Females should be proud that they are women.

What if they're children? What if they're birds? What if they're electrical outlets? I see what you're getting at with these claims, I think, but I'm not comfortable voting on them when they're so ambiguous.

I have no idea. It just seems to be the common idea. It's true that my femaleness is equally shared with children and many birds.

what if they're girls or chicks?

Chicks Rock!

"should"?
aren't we getting a little bossy here?

no. Rachel is not telling people what to do -- she isn't even agreeing with the claim as of this writing -- she's jsut attempting to pin down an impression she gets from popular culture that she doesn't understand.

however, i think that while i disagree with what rachel means by this claim (and the parallel one about men) it is a misunderstanding that arises from the multiple meanings of "pride" / "be proud of"

when i think i can word it better, i'll try to do so.

I was going to disagree because there's little sense in having pride for what you had no hand in causing, I think the fact that I point out "I'm a girl" when it's assumed on /., Digg, or on Linux IRC channels that I'm male means I'd be contradicting myself.

disagreeing that you should does not mean the same thing as agreeing that you shouldn't. also, there is a difference between being proud that you're female and being proud that you've done things even though people assume you wouldn't do them because of being female.

I see no contradiction in not being proud of being female and not wanting people to think you are male and wanting people to not stupidly assume that a certain impression or things you did must mean the person who did them is male.