#GirlsShitToo

Nurtured Vulnerability

Dallas Delaney @DallasDelaney

New video uploaded! On how women are made into vulnerable beings by society. Check it. #NurturedVulnerability #GirlsShitToo

Nurtured Vulnerability

Published on February 7, 2015

Youtube Video Transcript:

Sup, dudes? Dallas here, with Girls Shit—I mean, Girls Drool Too.

I just want to thank all of my viewers, and Adree too, for giving me shit for not wanting to continue with this project.

Adree's talk about chivalry just made me think about the many ways that girls are nurtured into being vulnerable, beyond how we're taught to think we need the door held open for us.

Vulnerability is one of the key factors of femininity. Many people think that females are inherently vulnerable. Our vulnerability is viewed as attractive.

And these people also think that men should be there to cater to our vulnerability. They hold the door open for us. They protect us by walking nearest to the street when they walk with us. They offer us their own coats when we are cold, and we are usually cold because we're wearing dresses. They offer us their arms for balance, and we are usually imbalanced because we're wearing heels.

Seems nice, right?

Wrong.

Why do you think they say, "Who wears the pants in this relationship?" Because pants represent strength. They are associated with dominance.

Dresses, on the other hand, represent vulnerability, as do heels. I mean, they literally make us more vulnerable.

I understand why girls wear these things. There was a point when I wore them, too. Some girls claim they make them feel free. But I wonder if this "freedom" is just another form of oppression.

I remember learning about the practice of foot binding in my history class last year. In China, it was once common to break little girls' feet and to bind them with silk cloths in an effort to shape them. These girls were literally handicapped by those who were meant to care for them. The sight of a woman stumbling around on her bound feet was supposed to be erotic or something, because the sight of the woman's obvious vulnerability was supposed to make any man observing her feel super protective and manly and macho.

So part of me just wonders if we are just binding ourselves, in a way, when we wear things like heels and dresses. I know some women think that wearing these things is a sign of their freedom and expression, that some of us feel empowered by them. But is this a false sense of empowerment? Some women in China truly thought that foot binding made them beautiful, after all.

I'm not trying to make a vlog that sounds like my "Nail Polish Sucks" vlog. I know that was a bad vlog with bad ideas. With this vlog, I'm trying to be honest and critical. I hope you'll all try to converse with me about this instead of attacking me.