What do you mean you don't know how to check your tire pressure?

So I'm having a conversation with my group of friends today and one of the girls asks about how to check her tire pressure. I find myself being all, "Isn't this stuff every woman should know?" and self-righteous about it, and I have to remind myself that it's not always everyone's normal to be able to do pretty much everything a man can do besides sex myself up, and in the electronic age, I can pretty much do that if necessary as well.

Chock it up to being raised by a single mother with 3 sisters? My intense need for independence? I don't really know what it is, but I've never really relied on people to do things for me. Because I've never really had that option. Over the years, I have befriended ladies who have told me things that baffled me, including, but not limited to:

• I've never filled my car up with gas. My dad did it and then my husband took over when we started dating.
• I've never hung a shelf or used any tools.
• I don't know how to change a tire.
• I've never set up my utilities or balanced my checking account.
• I don't know how to put together Ikea furniture or other "assembly required" pieces.
• I've never painted.
• I've never moved myself.

My dear LAWD I feel competent. It's not that I'm knocking these ladies for never having to do any of these things, but even if you have the resources available to you, wouldn't you want to learn?  What do you do if you get a flat tire? Am I completely idiotic in thinking that I don't want to rely on someone else to help me make things happen?

Here's the rub, and it may just be a Southern thing...when you CAN do these things- people look at you as either a hyper feminist or semi-butch.  It's bizarre, really. I remember when I lived with my ex we were hanging floating shelves on the wall and he was driving me batty because he was not looking for studs, using a level, and other general fuckery that made me want to punch a baby. When I told him I was going to do it because I couldn't stand another hole in the wall (I mean, there are only so many well placed vases and pictures), he got all pissed at me and said I was emasculating him. Really? I thought I was just doing something correctly. I'm not going to play the damsel in distress role, because I'm not distressed. I don't NEED a man to do things for me. If a man is in my life, it's because I WANT him to be and I'm irritated that I have to feign dumb and helpless to stroke a little ego. 

This is where society has changed. My generation should be the product of the feminist seeds sown, and therefore should be independent. Where are the men that were supposed to grow up and be more communicative and nurturing to meet my changing needs? I don't need someone to change my oil, or tires, or teach me how to do things that I should know how to do as a functional human being. And I feel really sorry for women who don't know how to do these things because you never know when that source you rely on is going to be unavailable. 

Butch on, ladies...butch on.