Awesome, bitch.

I often wonder how to nail down self esteem. What is it exactly? Is self esteem the way I view myself - Wombat, blogger, Australian living in Florida - or is it more about the internals - Wombat, worried blog readers will dislike this post, wondering what dopey decision led him to live in Florida?

Parents of young kids seem inordinately concerned with their sprogs' self esteem. Schools in the United States appear to an outsider to be all about teaching it, along with how to address a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered person so as not to offend their self esteem.

But that's not my point of interest. I'm consistently confounded by the way in which women can appear to be loaded with confidence, and yet choose men who treat them like shit. How can it be that powerful females who look to have the world by the balls end up doormats for oaves? A friend explained it this way:

There is a certain je ne sais quoi to bad boys. I think there are a million psychological reasons as to why women go for them, each one of the reasons pretty fucked up. "I want to piss off my parents by showing them I'm autonomous", "He's a rebel and Hollywood shows us that rebels are hot", and my personal favorite, "It feels good when he makes me feel bad". It's true...some chicks dig on feeling like shit. Call it a Martyr Syndrome if you wish, but she gets off on bitching about everything. I had to consciously rip myself away from that path, lest I become like (that). Thesedays I prefer men who treat me like the fucking awesome bitch I am.

Indeed. Awesome.