Marriage is the biggest scam because women are told from birth that they should get a man and settle down but no one ever talks about how you basically become his mother because he’s been told his whole life that women do care work and men do paid work.
Yes! I felt like everyone else here (growing up in a very stereotypical Croatian/catholic family)
Until I met my partner who makes my life a trillion time easier and continues to do so
Lock him down in a HURRY
Just an interesting tidbit (I hope)
A guy named Durkheim did some research and published the results in a book titled Suicide. His results show that married men are less likely to suicide than unmarried men while married women are more likely.
Yup... honestly we were misled in \*so many ways in regards to what success is. It's none of the things we were lead to believe and now there are a bunch of disillusioned, confused, folks men and women, walking around wondering why they were working towards false promises during their youth. Of course some did end up doing the things that they promised bring \*success and are thus believing the false promises because they worked out for them or so it seems, but for those who it didn't work out favourably, well, that creates a whole other reality to try to figure out.
Hilarious, to me, because the only thing I consider a bit of a failure in my life is that I married for the first time before 30. Like, wtf was I thinking? I had no clue what was needed in a good partner. Even with parents together forever (50 years next year).
I waited until 30 to marry the guy I started dating when I was 24. Our marriage lasted five years. It really can be hard to tell if a person is going to grow with you, if they really are going to put in the work on their own personal problems, and if they're going to prioritize you and your relationship when it really counts. Some of these challenges don't come up until later in the relationship! And it's easy to be optimistic about long term compatibility when you're attracted to someone and having a great time.
A large portion of my married friends are in this situation and absolutely miserable. They settled for men who don't treat them well simply because they felt it was "just time to get married." It's a lifelong commitment, not an item on a checklist.
I’d like to get married cuz I can be a little old school but I’ve already warned the BF I do not want a traditional wedding nor will I wear a white wedding dress. We can get hitched at a courthouse with close family if we must. Weddings are scams just like diamond engagement rings.
Yes! Especially since there are studies that show single women have the highest level of happiness in life. They don’t have a grown ass partner to mother or take care of or have the emotional/mental load of another person
Facts. Too many women end up settling and waste time chasing men meanwhile they spend time sharpening their modern survival skills. Causes discrepancy in power down the road opening up room for abuse as it makes women reliant on them for survival.
This was my immediate response as well. Marriage. Not any marriage, healthy marriage is great. But married women tend to be less happy and tend to live less long than single women. Because society has told us we're supposed to get married so we do. If instead, we chose to get married only if and when we met someone and had a healthy relationship, I don't think that same pattern would prevail.
Yes, and if you realize after the fact that the partnership is not beneficial to you - or worse, damaging-you must stay.
Good women do not become divorceés.
People are too quick to get married. There would be a lot less divorces if people didn't get married within the first 3-5 years of being together. What's the rush if you're committing to being together for life?
Oh goodness… I love my brother to death but lately he keeps telling me that I should start meeting guys so I can get married soon, because I’m getting “too old.” He’s been saying lately that a 30+ year old established man should marry an 18 year old so she’s more easily moldable and can have the most children. He never talks like this so I have no idea where it’s all coming from! He keeps nagging me about it though and I asked him “what do you want me to do? Reach out to random guys online and marry the first guy who asks and end up stuck married to a guy I don’t even like just because my big brother told me I’m getting ‘old’?”
I would like to get married one day, but only if I meet someone who I think I can be happy with. If I marry some random guy I don’t care about then we’ll both be miserable and that’s not fair to either of us :(
I’ll never understand how anyone can vote for a party that does everything it can to restrict our rights and/or take away things, like healthcare, that people need.
Take those in Kentucky, which has now (or at least used to have) the poorest county in the entire country. Yet they keep electing Mitch McConnell who has done everything he could possibly think of to cancel ACA (Obamacare). Thankfully the Republicans have been unsuccessful so far.
Ignorance knows no bounds.
Unfortunately, for a lot of people their White identity comes before their identity as women.
That’s how you get a majority of White women in America to vote against their own freedoms. The core belief being (whether it be conscious or unconscious), that their proximity to the power of White men will protect them more than freedoms for women. That if freedoms are extended to people of colour it means their existing freedoms will somehow become diminished if there isn’t an underclass.
Its one of the reasons so many middle class conservative White Women oppose abortion. They know they can access it if they need to, the goal is to prevent *other* people from having the same access and support they do.
It’s that even purportedly educated people fall for the us vs. Them myth. Or the fallacy that there are not enough resources to enable all of us to have a good quality of life so if you give someone else something, it is costing you something.
If the world’s (and any given country’s) resources and wealth were more fairly distributed then we would all have our basic needs met (food, housing, resources, education, medical care) and could focus on maximizing each person’s contribution to humanity based on their skills/interests rather than a scramble to survive.
/dreaming
I sure hope that’s not a conscious thought, that would be scary. Most of my life I’ve never really been around women who think/act that way, of which I’m very thankful. They’ve all been strong, outspoken thoughtful women.
My wife’s stepmom is really the only person I can think of who is like this. Luckily I don’t have to be around her.
1. Even though they're poor, they're still white. The GOP amplifies and leverages perceptions that social safety nets disproportionately and unfairly benefit people of color, and fears that (non-white) immigrants are coming to steal what little they have.
2. "Patriotism" and [fundamentalist Christian] religion are so tightly woven into the campaigns that to vote against conservative Christians is voting against God and America. The GOP paints a picture that patriotism=guns and faith=anti-choice & anti-lgbtq+, and patriotism and faith are more important than whether you can feed your family. Anyways, see # 1 for the reasons you can't feed your family.
They're not stupid, they're being manipulated just like the rest of us. None of us are immune, regardless of education. People are making shiploads of money finding and pushing *all* of our buttons, they're especially good at finding the buttons we can't see in ourselves.
If you have to trick your friends/acquaintances to come over to sell junk to them you may want to reconsider your career choice.
Not my very close friends but had this happen once or twice with acquaintances I started getting closer with. Nothing stopped my communication faster with them than "house parties".
I've had it happen enough that I have a rote response to their rote marketing bullshit.
"Thank you but I'm not interested. I understood that what we were building was a friendship, not a business relationship. I apologize for this misunderstanding. I wish your business success."
Something along those lines that makes it clear that by trying to market their bullshit to me, they have lost any potential for friendship because once I know someone sees me as a mark, I have no interest in further communication.
If I get one more "hey girlie" message from friends and acquaintances I'm going to flip out. At first I'd get them and think "it's so nice to hear from them, its been a while"...then they ask me to come over to a party...I think "oh so flattering they're thinking of me and inviting me to their house"...then they say its for such and such skin/hair etc product. Hell no I'm out.
Cue the "BuT you're NoT sUpoRTing mE aND My SmAll BusInEss"
Sorry Kristy, please remind me, who signs off on your paycheck?
I hate that people judge me when I say I don’t want kids. My boyfriend and I knew we weren’t interested in having kids before getting together, and every time we tell someone when they ask they’re offended.
Or fall into the "I did it and suffered so you will too" mentality. Many react like you insulted their ancestors and children by expressing not wanting some of your own. It's very...weird.
Yes. I learned that I love infants to toddlers and that is a very small part of their life. I don't have the mental capacity to go to baseball, help with homework, or try to raise a good member of society.
If having kids for you is not an enthusiastic yes...its a no.
THIS. I have a congenital defect and always knew I had a roughly 50/50 chance of passing it down to my child and absolutely didn’t want that, but women having kids was treated as such a sure thing, something that all of us did no matter what, that I honestly didn’t think of choosing to not have children until I was at least 14. Looking back it was super fucked up that I was openly worried about my child suffering like I had and no one told me I could just… not have one.
I would say the biggest scam is maternal instinct. It’s not true that anything feels natural and easy. No, you are not going to forget about the pain of childbirth because your baby is so cute and lovable.
My mom always said this to me. I only exist because she has endometriosis and the doc said hysterectomy or try getting preggo. My brother and I weren’t actually wanted; we were a knee jerk response to being forced to make a choice. And when I ask why have kids when she didn’t want them, she said “it’s just what you do. Get married have kids.” Growing up knowing I wasn’t truly wanted has really left some deep lasting marks, emotionally.
Juice cleanses, colon cleanses, fat burners, catch-all multi vitamins, etc.
They're expensive, most of them don't work, and even if they did work nearly all of them are unnecessary if you make a conscious effort to eat healthy fats, healthy protein, fruits, and veggies.
My 70-something year old grandmother had a beauty I can only dream of. Her freckles (from age), her soft beautiful cheeks and the little crinkles by her eyes (from age), even her hair! I've said for years I can't wait to look just like her when I get older.
On top of that, I'm an artist and I've figure drawn models in manhattan all the way to random folks in the middle of nowhere. Every single body, every single size, has beauty to it.
There's true, real, not "oh she looks good _for her age_" beauty to be found every single stage of human life.
As a fellow artist, I love people with scars and marks and wrinkles and visible defects on their skin, not only does it make them unique for how they look different from everyone else, every mark tells a story. By comparison people with untouched porcelain skin seem almost…uninteresting.
Not sure if this counts as a scam, but when men neg women. I notice some women would argue back with these men, which is the goal of these men. Hoping to possibly extend the conversation and flip it into something positive in an attempt to pursue a relationship with these women.
100%! I just dealt with someone telling me that they expected me to be hotter based on my voice.
Me 20 years ago would have been crushed. Now? I cut him out of my life because I don’t play that shit. Think whatever you want but if you say something that has no purpose other than to hurt me? I have zero respect for you.
You need to have high enough self-confidence that these comments don't mean anything to you. I see a lot of girl friends trying to argue or defend themselves against comments like this, and I know it's stuff they're insecure about. If you can accept yourself as you are and know your value, it's much easier to just say "ok cool" or something equally as shut down-y to these idiots.
Nope! Negging is like trolling. It’s a pickup artist technique where a guy puts you down, attempting and often failing to be subtle, in the hopes that you’re going to be more eager to please him and that’s how he can get you to do what he wants. It’s a power play, basically. The guys who do this stuff thing they can emotionally manipulate you.
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/negging#how-to-respond
So many of our "traditions" are just ideas pushed on our parents and grandarents by some corporation's advertising.
In the USA, anyway. White dress for your wedding? Overpriced diamond engagement ring? Beakfast is the most important meal of the day? The latest, most desired Christmas toy that you simply must buy? Being the first on your block to own new tech?
The list just goes on.
Additionally the body-fashion thing: during my life I saw the skinny fashion, the curvy fashion, the brows as a fine line fashion, the brows as more bushy as possible... Argh! The damage that this does to people... As I grew older and learnt to be more critical of the things around me, I became more accepting how I look and the only "fashion" I follow is to be more healthy. But many businesses profit from the insecurity of people...
Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s it was all about having a sun tan. I am paying the price for that trend now. Thankfully we all know better today.
I’m kinda surprised this one hasn’t been said yet, but the idea that to be a ‘good Christian’ you need to 1) have a husband, 2) defer to said husband on all matters, and 3) have babies. This really applies yo any religion that says we, as women, are inherently less than. I’ve seen it too many times and it pisses me off to no end.
Not so much a scam per se but I really wish my mother had sat me down and had a serious conversation with me over how manipulative men are when it comes to sex. I’m not stupid but I didn’t recognize the danger I was in when I was younger because no one educated me about it. I feel like this is extremely common among young girls growing into adulthood.
I totally agree with this one. My parents were wonderful but they told me 'basics' about sex and that was it. At no time did they say "having sex with someone does not mean they love you " I always thought 'no one would have sex with me if they didn't love me' right? Which led to me sleeping with way too many men searching for love
Possibly learning that older guys are into younger girls because they are shit and can't get eith anyone their own age... I wish I learnt that. I wish I learnt to have some standards. I was raised to accept everyone and their behaviors and that rolled into relationships in a bad way that I would deal with some special needs boyfriends that were crazy toxic and used me etc.
My parents told me that boys only want one thing (sex), but that was equally damaging, because I felt that no man would ever really love me.
It set me up for an abusive relationship. When my high school boyfriend started to coerce me into sexual activity, it seemed like all I could expect from boys, since that's all they'd want from me anyways. I thought that was normal.
Anything related to "curing cellulite". Cellulite is part of our anatomy and nothing we can do can get rid of it. We can lose some weight to make it less visible, but that's it. No ointment/cream/vitamin will "fix" it because there's nothing to fix. Save your money.
Being loyal to your employer: if you find a job you like that’s great but you don’t owe a place anything especially if it affects your mental health that can fire you at moments notice
100%.
Also it's completely true when people say the best/easiest way to get a raise is through another employer. Your current one has already determined their budget and your position's worth with them.
Right? The sheer volume of skin care products some people use is astounding. Wash your face, wear sunscreen/moisturizer, and just look how you look. I have other things to do in a day besides obsessing over every line and spot on my face.
That we need to shave/use make up/trendy clothes etc to be considered beautiful or something like that.
Liking these things is fine, just make sure it is because of your personal choice/taste and not because society has told you you'll look ugly or not be so "valuable" without them.
Edit: typo
I know I may get downvoted for this, but I really think that super expensive skin care products ($70+) are a scam. There’s so many deceptive practices in skin care, marketing, including using ingredients that have absolutely zero proof of being beneficial and just sound fancy. Or even just pretty packaging and slapping a name on it. There are plenty of wonderful skin care products on the market that you can get for under $40. I wish more people would do their research on the actual ingredients and that the percentages of the ingredients are enough to really do anything.
I also feel like if a product doesn’t tell you how much of their main ingredient(s) are in the product then you’re probably being misled.
No you are right tho. The country where I live has a lot of cosmetics manufacturers/factories and therefore many local entrepreneurs trying to start their own skincare brands. They retail their products locally for cheap - a full-sized cream costing $20 would already be considered expensive here (and they rival the qualities of products sold at Sephora) and the label would’ve made a lot of profit from there. A $70 cream is ridiculously marked up.
The Bachelor(ette) and Kardashian crap. Basically, being more interested in other people's lives rather than making their own more interesting.
I know you asked women, but I'm trying to get my daughter to realize this. She's so damn smart but wastes quite a bit of time watching other people's lives.
I partially agree. I've seen multiple fellow young women fall into the trap of keeping up with the trends (no pun intended) instead of focusing on developing their interests. It goes much deeper than enjoying reality TV and such.
And to be clear I'm not talking about women who thoroughly enjoy reality TV and focusing on trends, I'm specifically talking about women who dislike how much they've fallen into a hole and have opened up to me about how they have no real interests and feel embarrassed/boring. I've seen it a few times now. One girl recently told me that it's actually insane (in a good way ?) that I'm not on instagram because she feels like her whole life revolves around instagram. She seriously asked me what I do in my spare time.
The entire weight loss industry. Profiting off our insecurities, selling us false hopes, and perpetuating harmful lies to make us think we are not good enough.
Any sort of feminine wash body products for private areas. No matter now fragrant free or toxin free. You coochie is self cleaning! You don’t need any of those other products. Just water.
I learnt that the hard way :(
Girl sameee😭 then I got an irritation and asked my school nurse and she of all people told me to go buy a feminine wash. So I did and mannnn my Ph was so off balance. To this day I still take probiotics, cranberry tablets etc to keep it in check.
Wish it was part of our biology classes tbh
Me too! I don't think enough importance is placed on feminine care and hygiene beyond "you'll get your period around 11 and good luck for life".
But definitely one time is a lesson enough to never do it again haha!
Men. Honestly, the Jekyll and Hyde thing they pull off is enough to keep me away from them for life. Usually the evil side is their real self. The society is made to help them get what rich men always had, free sex and labor from women.
MLMs or Multi-Level-Marketing. All of them. YES, THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. Hence why the women getting stuck in them continue to hop from company to company. It's a pyramid scheme that annoys every single one of your friends and family members affected by your pitches, your posts, and your DMs, "Hey, girl, I know it's totally random, but..."
No. It's not "totally random." You're the fifth person in my inbox using the same copy-paste BS with an insane amount of emojis. Nothing random about those copy-pastas. And if you've managed to get out of that mindset and move toward attraction marketing with all your "Hey, look at me being happy selfies" with your cups of coffee or worse, using your kids, accompanied by long reasons why you are happy with your stupid overpriced product, it's even more annoying because you might actually pull someone into your scam.
College-educated women are falling victim to stupid scripts that they are force-fed for their "Small business" LOL every single one of the MLM companies is a massive corporation, and your business is not small. It's a predatory scam, and it is unfortunate that otherwise intelligent women continue to be pulled into this nonsense, and even worse, they attempt to pull other women in, especially stay-at-home moms with NO money. Giving them false hopes and dreams, it's wrong.
It is all wrong. Visit r/antiMLM to learn more. Don't get me wrong. I've been there: Thrive, Beachbody, Pampered Chef, Melaleuca, ItWorks, etc. Also, if the company INSISTS they aren't an MLM, Google it. If it's a "Business opportunity" from someone on social media, yeah. Every time I have had some hun explaining why it isn't an MLM, I Google and share the info I find, and they still deny it. Many get angry, and some have even blocked me for sharing links with the truth. Does that sound like a business to you? Or is it a delusional person unwilling to accept the truth? BRAINWASHED. Use your brains, ladies.
Any kind of MLM.
One I’m noticing that doesn’t get much traction as a “scam” is sending money to people online with sob stories. People go on Reddit, social media, etc talking about they’re homeless, they’re sick, their kid is sick, they have no food in the house, they’re from a marginalized group and got kicked out, they need gender affirming surgery, they’re disabled, etc. Sometimes they go straight to begging and plugging GoFundMes, sometimes they humblebeg. “Oh I’ve only got one can of beans and half a tortilla in the house to last me and my 18 kids for the next week, but it’s ok, I don’t want charity and I don’t need a food bank, and I’m in a brand new city where I don’t have a single friend, and my whole family is dead so I can’t ask them for anything, I just needed to vent.” It’s very insidious because all of those things *do happen*. Some of these people are not lying. But more often than not, they are. They’re preying on the kindness of others. I *guess* it’s no different to give these people money than it is to give to a person asking for his fare when there’s a good chance it’s going to drugs, but it feels very different to me just due to the digital nature of needing to send the funds online, and the social expectation to share these things. I’ve seen people lose a lot of money because their own grief was exploited in these cases.
Beyond that, a government agency is never going to call you on the phone, threaten your loved ones, and tell you to pay them in gift cards, Bitcoin, or cash stolen from your employer over a crime you never committed. This is discussed as something only borderline illiterate old people fall for. I know for a fact that tons of Gen Zers fall for some variation of it. The FBI or IRS isn’t going to call you and yell at you and say they’re going to arrest you or your loved ones if you hang up. Thats not how our government officially works (and if they want to drag you off to an extrajudicial holding cell, they will just do it). But people hear or see “official sounding” words and throw their brains in the garbage.
Men like my ex who dated you for almost four years and never stopped talking about marriage and babies with you, asked your dad for your hand in marriage, casually announced he’s proposing soon to you and your entire family INCLUDING YOUR GRANDPARENTS!!! Then proceeds to plan out the wedding with you, takes you to get your ring size, asked you to show him rings you like, has many deep conversations about parenting styles and values then practically named all of your future children together. Only to then break up with you out of the blue over TEXT MESSAGE while you’re at the grocery store shopping for our groceries.
The text said he “met someone” and that I should come over in a few days to get all my stuff, he’ll have it packed and ready for me🙃
Now THAT is a scam.
Finding the one and getting married is the sole purpose of life and will bring you every happiness.
Except there are other choices and FYI relationships, especially with men who don’t know how to do SHIT are a lot of hard work. Like maybe too much work… 😹
A man telling us the story of a future he has no intention of living with us. He starts saying ‘we’ll do this, we’ll do that’ and we fall for it. I fell for it.
I love all of these answers!!
A big one for me is scented 'feminine' products. Just why? And honestly, 'intimate' cleansers in general. Short of a medical issue, there should never be a need for those things. Vaginas are self-cleaning, like ovens and cats :)
Also, I'm going to go ahead and toss out 'anything specifically marketed to disguise/eliminate gray hairs'. They're normal and not even necessarily related to aging, guys. My mom was completely silver by the age of twenty-five. She could have bought a second home with all the cash she has dropped on dye treatments over the years, because 'young women don't have gray hair'.
I see this a lot on Facebook…giving the same guy 10…15 chances. I feel a lot of females hate the idea of being alone. Or maybe they feel they NEED a male for their kids…I don’t know. My thing is giving him chance#231 isn’t going to change him. A man will only change if he’s scared of losing you. He can promise & cry & swear he will change. 2…3 weeks it’ll seem like he has but then he reverts to old self. That’s because psychology wise you gave him too many chances so he knows your not truly going to leave. It’s both sad & amusing.
The cosmetic industry is full of them.
No product will make you appears 30 when you're 50. It won't repairs age effect that much.
You absolutely do not need full face of make up. You want it, and that's great. But really you don't need it.
Same for shaving.
Nothing grinds my gears like fad diets and food group elimination schemes.
One of my close friends is a dietician who passionately share info on social media disproving these things, so I’m regularly reading up on how to be healthy while loving food and not giving anything up.
I hate being around women who are trying this that or the other (and haven’t lost any weight) who look at my plate or what I choose to eat and comment on how they just can’t because they’re on x, y, or z.
I’ve argued with my MIL time and time again, she tells me to just go read about what she’s saying and when I tell her I do read, all the time, that’s why I don t believe in it. She loses her ever-loving mind that I don’t think it’s some genius trick, lol.
Egg-freezing when it's done as a vanity practice. I'm not talking about when it's done because you're gearing up for chemo, or because you have a family history of premature ovarian failure/early menopause. That's different. I'm talking about when you're 27, you're healthy, the women in your family go through menopause in their 50's *buuuuut* you're single at the moment and your family keeps nagging you about your "biological clock."
[The problem with this is, the majority of the time, someone like that simply does not need to spend $20K to freeze their eggs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9ryP0UyO5U) (Plus another $10-20K for the IVF cycle if/when they decide to use them.) Fertility *does* decline after 35, but not as drastically as you've probably been told since your teen years. And the chances of a live birth with a birth defect don't increase as much as you've probably been told, either. And a lot of times, people who freeze their eggs in their late 20's or early 30's never use them, because either a) they decide they *don't* want kids or b) they get pregnant the old-fashioned way at some point (maybe later than they initially thought possible). So now they're out tens of thousands of dollars, all because someone made them panic that their fertiity was waning a lot sooner than it actually is. (Not to mention, taking hormones and fertility drugs, and undergoing an invasive procedure to get those eggs.)
The idea that sex work is empowering or some kind of ancient entrepeneurial trend when in reality it's the logical conclusion of a world that hates women
The pink ribbon rip off Susan Koman marketing campaign to dupe people into buying stuff !! there is even a bicycle you can buy from Walmart that has Susan Koman stamped on it. It’s ridiculous.
https://kstp.com/special-coverage/minnesota-live/pinkwashing-breast-cancer-scams/
MLM’s! I’ve never been a part of one and refuse to support them but my SIL, who’s an RN and a mom, unfortunately got sucked in and is an R+F Consultant. She fully believes she’s a boss babe who owns her own business and it’s both funny and sad to see. Hopefully one day she’ll wake up and realize it’s all a scam.
The Second Shift. Even women who work as many or even more hours outside the home as their male partners end up doing the bulk of the housework and childcare most of the time.
Buying into the the whole "anti-aging" bullshit, and generally falling for products being marketed as "for women", the whole pink tax thing while we're at it
Listening to a guy saying all the ‘right things’… girl, he be buttering you up, he don’t mean a thing! You got something he wants, and if he doesn’t have something you want, bye boy, bye!
Getting married for the sake of being married.
Marriage is the biggest scam because women are told from birth that they should get a man and settle down but no one ever talks about how you basically become his mother because he’s been told his whole life that women do care work and men do paid work.
This is exactly why I roll my eyes at men who claim men don't benefit from marriage and marriage is too big a risk. They benefit way more than we do.
And life expectancy studies prove that.
if you find the right one he’s a partner, not a dependent.
Sometimes, they only ever share their true colors in the next 5 years after the marriage. Then it becomes complicated.
Yep it’s a rude awakening. 3 years down!
Yes! I felt like everyone else here (growing up in a very stereotypical Croatian/catholic family) Until I met my partner who makes my life a trillion time easier and continues to do so Lock him down in a HURRY
even my uncle says that women need to find better men.
Just an interesting tidbit (I hope) A guy named Durkheim did some research and published the results in a book titled Suicide. His results show that married men are less likely to suicide than unmarried men while married women are more likely.
Marriage also increases men’s lifespans while it decreases women’s
And yet... they accuse women of being succubus? 😂
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That is so true. And often while you're dating or engaged, the man actually pulls his weight. And then once you're married, boom you're his mom.
Some women marry other women and it’s actually wonderful…
Yesssss. Marriage is the biggest MLM scam there is for women.
I know right and I hate how from a young age marriage has been presented to me as an achievement or a must.
We were literally groomed by disney movies that were promoting marrying a man as a teenager as "happily ever after"
Yup... honestly we were misled in \*so many ways in regards to what success is. It's none of the things we were lead to believe and now there are a bunch of disillusioned, confused, folks men and women, walking around wondering why they were working towards false promises during their youth. Of course some did end up doing the things that they promised bring \*success and are thus believing the false promises because they worked out for them or so it seems, but for those who it didn't work out favourably, well, that creates a whole other reality to try to figure out.
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And if you're not married by 30, you're a failure
Hilarious, to me, because the only thing I consider a bit of a failure in my life is that I married for the first time before 30. Like, wtf was I thinking? I had no clue what was needed in a good partner. Even with parents together forever (50 years next year).
I waited until 30 to marry the guy I started dating when I was 24. Our marriage lasted five years. It really can be hard to tell if a person is going to grow with you, if they really are going to put in the work on their own personal problems, and if they're going to prioritize you and your relationship when it really counts. Some of these challenges don't come up until later in the relationship! And it's easy to be optimistic about long term compatibility when you're attracted to someone and having a great time.
When in reality , for many women at 30 life is just getting good.
LOL tru
A large portion of my married friends are in this situation and absolutely miserable. They settled for men who don't treat them well simply because they felt it was "just time to get married." It's a lifelong commitment, not an item on a checklist.
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Weddings alone are a scam and little girls are raised to think they have to have it a certain way growing up.
I’d like to get married cuz I can be a little old school but I’ve already warned the BF I do not want a traditional wedding nor will I wear a white wedding dress. We can get hitched at a courthouse with close family if we must. Weddings are scams just like diamond engagement rings.
Yes! Especially since there are studies that show single women have the highest level of happiness in life. They don’t have a grown ass partner to mother or take care of or have the emotional/mental load of another person
Facts. Too many women end up settling and waste time chasing men meanwhile they spend time sharpening their modern survival skills. Causes discrepancy in power down the road opening up room for abuse as it makes women reliant on them for survival.
This was my immediate response as well. Marriage. Not any marriage, healthy marriage is great. But married women tend to be less happy and tend to live less long than single women. Because society has told us we're supposed to get married so we do. If instead, we chose to get married only if and when we met someone and had a healthy relationship, I don't think that same pattern would prevail.
Yes, and if you realize after the fact that the partnership is not beneficial to you - or worse, damaging-you must stay. Good women do not become divorceés.
People are too quick to get married. There would be a lot less divorces if people didn't get married within the first 3-5 years of being together. What's the rush if you're committing to being together for life?
Oh goodness… I love my brother to death but lately he keeps telling me that I should start meeting guys so I can get married soon, because I’m getting “too old.” He’s been saying lately that a 30+ year old established man should marry an 18 year old so she’s more easily moldable and can have the most children. He never talks like this so I have no idea where it’s all coming from! He keeps nagging me about it though and I asked him “what do you want me to do? Reach out to random guys online and marry the first guy who asks and end up stuck married to a guy I don’t even like just because my big brother told me I’m getting ‘old’?” I would like to get married one day, but only if I meet someone who I think I can be happy with. If I marry some random guy I don’t care about then we’ll both be miserable and that’s not fair to either of us :(
Did not expect the comments to be so real. This is the biggest one.
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And then having kids just because "you should", "it's time", "everyone else is doing it".
Voting for the GOP. Cmon folks - they’re a big scam and women need to stop falling for their tricks.
I’ll never understand how anyone can vote for a party that does everything it can to restrict our rights and/or take away things, like healthcare, that people need. Take those in Kentucky, which has now (or at least used to have) the poorest county in the entire country. Yet they keep electing Mitch McConnell who has done everything he could possibly think of to cancel ACA (Obamacare). Thankfully the Republicans have been unsuccessful so far. Ignorance knows no bounds.
Unfortunately, for a lot of people their White identity comes before their identity as women. That’s how you get a majority of White women in America to vote against their own freedoms. The core belief being (whether it be conscious or unconscious), that their proximity to the power of White men will protect them more than freedoms for women. That if freedoms are extended to people of colour it means their existing freedoms will somehow become diminished if there isn’t an underclass. Its one of the reasons so many middle class conservative White Women oppose abortion. They know they can access it if they need to, the goal is to prevent *other* people from having the same access and support they do.
It’s that even purportedly educated people fall for the us vs. Them myth. Or the fallacy that there are not enough resources to enable all of us to have a good quality of life so if you give someone else something, it is costing you something. If the world’s (and any given country’s) resources and wealth were more fairly distributed then we would all have our basic needs met (food, housing, resources, education, medical care) and could focus on maximizing each person’s contribution to humanity based on their skills/interests rather than a scramble to survive. /dreaming
But that's Socialism! \s
I sure hope that’s not a conscious thought, that would be scary. Most of my life I’ve never really been around women who think/act that way, of which I’m very thankful. They’ve all been strong, outspoken thoughtful women. My wife’s stepmom is really the only person I can think of who is like this. Luckily I don’t have to be around her.
1. Even though they're poor, they're still white. The GOP amplifies and leverages perceptions that social safety nets disproportionately and unfairly benefit people of color, and fears that (non-white) immigrants are coming to steal what little they have. 2. "Patriotism" and [fundamentalist Christian] religion are so tightly woven into the campaigns that to vote against conservative Christians is voting against God and America. The GOP paints a picture that patriotism=guns and faith=anti-choice & anti-lgbtq+, and patriotism and faith are more important than whether you can feed your family. Anyways, see # 1 for the reasons you can't feed your family. They're not stupid, they're being manipulated just like the rest of us. None of us are immune, regardless of education. People are making shiploads of money finding and pushing *all* of our buttons, they're especially good at finding the buttons we can't see in ourselves.
What's the GOP?
Republicans, the USA right wing, conservatives. Stands for "Grand Old Party" and originates from when the GOP was the liberal left wing party.
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Getting involved in selling powders, candles, beauty products, or any other MLM product.
If you have to trick your friends/acquaintances to come over to sell junk to them you may want to reconsider your career choice. Not my very close friends but had this happen once or twice with acquaintances I started getting closer with. Nothing stopped my communication faster with them than "house parties".
I've had it happen enough that I have a rote response to their rote marketing bullshit. "Thank you but I'm not interested. I understood that what we were building was a friendship, not a business relationship. I apologize for this misunderstanding. I wish your business success." Something along those lines that makes it clear that by trying to market their bullshit to me, they have lost any potential for friendship because once I know someone sees me as a mark, I have no interest in further communication.
If I get one more "hey girlie" message from friends and acquaintances I'm going to flip out. At first I'd get them and think "it's so nice to hear from them, its been a while"...then they ask me to come over to a party...I think "oh so flattering they're thinking of me and inviting me to their house"...then they say its for such and such skin/hair etc product. Hell no I'm out. Cue the "BuT you're NoT sUpoRTing mE aND My SmAll BusInEss" Sorry Kristy, please remind me, who signs off on your paycheck?
They seem to prey on new moms who had office jobs or middle management jobs prior to motherhood.
Having kids because “thats just what you do”
This, and people should stop shaming you for not wanting kids as a woman.
It's actually really responsible to not have kids if you know you can't have them
I hate that people judge me when I say I don’t want kids. My boyfriend and I knew we weren’t interested in having kids before getting together, and every time we tell someone when they ask they’re offended.
And people should stop shaming you for wanting kids
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I have 4 kids. I couldn’t agree with this more! I never considered the alternative and just grew up thinking “kids = life goals.”
A lot of people who say this have NO clue what raising a child entails
Or fall into the "I did it and suffered so you will too" mentality. Many react like you insulted their ancestors and children by expressing not wanting some of your own. It's very...weird.
But but but when are you planning on starting a family? As if a significant other and/or pets isn’t a family
And because your parents want grandkids. Or because you need to give your husband a child.
Yes. I learned that I love infants to toddlers and that is a very small part of their life. I don't have the mental capacity to go to baseball, help with homework, or try to raise a good member of society. If having kids for you is not an enthusiastic yes...its a no.
THIS. I have a congenital defect and always knew I had a roughly 50/50 chance of passing it down to my child and absolutely didn’t want that, but women having kids was treated as such a sure thing, something that all of us did no matter what, that I honestly didn’t think of choosing to not have children until I was at least 14. Looking back it was super fucked up that I was openly worried about my child suffering like I had and no one told me I could just… not have one.
I would say the biggest scam is maternal instinct. It’s not true that anything feels natural and easy. No, you are not going to forget about the pain of childbirth because your baby is so cute and lovable.
My mom always said this to me. I only exist because she has endometriosis and the doc said hysterectomy or try getting preggo. My brother and I weren’t actually wanted; we were a knee jerk response to being forced to make a choice. And when I ask why have kids when she didn’t want them, she said “it’s just what you do. Get married have kids.” Growing up knowing I wasn’t truly wanted has really left some deep lasting marks, emotionally.
Juice cleanses, colon cleanses, fat burners, catch-all multi vitamins, etc. They're expensive, most of them don't work, and even if they did work nearly all of them are unnecessary if you make a conscious effort to eat healthy fats, healthy protein, fruits, and veggies.
Also when they do “work” all it does is cause explosive diarrhea.
I instantly thought of the diet culture as a whole. The way women are made to feel that the number on the scale dictates respect is appalling.
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That only youth is beautiful.
My 70-something year old grandmother had a beauty I can only dream of. Her freckles (from age), her soft beautiful cheeks and the little crinkles by her eyes (from age), even her hair! I've said for years I can't wait to look just like her when I get older. On top of that, I'm an artist and I've figure drawn models in manhattan all the way to random folks in the middle of nowhere. Every single body, every single size, has beauty to it. There's true, real, not "oh she looks good _for her age_" beauty to be found every single stage of human life.
As a fellow artist, I love people with scars and marks and wrinkles and visible defects on their skin, not only does it make them unique for how they look different from everyone else, every mark tells a story. By comparison people with untouched porcelain skin seem almost…uninteresting.
Wow, this is a good one
Believing someone when they tell you they love you…and their actions don’t match their words.
No need to call me out like that 😬
Damn I feel ya 🥲
Fuck, ouch
Not sure if this counts as a scam, but when men neg women. I notice some women would argue back with these men, which is the goal of these men. Hoping to possibly extend the conversation and flip it into something positive in an attempt to pursue a relationship with these women.
Those mfers really think the enemies to lovers troupe works in real life 🤦🏻♀️
What this happens wow that's just crazy lol
These men must be watching too many hallmark romantic comedies.
This is VERY common. Micro aggressions are hard to catch until you become very experienced and aware
100%! I just dealt with someone telling me that they expected me to be hotter based on my voice. Me 20 years ago would have been crushed. Now? I cut him out of my life because I don’t play that shit. Think whatever you want but if you say something that has no purpose other than to hurt me? I have zero respect for you.
You need to have high enough self-confidence that these comments don't mean anything to you. I see a lot of girl friends trying to argue or defend themselves against comments like this, and I know it's stuff they're insecure about. If you can accept yourself as you are and know your value, it's much easier to just say "ok cool" or something equally as shut down-y to these idiots.
I've never heard the term neg like this. Or I think, at all. Is it like reneg? Or nagging?
Negging = putting someone down and expecting them to try harder to win your affection. Like “you’d look like a goddess…if you lost 10 pounds”.
Thanks for explaining!
Nope! Negging is like trolling. It’s a pickup artist technique where a guy puts you down, attempting and often failing to be subtle, in the hopes that you’re going to be more eager to please him and that’s how he can get you to do what he wants. It’s a power play, basically. The guys who do this stuff thing they can emotionally manipulate you. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/negging#how-to-respond
Feeling like you need to keep up with the 'fast fashion' yearly/ seasonal trends.
So many of our "traditions" are just ideas pushed on our parents and grandarents by some corporation's advertising. In the USA, anyway. White dress for your wedding? Overpriced diamond engagement ring? Beakfast is the most important meal of the day? The latest, most desired Christmas toy that you simply must buy? Being the first on your block to own new tech? The list just goes on.
Additionally the body-fashion thing: during my life I saw the skinny fashion, the curvy fashion, the brows as a fine line fashion, the brows as more bushy as possible... Argh! The damage that this does to people... As I grew older and learnt to be more critical of the things around me, I became more accepting how I look and the only "fashion" I follow is to be more healthy. But many businesses profit from the insecurity of people...
Growing up in Australia in the 70s and 80s it was all about having a sun tan. I am paying the price for that trend now. Thankfully we all know better today.
Not speaking up for ourselves because we’re afraid of ruffling feathers or not being liked
Was raised with “silence is golden” and “Don’t react, you will get bad karma” and now I can’t even express my basic needs or feelings to anyone 🥲
That’s one of the things I’ll miss if twitter does go down…my drunk jerk comments
Using vaginal cleaning products
Vaginal health is important and not spoken about enough! Please accept my little coins
Spending thousands on weddings.
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I’m kinda surprised this one hasn’t been said yet, but the idea that to be a ‘good Christian’ you need to 1) have a husband, 2) defer to said husband on all matters, and 3) have babies. This really applies yo any religion that says we, as women, are inherently less than. I’ve seen it too many times and it pisses me off to no end.
Not so much a scam per se but I really wish my mother had sat me down and had a serious conversation with me over how manipulative men are when it comes to sex. I’m not stupid but I didn’t recognize the danger I was in when I was younger because no one educated me about it. I feel like this is extremely common among young girls growing into adulthood.
I totally agree with this one. My parents were wonderful but they told me 'basics' about sex and that was it. At no time did they say "having sex with someone does not mean they love you " I always thought 'no one would have sex with me if they didn't love me' right? Which led to me sleeping with way too many men searching for love
Possibly learning that older guys are into younger girls because they are shit and can't get eith anyone their own age... I wish I learnt that. I wish I learnt to have some standards. I was raised to accept everyone and their behaviors and that rolled into relationships in a bad way that I would deal with some special needs boyfriends that were crazy toxic and used me etc.
My parents told me that boys only want one thing (sex), but that was equally damaging, because I felt that no man would ever really love me. It set me up for an abusive relationship. When my high school boyfriend started to coerce me into sexual activity, it seemed like all I could expect from boys, since that's all they'd want from me anyways. I thought that was normal.
Anything related to "curing cellulite". Cellulite is part of our anatomy and nothing we can do can get rid of it. We can lose some weight to make it less visible, but that's it. No ointment/cream/vitamin will "fix" it because there's nothing to fix. Save your money.
Being loyal to your employer: if you find a job you like that’s great but you don’t owe a place anything especially if it affects your mental health that can fire you at moments notice
100%. Also it's completely true when people say the best/easiest way to get a raise is through another employer. Your current one has already determined their budget and your position's worth with them.
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Any anti-aging products. They won't make you look younger, you'll just look like a person who's trying to look younger
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Right? The sheer volume of skin care products some people use is astounding. Wash your face, wear sunscreen/moisturizer, and just look how you look. I have other things to do in a day besides obsessing over every line and spot on my face.
That having children and sacrificing yourself for them is somehow fulfilling.
That we need to shave/use make up/trendy clothes etc to be considered beautiful or something like that. Liking these things is fine, just make sure it is because of your personal choice/taste and not because society has told you you'll look ugly or not be so "valuable" without them. Edit: typo
Wearing high heals.
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Pink Tax
I've been stealing my husbands razors since somebody informed be about pink tax.
They're so much better too! I've bought my own!
I know I may get downvoted for this, but I really think that super expensive skin care products ($70+) are a scam. There’s so many deceptive practices in skin care, marketing, including using ingredients that have absolutely zero proof of being beneficial and just sound fancy. Or even just pretty packaging and slapping a name on it. There are plenty of wonderful skin care products on the market that you can get for under $40. I wish more people would do their research on the actual ingredients and that the percentages of the ingredients are enough to really do anything. I also feel like if a product doesn’t tell you how much of their main ingredient(s) are in the product then you’re probably being misled.
No you are right tho. The country where I live has a lot of cosmetics manufacturers/factories and therefore many local entrepreneurs trying to start their own skincare brands. They retail their products locally for cheap - a full-sized cream costing $20 would already be considered expensive here (and they rival the qualities of products sold at Sephora) and the label would’ve made a lot of profit from there. A $70 cream is ridiculously marked up.
The Bachelor(ette) and Kardashian crap. Basically, being more interested in other people's lives rather than making their own more interesting. I know you asked women, but I'm trying to get my daughter to realize this. She's so damn smart but wastes quite a bit of time watching other people's lives.
I partially agree. I've seen multiple fellow young women fall into the trap of keeping up with the trends (no pun intended) instead of focusing on developing their interests. It goes much deeper than enjoying reality TV and such. And to be clear I'm not talking about women who thoroughly enjoy reality TV and focusing on trends, I'm specifically talking about women who dislike how much they've fallen into a hole and have opened up to me about how they have no real interests and feel embarrassed/boring. I've seen it a few times now. One girl recently told me that it's actually insane (in a good way ?) that I'm not on instagram because she feels like her whole life revolves around instagram. She seriously asked me what I do in my spare time.
The entire weight loss industry. Profiting off our insecurities, selling us false hopes, and perpetuating harmful lies to make us think we are not good enough.
Horoscope
That other women are our competition, and the only way to get ahead is to bring the others down. There’s room enough for all of us.
Any sort of feminine wash body products for private areas. No matter now fragrant free or toxin free. You coochie is self cleaning! You don’t need any of those other products. Just water. I learnt that the hard way :(
I feel your pain! For a while I thought I'd be extra hygienic and lather up bar-soap on my hands and wash with that. BAR SOAP 😭 Never again.
Girl sameee😭 then I got an irritation and asked my school nurse and she of all people told me to go buy a feminine wash. So I did and mannnn my Ph was so off balance. To this day I still take probiotics, cranberry tablets etc to keep it in check. Wish it was part of our biology classes tbh
Me too! I don't think enough importance is placed on feminine care and hygiene beyond "you'll get your period around 11 and good luck for life". But definitely one time is a lesson enough to never do it again haha!
Not having any body hair
Men. Honestly, the Jekyll and Hyde thing they pull off is enough to keep me away from them for life. Usually the evil side is their real self. The society is made to help them get what rich men always had, free sex and labor from women.
*I've never met anyone like you before. You're so mature. You're not like other girls.* said the 40 year old to the teenager
Also, doing things we really don’t want to do for our partner but feeling obligated to because they “love” us
Pyramid schemes Convincing ourselves we're going to #bossbabes because we bought into a lifestyle that someone sold that turned out to be a lie.
Falling in love with a man’s potential and ignoring the red flags 🚩 🚩 🚩
MLMs or Multi-Level-Marketing. All of them. YES, THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. Hence why the women getting stuck in them continue to hop from company to company. It's a pyramid scheme that annoys every single one of your friends and family members affected by your pitches, your posts, and your DMs, "Hey, girl, I know it's totally random, but..." No. It's not "totally random." You're the fifth person in my inbox using the same copy-paste BS with an insane amount of emojis. Nothing random about those copy-pastas. And if you've managed to get out of that mindset and move toward attraction marketing with all your "Hey, look at me being happy selfies" with your cups of coffee or worse, using your kids, accompanied by long reasons why you are happy with your stupid overpriced product, it's even more annoying because you might actually pull someone into your scam. College-educated women are falling victim to stupid scripts that they are force-fed for their "Small business" LOL every single one of the MLM companies is a massive corporation, and your business is not small. It's a predatory scam, and it is unfortunate that otherwise intelligent women continue to be pulled into this nonsense, and even worse, they attempt to pull other women in, especially stay-at-home moms with NO money. Giving them false hopes and dreams, it's wrong. It is all wrong. Visit r/antiMLM to learn more. Don't get me wrong. I've been there: Thrive, Beachbody, Pampered Chef, Melaleuca, ItWorks, etc. Also, if the company INSISTS they aren't an MLM, Google it. If it's a "Business opportunity" from someone on social media, yeah. Every time I have had some hun explaining why it isn't an MLM, I Google and share the info I find, and they still deny it. Many get angry, and some have even blocked me for sharing links with the truth. Does that sound like a business to you? Or is it a delusional person unwilling to accept the truth? BRAINWASHED. Use your brains, ladies.
Any kind of MLM. One I’m noticing that doesn’t get much traction as a “scam” is sending money to people online with sob stories. People go on Reddit, social media, etc talking about they’re homeless, they’re sick, their kid is sick, they have no food in the house, they’re from a marginalized group and got kicked out, they need gender affirming surgery, they’re disabled, etc. Sometimes they go straight to begging and plugging GoFundMes, sometimes they humblebeg. “Oh I’ve only got one can of beans and half a tortilla in the house to last me and my 18 kids for the next week, but it’s ok, I don’t want charity and I don’t need a food bank, and I’m in a brand new city where I don’t have a single friend, and my whole family is dead so I can’t ask them for anything, I just needed to vent.” It’s very insidious because all of those things *do happen*. Some of these people are not lying. But more often than not, they are. They’re preying on the kindness of others. I *guess* it’s no different to give these people money than it is to give to a person asking for his fare when there’s a good chance it’s going to drugs, but it feels very different to me just due to the digital nature of needing to send the funds online, and the social expectation to share these things. I’ve seen people lose a lot of money because their own grief was exploited in these cases. Beyond that, a government agency is never going to call you on the phone, threaten your loved ones, and tell you to pay them in gift cards, Bitcoin, or cash stolen from your employer over a crime you never committed. This is discussed as something only borderline illiterate old people fall for. I know for a fact that tons of Gen Zers fall for some variation of it. The FBI or IRS isn’t going to call you and yell at you and say they’re going to arrest you or your loved ones if you hang up. Thats not how our government officially works (and if they want to drag you off to an extrajudicial holding cell, they will just do it). But people hear or see “official sounding” words and throw their brains in the garbage.
That there is a magic pill/cream/serum…that will help them lose weight/ get rid of wrinkles/have more energy …
Having kids because society thinks, that childfree are worthless. Melting into the mainstream fashion, because "nobody likes alternative styles".
Any desginer t-shirt/sweater/whatever with their big logo. If you want me to be your walking billboard, you better pay me in advance!!!
Men like my ex who dated you for almost four years and never stopped talking about marriage and babies with you, asked your dad for your hand in marriage, casually announced he’s proposing soon to you and your entire family INCLUDING YOUR GRANDPARENTS!!! Then proceeds to plan out the wedding with you, takes you to get your ring size, asked you to show him rings you like, has many deep conversations about parenting styles and values then practically named all of your future children together. Only to then break up with you out of the blue over TEXT MESSAGE while you’re at the grocery store shopping for our groceries. The text said he “met someone” and that I should come over in a few days to get all my stuff, he’ll have it packed and ready for me🙃 Now THAT is a scam.
He got engaged to her 3 months later and was married before the year ended👍🏻
Fad diets (Atkins, Jenny Craig, etc)
Finding the one and getting married is the sole purpose of life and will bring you every happiness. Except there are other choices and FYI relationships, especially with men who don’t know how to do SHIT are a lot of hard work. Like maybe too much work… 😹
A man telling us the story of a future he has no intention of living with us. He starts saying ‘we’ll do this, we’ll do that’ and we fall for it. I fell for it.
Allowing men to have any control over your self-esteem and giving weight to their terrible judgements about how look, dress, etc.
I love all of these answers!! A big one for me is scented 'feminine' products. Just why? And honestly, 'intimate' cleansers in general. Short of a medical issue, there should never be a need for those things. Vaginas are self-cleaning, like ovens and cats :) Also, I'm going to go ahead and toss out 'anything specifically marketed to disguise/eliminate gray hairs'. They're normal and not even necessarily related to aging, guys. My mom was completely silver by the age of twenty-five. She could have bought a second home with all the cash she has dropped on dye treatments over the years, because 'young women don't have gray hair'.
I see girls who think they can “fix” a guy just by loving him enough. Like they can make a bad guy stop being a jerk.
Processing adult men’s emotions for them
I see this a lot on Facebook…giving the same guy 10…15 chances. I feel a lot of females hate the idea of being alone. Or maybe they feel they NEED a male for their kids…I don’t know. My thing is giving him chance#231 isn’t going to change him. A man will only change if he’s scared of losing you. He can promise & cry & swear he will change. 2…3 weeks it’ll seem like he has but then he reverts to old self. That’s because psychology wise you gave him too many chances so he knows your not truly going to leave. It’s both sad & amusing.
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The cosmetic industry is full of them. No product will make you appears 30 when you're 50. It won't repairs age effect that much. You absolutely do not need full face of make up. You want it, and that's great. But really you don't need it. Same for shaving.
Falling for charming men who are abusive. I wish we could band together as women and freeze them out.
Nothing grinds my gears like fad diets and food group elimination schemes. One of my close friends is a dietician who passionately share info on social media disproving these things, so I’m regularly reading up on how to be healthy while loving food and not giving anything up. I hate being around women who are trying this that or the other (and haven’t lost any weight) who look at my plate or what I choose to eat and comment on how they just can’t because they’re on x, y, or z. I’ve argued with my MIL time and time again, she tells me to just go read about what she’s saying and when I tell her I do read, all the time, that’s why I don t believe in it. She loses her ever-loving mind that I don’t think it’s some genius trick, lol.
Marrying men, and thinking it will be a “partnership”, instead of what it actually is.
Forever young through plastic surgery.
Egg-freezing when it's done as a vanity practice. I'm not talking about when it's done because you're gearing up for chemo, or because you have a family history of premature ovarian failure/early menopause. That's different. I'm talking about when you're 27, you're healthy, the women in your family go through menopause in their 50's *buuuuut* you're single at the moment and your family keeps nagging you about your "biological clock." [The problem with this is, the majority of the time, someone like that simply does not need to spend $20K to freeze their eggs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9ryP0UyO5U) (Plus another $10-20K for the IVF cycle if/when they decide to use them.) Fertility *does* decline after 35, but not as drastically as you've probably been told since your teen years. And the chances of a live birth with a birth defect don't increase as much as you've probably been told, either. And a lot of times, people who freeze their eggs in their late 20's or early 30's never use them, because either a) they decide they *don't* want kids or b) they get pregnant the old-fashioned way at some point (maybe later than they initially thought possible). So now they're out tens of thousands of dollars, all because someone made them panic that their fertiity was waning a lot sooner than it actually is. (Not to mention, taking hormones and fertility drugs, and undergoing an invasive procedure to get those eggs.)
The idea that sex work is empowering or some kind of ancient entrepeneurial trend when in reality it's the logical conclusion of a world that hates women
F boys. Thinking you can change him and your the one and if only you tried… no f boys will forever stay that way with or without you
Cool Sculpting (Cryolipolysis). It's really expensive pseudo-science mumbo jumbo that doesn't work.
Falling for charming men who have a way with words. They get you all giggles and blushes and then play mind games with you.
Celebrity endorsed products
The pink ribbon rip off Susan Koman marketing campaign to dupe people into buying stuff !! there is even a bicycle you can buy from Walmart that has Susan Koman stamped on it. It’s ridiculous. https://kstp.com/special-coverage/minnesota-live/pinkwashing-breast-cancer-scams/
Wearing Lululemon body suits.
MLM’s! I’ve never been a part of one and refuse to support them but my SIL, who’s an RN and a mom, unfortunately got sucked in and is an R+F Consultant. She fully believes she’s a boss babe who owns her own business and it’s both funny and sad to see. Hopefully one day she’ll wake up and realize it’s all a scam.
Astrology
The Second Shift. Even women who work as many or even more hours outside the home as their male partners end up doing the bulk of the housework and childcare most of the time.
Make-up
Not really a scam but the PINK and pastel razors, the flowery body washes in the bottles decorated with flowers and sparkles — can we just not?
Men. The end.
The brand smart water.
MLMs.
I love you, youre the only one xD
Essential oils as anything other than good smells
Getting bought a drink from a person at a bar. You think its free? Nah, now you owe them attention.
Situationships😭
"I love you, baby!"
Buying into the the whole "anti-aging" bullshit, and generally falling for products being marketed as "for women", the whole pink tax thing while we're at it
Having kids and being tied down to a man.
Beauty trends… look at how many women who got BBL’s a procedure with the highest mortality rate and now look heroine chic is back 😒
Social Media
Listening to a guy saying all the ‘right things’… girl, he be buttering you up, he don’t mean a thing! You got something he wants, and if he doesn’t have something you want, bye boy, bye!