10 Comments

  1. Good stab, Cath. If I may comment (what a silly polite phrase… that’s the whole purpose, right?)…

    #4 is really #1. Its compounded by, and much worse, than the enumerated #1, #2, and #3. The deck is not only stacked unfairly against men, its a virtual economic revolver in a woman’s hands, backed and loaded by the full force of the state. Its a somewhat taboo topic, not only because its a zombie whistle for the virulent/violent feminists, but also because the nature of sociology conditions males to want other males to step up to support progeny.

    If there were one lynchpin that could make a significant difference in leveling the playing fields, it would be giving men and women equal power in their choice of proceeding/participating/supporting children.

    Since coerced termination/abortion is not among *our* options, that would likely mean that during the period a woman *could* safely abort she would need to find and legally serve a ‘Demand of Decision’ upon the supposed father, who would then have some period of time (perhaps 60 days, or the end of her ‘safe period,’ whichever is later… not sure how to make it fair to both,) to decide whether he wants in, or not.

    If he opts out, he is permanently separated from all aspects and benefits of fatherhood, but in no other way financially responsible for the woman or child.

    There needs to be some form of voluntary arbitration as well for the woman who does not want to be a mother, but given that she has become pregnant *WOULD* be willing to carry and deliver (perhaps for a mutually agreed compensation agreement) so that the father can be a father.

    Ultimately… our plumbings are all different though… so the artificial social constructs to try to level the playing fields will forever be flawed. The most effective is probably the most natural.

  2. A few of beefs:

    #5 – I think girls have to worry about creepiness as well, just in a different way. “Nympho” and “psycho bitch” are things for a reason.

    #4 – I did some research on this a while back, and it’s not at all clear to me that bias in the court systems is pervasive: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathy-meyer/dispelling-the-myth-of-ge_b_1617115.html

    #3 – Except that quotas have been struck down by the SCOTUS for public institutions repeatedly: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124640586803076705

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke

    Though private companies can make quotas if they wish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Steelworkers_v._Weber

    I’m not sure how prevalent this is.

    and

    #2 – “But the taboo of a woman acting like a man is much, much less than the taboo of a man acting like a woman.”

    I think trans* men and women are probably equally discriminated against. That being said, I think that discrepancy does happen for the behavior of cisgender people.

      • You expect me to care about things that happen outside the US? Psha. 😛

        In all seriousness, that is a good point. I just get the impression that most of the men I hear complaining about this stuff are Americans.

    • Dempy

      Before my libertarian days, a supervisor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wanted to hire me, but he was told he couldn’t because I am a white male and they were short on minorities.

  3. Blammm

    What about dating norms (only men are expected to pursue a relationship, men are expected to pay for the bulk of dating expenses, men are expected to propose an engagement, etc.)?

  4. Edie Bernhardt

    I agree with much of this…I’ve been very focused on masculinity constructs because I don’t believe feminism can succeed without bringing men into the discussion. I want to knock down some of those gendered expectations on both sides. I agree with the spirit of affirmative action but I don’t believe it has worked the way it was supposed to. I would actually say classism and poverty are bigger problems than either race or gender, but they are all related. I don’t think we should hesitate to speak about racism because we have privilege. I actually think that just as women need men to be feminists, white people absolutely have to acknowledge the problem of racism if anything is to improve. We do have to understand that we come from a privileged perspective, and we have to be willing to be called on it, and admit when we’re wrong. We can’t learn if we don’t try.

  5. paul king

    Women don’t belong in the military…….more than 50% couldn’t do three chin-ups in the latest Marine physical fitness test. The Marines are debating solving the problem by lowering the standards. Women also shouldn’t be police officers. Whenever a woman on patrol encounters a problem she immediately calls male officers to the scene. This cuts efficiency down by 50%. Women shouldn’t be firefighters. Same physical limitations.

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