What’s the Difference between a B** and a Wh***?

 

There was a discussion with a couple of friends tonight, which centred around an acquaintance’s feelings towards a former colleague. This reminded me of an old joke that one of my best friends at university used to tell. This joke has a tinge of political incorrectness but it tells us a lot about how the way the world works.

The joke is essentially the question of – “What’s the difference between a b**ch and a W***re?” The answer is “The W**re sleeps with everyone. The b**ch sleeps with everyone except you?

 

 What makes her so different from

 

 

Her?

The first point about this joke is that it hits on something very fundamental between men and women and their relationship to sex. We salute men for the number of women they sleep with. However, when it doesn’t work with the other side. A man who sleeps with multiple women is known as a “stud” while a woman with a high sex drive is known as a “w**re.”

It’s clear that we hold women up to a very different standard. Men get certain licenses that women don’t get and somehow, when women appear to behave in similar ways to men, we try to pull them down.

However, as this joke implies, we have to ask ourselves if our disapproval of women who behave like men has a tinge of jealousy to it. Why do we feel that “lose” women are awful whilst we cheer on “lose” men?

OK, I am a reasonably healthy heterosexual man and even if I’m pushing close to the five-oh mark, the thought of getting laid does cross my mind. Sure, getting laid is no longer the same priority that it was when I was in my 20s, that thought does come into my mind whenever I look at some of the more attractive things that cross my path in my daily life in the Central Business District.

So, with that in my mind, I understand this joke. Let’s be honest, if a woman has a reputation with being “easy,” my first thought is not about her morals but whether I’ll be able to get into bed with her. Let’s face it, whilst we find “w**re’s” socially unacceptable, the only reason why the entire vice industry (the oldest industry in the world) exists and continues to do so, is because men have been out to get laid. We complain about women being “w**res” but we are the ones who create an industry for them.

So, let’s be honest – a woman that has a reputation for being “easy” is only easy because a “horny guy” thinks she’s an “easy” opportunity to get laid. Then, when the said “easy” woman turns you down, despite sleeping everyone else except you – it produces a rather frustrating feeling and there’s a feeling that you’ve been suckered (experiences which I can speak from on a personal basis).

Whilst this joke focuses on male-female relationships, we do see plenty of this in other relationships. The feeling that everyone else “except you,” is getting something that you believe you’re chasing for can be very frustrating and “resentment” can build up.

I’m generally open to the idea that we need people from elsewhere in our economic system. Given that the highlights of my working life were provided by Indian nationals, I personally don’t have issues with the influx of Indian nationals. I am very open that I dislike “far-right” populist who use the “anti-migrant” drum to whip up fear against particular ethnic groups. I took history of A-levels and I understand that the Nazis, Klu Klux Klan are the “bad-guys” for a good reason.

However, I do get where this is coming from. If you listen to enough people online, you’d get the idea that Singapore is providing jobs for everyone – “except” the local Singaporean graduate. No matter how you spin economic statistics, its not going to really gel with guys who believe that everyone else except them is able to get a well-paid job in Singapore.

The latest Prime-Minister-in-Waiting, Mr. Lawrence Wong, needs to understand where the feeling of “everyone except us” is coming from. Why do people on the ground feel so resentful? Sure, we may have to be like “w**res” in the sense that we have to sell ourselves to the foreign investor community. Foreign investment does generate economic growth and in turn jobs.

However, whilst the population can accept that we may have to be “w**res” and be open to the world, the population should not accept that the government is a “b**ch” that provides opportunity to everyone else except the local population.