Pondering Purses

So, here is an age old question that I have yet to find an answer…why do women always carry around a purse and men neatly tuck a wallet into their pocket when they go out?

I know, right? Why isn’t it the other way around?  I understand that many men carry a murse, but this seems to be for very specific purposes such as traveling to work or going on a hike. Women take theirs everywhere!

My first inkling says that it goes back in time to when we were hunters and gatherers and the gatherers needed something hands free to hold the nuts and berries they collected. Since I was not an anthropology major, my only experience with the stone age is from The Flintstones.  Wilma and Betty carried around purses. Could the Flintstones be historically accurate?

So I did some research and found out that there may be some truth to the fictional cartoon series.  According to National Geographic, the world’s oldest purse, studded with dog teeth, was discovered in Germany in 2012. It dates back to between 2,500 and 2,200 BC. While I personally would never carry around anything that contained my “favorite child’s” chompers, I do give the designer kudos for making an attempt at fashion! What the article did not mention though, was whether a man or a woman carried it around…

Here we are in 2020 and we are not longer “hunters”, but I have become a “gatherer!” I would like to describe my purse problem as this: I use a small purse for a few months, until it becomes overloaded with “things”.  I complain that it is too small, so I go out and purchase a suitcase sized one.  It starts off neat, honest!  Then I seem to throw everything in there and never clean it out.  It is like a scavenger hunt every time I go to find my keys. 

https://medium.com/i-love-charts/the-geology-of-a-womans-purse-cc2c88464dc9#.n92n3jcxm

I keep hoping that I will find a lost $100 bill in there, but it has yet to happen!

http://adulthumorblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-womans-purse.html

My current large purse, which my husband has affectionately named, “The Abyss” is the prime example of my “trash bag”. It has gotten so bad, that my husband is afraid to look inside! But then again, he is afraid to look inside my neat, smaller purse too.  I honestly don’t get why men are afraid to look inside a woman’s purse.  It’s not like I have anything to hide.  In there, I just have…my phone, a wallet, receipts, lipsticks, hair elastics, loose coins, latex gloves, masks, straws, Advil, a flash drive, pens, Flair pens (yes, there is a difference!) gift cards, hand cream, work lanyard,  hair clips, business cards, mints, feminine products, floss, cough drops, eyeglasses, shopping lists, coupons, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, tissues, protein bar, napkins, glass lens wipes, bandaids, and Poopouri!

So why don’t men feel the same need to “be prepared”?  I am sure some of these men were Boy Scouts at one point in time.  According to New York Magazine, it may be that women are genetically wired to exhibit more aversion for illness or lack of hygiene than men, so they find themselves armed and ready for any situation that may arise. Okay, I get that!

So do woman really need to carry around purses?  Let’s be honest ladies, do we really need everything in there? Could we function with a pocket wallet like our male counterparts or would our genetic wiring prohibit us from ever leaving the home without an arsenal of problem solving products? Should I buy my husband his own murse?

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