying with me actually wrote about 85% of the bullets. It wasn’t intended to be chauvinistic, but I have learned that women consider far more things when getting ready to go out than I ever imagined. If anything, the experience has made me more appreciative of how much thought and effort goes into it.

   Sorry to have offended you. Please do check back with us, and give us hell whenever you think we’ve got it coming.

6. Comment by looks hot in whatever, and is smarter than you too :) on 23 November 2008 at 3:55 pm:

   • Girls have different length jeans because they need to be longer if they are wearing heels and if they are something called “skinny jeans” they cant wear tennis shoes with them. It’s much more complicated than I ever imagined.

   This is true, and I would imagine that men also consider the length of whatever pants they are wearing in relation to their shoes? Isn’t that why men can buy their pants with a specific waist/length? Or no?

   • The girls staying with me packed a combined 9 shoes for the weekend.

   I agree that is a bit excessive. If it were me I’d have brought a pair of Uggs to wear during the day, and a pair of heels or cute boots to wear out.

   • The girls staying with me dont dry their jeans because they shrink, and if they were even a tiny bit smaller they couldn’t get their asses into them. There are evidently also length issues.

   Yes, have you never done laundry before?

   • You aren’t supposed to wear brown and black together.

   I don’t agree with this. This is one of those rules that people take far too literally. I think brown and black can look good together depending. And as I will echo a few more times, if a girl is hot, she looks hot in pretty much anything, so there’s really no need to follow strange rules such as this.

   • Shirts can be too dark for really dark jeans.

   Again, hotness transcends small details like this. So this is something I never think about.

   • A lot of fights can be avoided if I say “OK” or “I agree” instead of trying to interject reason into the conversation.

   I guess it depends on the topic, but I hope you don’t do that if you are talking about something important (I know you don’t!). I can understand why you would say that when discussing unimportant topics like brown and black and the darkness of jeans.

   • Maternity leave is sweet.

   I shudder to think of the horrors of pregnancy and the birthing process, which I hopefully will never go through. I think a few weeks off of work to recover is more than fair, and definitely not overly generous.

   • Girls judge other women about twenty thousand times more harshly than men judge women or other men.

   This is unfortunate. I like to spend my time hitting on guys, hooking up with them, and then making fun of them with my friends. That is so much more fun than waging girl-wars and spending the night huddled together with my girlfriends and talking about how someone is wearing dark jeans with a black top and a brown purse. (Kidding about the hooking up/making fun of guys part – mostly.)

   • The type of pockets a girls jacket has can determine whether she wears a purse and what kind she takes.

   Again, hotness transcends bizarre fashion rules. I also think confidence goes a long way, so rather than self imposing all of these wardrobe guidelines and restrictions, we should train the world to see us as the definition of gorgeous no matter what we are wearing! That’s what I am trying to do anyway.

   • Girls carry bandaids with them. Erin said “sometimes I wear four on my heels.”

   I am not a fan of wearing something that is not comfortable. Also, nothing is more annoying than going out with girls who are just complaining all the time about their feet hurting and not wanting to walk anywhere. I had to endure this on Halloween when my friend dressed up as a sexy nurse with tall white platform boots on. I have never understood why girls wear shoes that aren’t comfortable and what that is meant to accomplish! Just wear something you feel good in that you can walk around, dance, be yourself, and not be in pain the whole night for the purpose of impressing….girls? guys? Your friends? It just doesn’t make sense!

   Conclusion: Regarding this whole guys trying to “figure us out” thing, I think it is harmful that women create this world of mysteries that we try to make men decipher. I believe it makes us appear shallow and overly concerned with silly things that are of no consequence, and thus feeds into the larger problem in this country of men being the decision-makers, leaders, and in general more successful than women in most every way. So, when we (women) spend so much time worrying about fashion and trying to explain complicated, self-imposed, and bizarre rules, we make ourselves look ridiculous! I wish we could all just realize it is really very simple – it is best just to wear something you like and be comfortable and confident. And we should spend our time trying to explain more important things to men, like how to properly run this country would be a great place to start!

7. Comment by Amanda on 23 November 2008 at 9:33 pm:

   It is also appropriate for girls to use the pockets of male friends for keys, cameras and cell phones. However, no male friend should ever have to carry lip gloss in his pockets.

8. Comment by Segen on 24 November 2008 at 12:17 am:

   Josh…Didn’t you pick up on some of these things from living with your girlfriend? I’m surprised you just learned about eyelash curlers or not drying a pair of jeans in the dryer to help maintain their size.

   And FYI: in Germany, men can take maternity leave, too. Nice, aye?

9. Comment by Joshua on 24 November 2008 at 9:14 am:

   I think there is a manlaw about not carrying lipgloss

10. Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 24 November 2008 at 10:30 am:

    I second Segen’s comment. A lot of this is basic stuff that I have learned and I have never lived with a girl. You must not pay much attention to your gal.

11. Comment by Joshua on 24 November 2008 at 11:00 am:

    I don’t hang out in the bathroom when she’s getting ready, champ :)

    The eyelash curler thing I’ve seen before, but didn’t pay a lot of attention to. The not drying jeans thing took me totally by surprise.

12. Comment by Melissa on 24 November 2008 at 12:26 pm:

    To give Josh some credit, I want to point out that I DO dry my jeans and I DON’T use an eyelash curler.

13. Comment by Joshua on 24 November 2008 at 12:35 pm:

    My mom uses the terrifying eyelash curler. It’s really frightening to watch someone use that! Same with the little eyeliner pens.

    Katie and Erin leave for Boston today. We will really miss them!

14. Comment by Todd on 24 November 2008 at 7:22 pm:

    I’m not sure what it says about me that I knew the stuff about girls but didn’t know the lip gloss rule for guys :)

    Looks hot – that was a cool post. Regarding the length and shrinkage of men’s jeans: Men are generally aware that drying shrinks the clothes, but this fact isn’t usually on their minds because a small change in the size of the clothing won’t usually make much difference in how it fits. Men don’t often wear things that can be barely fit in to. There is a lot less variance in the shapes and sizes of shoes for men, too, so if they choose jeans that fit well with one pair of shoes, chances are they’ll fit well with all their other shoes, too.

    I can also echo the sentiments of Joshua and Looks Hot – while I question the utility of a few of the things many women do, in general, I appreciate the effort all of you make. When I was in high school, I used to make fun of women for some of the things on this list, but when I had first had a girlfriend and watched her transform in front of my eyes over the span of an hour or so, I quickly changed my mind. It is also always nice to realize that this effort is at least partially aimed at making me happy. I know that’s usually not the main motivation, but it’s at least a factor, and it makes me happy to think about and makes me feel more loved.

15. Comment by JayBandit on 25 November 2008 at 5:54 pm:

    Josh,

    you totally missed the areas of tanning and lotions. My lady-friend goes through enough lotion to moisturize a small village on a weekly basis…it’s crazy. However, she does have the softest skin…so perhaps it is a good idea.

16. Comment by Sarah on 6 December 2008 at 7:16 pm:

    If you are truly trying to learn things about women, perhaps you should start by recognizing that women are unique individuals, who have more important concerns than fashion rules or beauty supplies. If you really want to learn about women, find out about our goals, our passions, our inspirations, our accomplishments, our fears, and our quirks. A better title for your list would be: ‘Some things I’ve learned about fashion’, or ‘Some things I’ve learned from 2 of my girlfriends’. Only one or two of your bullet points even remotely apply to myself and many other women. I would never presume to make a list encompassing characteristics of the men in my life; thankfully, my male friends have distinct personalities and interests, so they would all need their own lists!

17. Comment by Joshua on 7 December 2008 at 8:50 am:

    That’s a good point Sarah, though an obvious one. It was intended as a lighthearted post, and I thought titling it as I did made it seem a little more playful. But more precision would have improved it.

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