Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Uncommonly Cool

A female friend of ours and fellow blogger recently posted about how shooting guns is becoming a hobby for her. I can't help but think that this activity is high up on the list of things that are really cool when girls do them. The idea of it inspired me to make a list of activities that causes a female to automatically jump up a rung on the coolness ladder when she participates in them.
  • Shooting guns (as mentioned above)
  • Riding a motorcycle - at least as a passenger, but if she rides by herself then that's even cooler (Amanda rode with me regularly).
  • Driving:
    • Fast (Amanda's friend Susan impressed me with this).
    • A stick shift (shifting gears at only 2000 rpm almost doesn't count though).
    • A jacked up 4x4 (my brother's friend Lisa had a sweet Toyota pickup).
    • A sports car or powerful muscle car, especially if it's customized (Amanda's Miata was pretty darned cool).
  • Knowing how to kick ass - trained and competent in some form of self-defense.
  • Participating in board sports - surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc.
However, the catch is that while doing the above tasks that are typically associated with men, women still have to look sexy and feminine. In other words, for women to be considered cool, they must still look hot.

But what makes the above activities cool for females? Besides being mostly male-oriented, I think the common thread to the above list is that most of the activities are either somewhat dangerous, or they require a certain degree of strength and/or fearlessness, or they are a display of the woman's strength and power.

Anyone have any other activities to add to the list? Would the list for men be the same?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow. Perhaps this accounts for my singleness. Why don't guys like girls who hang out in libraries? That's dangerous.

Amanda Lomonaco said...

I think that girls that drink beer can look cool (only if they are fully sober) and girls who are athletic, especially hardcore ones like marathoners:).

Unknown said...

Sweet. I drink beer! (Shoot, I hope my mom doesn't read this)

running shoes said...

thank you...i am humbled that the Lomonacos think i'm cool.
i'll toast to amanda's comments...while training for the marathon.

I Eat Dentists said...

Ok, I'm feeling giddy, so here is my feedback on this.

This sorta rubbed me the wrong way because it reminded me that what we thought was cool in high-school, really wasn't cool (i.e. driving fast). I understand what you mean, and I am not trying to dis on that, but cool is like giving food to the poor, not driving fast or wearing Guess jeans. I am guessing you agree.

Ok, to go in your direction though, how about liking sci-fi or manly movies?

Oh, and I don't think jacked up 4x4's are cool unless you have less than 6 teeth, or can not complete a sentence without a grammatical error or 10. No offense, but a Miata is a chick mobile, in fact a VERY chick mobile, not a sports car. More like a slow go-cart. So, that can't make a girl cool, just more girly.

michael said...

In high school, being cool was being popular and/or being fashionable (like wearing Guess jeans). The things on my list are cool though because they are things that are unpopular or uncommon for girls to do.

Giving to the poor is cool too, as well as playing music, reading books, being smart, being a good mom, etc. As I said in the blog though, that my reason that the items on my list are cool (yes, including a 4x4) is that they are uncommonly demonstrative of an adventurous or aggressive personality. A woman (or man for that matter) who is strong and dangerous is always cool in my book.

...unless of course they use their strength and danger-nature for evil purposes (bullies, generally mean, etc).

counter stats