What is it with girls and oh-so-girly butterflies?

but·ter·fly (b?t'?r-fl?')
n.
1. Any of various insects of the order Lepidoptera, characteristically having slender bodies, knobbed antennae, and four broad, usually colorful wings.
2. A person interested principally in frivolous pleasure: a social butterfly.
3. Sports.
1. A swimming stroke in which a swimmer lying face down draws both arms upward out of the water, thrusts them forward, and draws them back under the water in an hourglass design while performing a dolphin kick.
2. A race or a leg of a race in which this stroke is swum.
4. butterflies A feeling of unease or mild nausea caused especially by fearful anticipation.



I'm not concerned with numbers 2, 3 and 4. My main concern is the first one. Butterflies. The sometimes intriguingly colorful insects that flutter around from one flower to another. They begin their rather short lives from a cocoon that was produced by a caterpillar spinning itself around in its own bodily secretions. True it's an invertebrate creature that belongs to the insect kingdom, but it's not just any insect. It's the infamously popular butterfly.

Last time I checked, girls weren't so fond of insects. As a matter of fact they couldn't stand insects. Now if you're a female and you're reading this and you're thinking to yourself "Oh not all girls hate insects, I like 'em" then I'm sad to inform you that you're a freak of nature. To be honest half of the guys I know start acting girly and squeamish once they come in contact or get up, close and personal with some insects. That's why I won't even start with girls.

I'm not blind (والحمد لله الذي عافانا مما ابتلى به غيرنا), that's why I appreciate that butterflies are sometimes gifted with extraordinary colours. I can also apprehend the fact that they fly around so lightly and with such grace. Fluttering their delicate wings, they move around from one colorful flower to the next.


I would openly understand why a 6-7 or even 10 year old girl would be madly in love with butterflies and everything relating to them, from drawings and sketches to accessories and to the actual creature itself. However at the very sight of a grown up girl, which is no longer a girl, rather a lady at the relatively young age of 18+ showing her unconditional affection to these creatures in all types and forms, that's when I start getting all these weird thoughts. Beaded butterflies, butterfly toys, butterfly imprinted clothes, butterfly stickers, butterfly bags, butterfly shoes, butterfly hair pins, butterfly pens, butterfly key chains, butterfly phone backgrounds and screensaver, butterfly avatars, signatures and display pictures. Alright, enough already. I mean c'mon! Don yoo theeenk tis a leeetle too maach senor/senora?

Who started this weird and radical revolution? Why? What are butterflies supposed to resemble that I'm not aware of? How on earth did an insect get so popular among estrogen led lives? Why butterflies? Why not ants, spiders or roaches? Why insect? Why do they like to be so obvious in showing their childish affection for silly insignificant cartoon like drawing/sketches/paintings?... Hmmm.

Is it just me that's noticed this? Am I the only one that thinks they overdo it sometimes... scratch that... most of the time!? Does it only get to me?

Every time a girl (referring to young ladies) tries to explain anything about silly colorful butterflies somewhere, she has to do it in a somewhat childish manner. The pitch of her voice rises a bit, this dorky smile is drawn on her face, her head tilts to either side, and she cuddles up and explains away. Is it just me or does that seem like the perfect thing for a cute 7 year old girl to do? And since I've realised that the root of all these illogical actions are of a childish nature, then I suppose there could be one more rational explanation to this phenomenon. Could it be that women are always in denial of their age and of the aging process at any point in their life, that they seek this as an opportunity to show the whole world that they're still young (young at heart atleast)??



Your honor, I rest my case.