Islands of Pretense

Ain’t nobody trying to impress y’all. I know that sentence is all kinds of grammatically incorrect, but those are my feelings. Anybody that knows me well knows that I don’t habitually bash men and will go to bat for them on various issues. I don’t know about other women, but THIS woman is tired of the stereotypes in regards to honesty, integrity, keeping up appearances, accountability, what we want out of relationships, and countless other issues.


Men say they want honest women, yet when we are honest with them, they rarely ever believe it. Before I get into it, though, I just want to say I hate the J. Cole line, “She say she only f*ck like 4 or 5 n*ggas, so you know you gotta multiply by 3.” If I tell you my number you need only multiply by 1, or you could simply believe what I tell you. I really hate when men automatically assume a woman is lying about the sensitive things, or anything for that matter, simply to save face. I know things like number of sexual partners can be deal breakers for some people. The truth has a way of always surfacing, and I don’t want any man to be with me under pretenses. I have no need to fudge my numbers or anything else. It is exactly what it is. If it’s something you can’t or won’t deal with, then you are free to move around. No hard feelings. Some of us don’t care to indulge in the games of “Oh! Let me lie to him so he doesn’t see that I’m flawed!” or “Let me make him think I’m something other than what I really am!” Ain’t nobody got time for those shenanigans. I believe most things are black and white even when there are multiple sides to the issues. Bottom line, you either do or don’t, will or won’t, can or can’t. We’re all adults with free will.

I usually have an idea in mind about the direction I want most of my relationships to go. If monogamy happens to be on the agenda, then I bring it up. I like to always know where I stand, and I reciprocate that with others. There were times when I have told a man or two that I would prefer we be exclusive but only when they were ready. I give no ultimatums and play no games in matters of the heart. I love very deeply and am very loyal. I also let them know that I won’t wait forever for them to be ready and will be gone if they take too long. This takes place only after I have analyzed and determined whether or not we can be beneficial to one another. Understandably, this sounds like a business partnership, and in many ways it is, with great sex and friendship being ultimate bonuses. I don’t want a man simply to say I have one or because he happens to be sexy, cute, attractive, etc. My goal is to be your partner and helper. By the same measure, I don’t want to be wanted simply because I am found to be attractive. I have no qualms bringing my talents to the table. Tell me what you want or need done, how you want it, and I will get to work on it. When you succeed I succeed as well. I want to be proud of you and don’t want a man I can’t assist in some facet. I need to feel useful for something other than sex, cooking, cleaning, and making babies. Those things are easily attained.

I was listening to a Youtube cast thingie hosted by two guys I’ve met. The subject was about accountability. They went in on women, claiming most don’t take responsibility for their actions preferring to elude accountability. I had mixed feelings about the show and was even a little miffed at some of the opinions, but I can understand how they came to their conclusions. This post was somewhat inspired by that show. I’ll place the link below. The audio isn’t suitable for work.

We make things too complicated trying to either be what we think others want us to be or trying to decipher if others are what we think they are. Honest and genuine people get shirked in the process and lost in the shuffle of pretenders and cynical pessimists. Perhaps we could all benefit from strong dosages of spiritual discernment in order to dismantle the islands of pretenses that we have possibly become and project.

I do not own the image used in this post