IT is probably of no surprise at all that, once again, women have been shown to be the more capable and intelligent sex. A recent study has discovered that, at the age of 50, women’s memories are better than that of their male counterparts. While most women don’t need scientists to tell us that that we consistently out-perform our ‘not-so-better halves’ it does leave a nice warm fuzzy feeling when research confirms what we’ve known all along. Haha bang, bang – there goes another nail into the coffin of the male ego!
So what else lies in this rapidly filling coffin? Well, let’s see. It actually starts not long after birth – boys are slower to walk and talk than girls and find it more difficult to sit quietly and listen to the teacher once they make it to Kindergarten. Instead, they are easily distracted by sticks and rulers that they turn into guns, and take far more pleasure in knocking down their wooden brick castles than turning them into secure homes for Ken and Action Man. As boys get older, girls continue to fare better at school as the male of the species daydreams about scoring goals in the lunch time footie games or worries about whether or not he’s made it into the Under 11 team for the Saturday fixture against Naf United.
By the time he reaches adolescence and teenager-hood the male is already threatened by his increasingly intelligent and high performing female peers. Boys are being left behind not only academically, but also in terms of self-esteem, confidence and ambition. So what does the male do in defence of this? Well he decides to turn the situation into a life-style choice and opts for the ‘it’s not cool to learn’ approach thereby suggesting that his failure to compete with the girls is due to his choice not to, rather than the fact he would be beaten hands down and made to look extremely foolish if he were to even dream of trying. A generation ago, this newly identified male ‘destined to fail’ attitude was regarded as just a phase but, unfortunately, it is now firmly embedded in the English young male psyche (unless he has been lucky enough to attend an all boys public school where the only competition at adolescent level is to see who can be first to kiss a girl and reach 3rd base!)
Once men reach adulthood and take on the responsibility of a wife and family yet more obstacles lie in their path to male supremacy. Wives now earn the same, if not more, than their spouses and are competent when juggling a full time career, child-rearing and homemaking, while the husband can just about manage the day-job. Despite all the talk about the ‘new man’ some years ago, working women still do most of the housework and are nearly totally responsible for anything to do with the children. Women are so good at multi-tasking because they have so much practice doing it and, of course, practice makes perfect!
Another area where women have been knocking nails into male ego coffins is that of driving. Women have statistically proven that they are far better behind the wheel of a car than their male counterparts, not least because they don’t regard their vehicle as an extension of their genitalia. Women drivers are more careful, courteous and cautious than men, which is why discerning insurance companies charge us far less as we are a considerably lower risk. It’s a shame that this doesn’t happen in Thailand as well, as I am sure females in the Land of Smiles are also much more competent behind the wheel than any of those mad men who drive their pick-ups up your back bumper as though they were partaking in a particularly mindless episode of Whacky Races!

And don’t think that women proving to be more able than men is anything new. It has only recently come to light that American women were busy flying fighter planes during WW II. They were not allowed in combat but were members of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots group (WASP) who transported military personnel, shuttled planes from factories to bases, and test-flew planes that had been repaired. With women taking on these practical tasks, more men were able to fly in combat situations. However, in typically male fashion, once the war was over these women were sent home without any recognition of what they had done until 1977 when the women were recognized as military personnel and given partial veterans benefits. Congress is only now awarding these brave and competent ladies the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour, but we already know that, in a man’s world, only men can be heroes!
It’s a shame that, despite being the more intelligent sex, women are still not seen in greater numbers in the higher echelons of business or politics but, hang on a minute, is that not an indication of their superior intel ligence? I meanwho would want to spend most of the day, year on year, rubbing shoulders and having to deal with the bruised and inflated egos of an inferior species?

 Colour Coordinated 

BEING a farang I happen to have the standard pasty skin that only has a brownish hue due to the many freckles that have erupted since moving to sunny climes. So I don’t look particularly good in red, unless it is the deep blood red rather than the bright crimson or scarlet that most of the clothing manufacturers favour.

Neither do I look good in yellow, which just completely washes what little colour I have from my skin and makes me look decidedly peeky. Consequently, I cannot participate in any of the political activities that are now so commonplace in Thailand. And I think that is grossly unfair. Why do these political factions have to choose such unattractive colour schemes for their groups? While I know that both red and yellow look particularly attractive on the various olive-cum-shades-of-brown skin that our local friends are blessed with (despite trying to make themselves white, for some god-knows-why reason) it is rather selfish of political factions to choose colours that are so completely unflattering on farang skin tones. Who makes these decisions anyway? Do these factions have colour committees who sit together and work out which colour they are going to dress in? Now I know the PAD chose yellow because that is the colour of the Monarchy (and I was so much happier when pink became a popular colour too as although pink also bleaches the colour from my face it is marginally better than red or yellow), but who decided on the red? Did the founders of the movement check their wardrobes only to find that they were all Liverpool supporters so automatically had red t-shirts? Is red Taksin Shinyhat’s favourite colour? Or is it because it’s the first colour mentioned in the song ‘I Can Sing a Rainbow?’ Now if I were on the political-faction-colour-choosing-committee I would have gone for a pastel sea-green or turquoise which looks good on all skin types, or perhaps cream, or even a more daring black, although this might make people look a tad depressing or take on a teenage-vampire-angst sort of Goth look. Whatever happens, can the next aspiring group please show a bit more consideration for those of us who do not possess warm skin tones and pick something more appropriate so that we can join in the fun and games, and for heaven’s sake, don’t pick orange!!

I say it like I see it!

Moaning Minnie