Strong women.

So I have spent today meditating and de-programing my negative thoughts. I think I needed a little tune up.
Then I got this little quote on G+ about the strong women. I summed up my feeling about what strength and femininity.
A have known many ballsy, ambitious tough women. I admire them a lot. Yet these women also suffer greatly. Sometimes because they are doing a "man's" job, or not. They feel that if they are vulnerable, open or even forgiving then they are "less".
This desire to be strong at all costs, that they must be tougher, stronger and together often means they damage themselves inside and out.
While this kind of strength has a place and I prefer open, direct and honest women; I feel for them.
I wish they could see and learn that being soft takes a courage and strength. That their bodies and emotions are not to be feared. That crying isn't about manipulating people (some girlie girls do and ya know it) any more than laughing is. That it is okay to forgive, exhale and let go. That getting mad, and staying mad is an expression of pain. While it might mask your vulnerability it doesn't fix anything it only causes more pain.
I understand this. In some ways I am still working on it, but I can see now how gentleness takes courage and inner strength, how we are inhaling and exhaling, and how both are important for both genders to grow. Sometimes women need to be tough, to protect the ones they love, even if it is from themselves. Woman can not be the carpet people wipe their feet on, they must be partners building the world, different but equal. They must express themselves clearly and well rather than deal in mind games and politics to get what they want. It is easy when everything still seems like a fight, at work, at school and at play to be respected and treat, not as one of the boys but as a whole person, not a walking baby-maker, pair of tits, sock-washer, whore, mother or property, not to be angry; not to fight.
While their is so much "out there" that can seem to want to destroy you as a whole person, if you can not let the ball-buster guard down for a minute, they have already won.
If you mellow out fixing car engines, or geeking out in a lab, running and playing with dogs, that is fine with me. Just remember it is okay not to be in control sometimes, it is okay to cry at commercials and not know why. It is okay to love someone and say it without knowing how it will turn out. It is okay to just be soft sometimes. I grant you permission and space to be a whole person.
I have seen where that closedness, that shut-down, that angry bitter place leads. It leaves you alone, with all the negative ideas about people and the world, and especially yourself in a cycle of pain and disappointment.
There are people out there who get it. There are men who are graced with so much beingness that they will freely grant you the same. Men are not some race of thugs who "only want one thing".
They are people. There might be some who have been taught that "only this is woman/female/girl" but even they can learn. Being as closedminded as they are doesn't help, it only hinders us all.
While there is work to be done on respect for women everywhere from respecting dominantly female jobs with better pay and kudos, to standing up against the derogatory De-humanizing speech about and to women. Lets all try and gift each other space for a whole person.