You know, a few days ago, a lady, I believe, quoted a post where a pregnant woman was showing some athleticism with the caption:
"Y'all can do anything until it's time to stand in a bus."
She was not wrong. But the more accurate way to put it, would have been:
"Y'all can do anything until a man is on the scene."
Because many pregnant women are capable of far more than they display when men are around. A pregnant woman cannot stand in a bus because there are men in sight and on the scene. Every time someone gives up a seat for a pregnant woman, it is more often a man than not.
The point is that women often amplify pregnancy-related discomfort when a man is the audience. Sometimes unconsciously, sometimes consciously, it becomes a collaboration with the men's belief that women are fragile and should be protected. As a result, they are more likely to receive the response they desire from a man than from another woman.
That is what I think Mr. Eazi is showing in this video.
The larger problem, however, is that we men often hold women in higher estimation than they hold themselves.
I'll take it a step further.
This is also why the saying,
"If your mama swears for you, you will suffer in this life,"
is directed with greater frequency and seriousness toward boy child than toward girls.
Society rarely makes such warnings to the girl child. This because they know that the girl, being of similar disposition and agency as the mother, would be less inclined to believe that she possesses the power to alter another person's destiny or future by her words alone. Therefore, hardly will you see "mama" going naked to swear for daughters, or threatening to do so.
The message in all of this is that men and women do not merely see the world differently; they see women differently.
Men have been conditioned to assign women a greater degree of fragility and exceptionalism than women often assign to themselves. Women, knowing this, consciously or unconsciously learn to negotiate the world through that perception.
And society, in turn, reinforces it. So, whether it is pregnancy, emotion, misfortune, or even superstition, what you are often witnessing is not simply female weakness or male generosity, but a long-standing social arrangement in which men overestimate women's helplessness, and women learn to live profitably within that estimation.
But then, I believe I have said enough.
Goodluck. Or, congratulations.
“Temi, seeing you pregnant made me look at my mum differently and realize women are actually supernatural
Bringing another human into this world is something I’ll never stop respecting 👶🏾✨”
— Mr Eaz