Warrior Queen Up

Today I was contemplating the term "Man Up" and its lack of meaning. Of course there's an implied meaning (courtesy of our fantastic social constructs) that accomplishes nothing but making the person being told to "man up" feel like less of a "man," whatever that means.

So I looked on urbandictionary for an official socially constructed definition. My favorite was:

strap on a pair, grow some balls, stop being such a complete and utter wuss. "I can't.. believe.. she dumped me.. again! This is awful. I've been crying so much." "Jeeeez. Man up!"

Complete with an oh-so-perfect example of how it is used in American society. This term, among others makes me shudder.

In this instance the alternative would be to "woman down," which makes zero sense in society at all and further shows the absurdity of the term "man up."

It's akin to the term "Grow a Pair" which also seems to have little meaning especially considering that the physical appearance of a man does not affect his masculinity. To excrete more testosterone might be a better way of putting it. Either way, I think this whole thing is silly.

Why can't you say something closer to "Be strong," or "Hold fast," "Don't lose hope"? The first two don't even conotate any sort of gender.

This post is not my pointless musings on the terms we use and their carried gender, rather to encourage you to think about phrases like this. And while we're at it, why don't we just say, like I did earlier to a friend, to "Warrior Queen Up."

Warrior Queen Up: to exhibit more warrior queen qualities than you were, especially when you are feeling particularly weak or less of oneself. 

Ponder on that!
Raewyn