Psycho bitch exes

Ah yes, MSN deals with another stereotypical female and how to avoid being her: the psycho ex-girlfriend. We all know the one. She's the one that if the guy you're dating starts talking about, it's time to hoof it. Because if you persist in dating him, you'll get to be the next psycho ex-girlfriend who used to cry and get angry and all that psycho female stuff.

The article actually has good advice, for once. It is wise not to do stuff you'll regret later when suffering from a break-up. And, alas, there are plenty of men out there who are hoping that their ex-girlfriend will show the smallest amount of emotion so that he can brag to his friends later about the bitch who went crazy over him.

But all of this is just distraction from issues that are more immediate. By spreading the stereotype that women have a unique inability to handle rejection, and that stalking and losing your temper are feminine traits, we are inclined to forget the realities. Reality is that real "psycho" behavior is the ongoing problem of domestic violence. I truly think that the stereotype that women have temper control problems and men are calm and strong just helps isolate women who are being victimized by domestic violence even more by making them feel like their relationship is a freak show, and not part of a larger problem.

Outside of that big problem, the stereotype that women cannot control themselves emotionally and men can works, again, to reinforce male authority over women. It's the same old scene of a man having to slap sense into a hysterical woman, though updated for an era that is more sensitive to issues of male violence. Now women have sense slapped into them by being called names like "psycho". I have seen some women I know put up with appalling mistreatment for fear of being labeled.

By no means am I suggesting that we just need to reverse stereotypes and say that men are out of control and women are in control, of course. Stereotypes exist to distort and conceal, and that stereotype would be no more useful than the one we have now. For one thing, it wouldn't be fair to the majority of men who don't lash out anymore than women do.