It's funny what gets us talking around here. Today it's dogs and housework. It's funny that with everything else going on in the world, these are the topics where we let loose....

Anyway, MMM, you charmer, you. My status as a "feminut," whatever the hell that means, has nothing to do with feeling for angry people on the internet. There are just as many women as men who spend big chunks of time being angry in cyberspace, and I feel equally bad for all of 'em. I'm sorry that you and other posters in this thread have had so many bad experiences with members of the opposite sex.

The bottom line for me: Calling your husband a doofus is as damaging and counterproductive as your husband calling you a heifer; saying all men are domestically incompetent is just as irresponsible and cruel as saying all women are bad drivers.

To the couple with asperger's syndrome - maybe your husband is getting wrapped up in cleaning the fridge because he doesn't know what you want him to do when you're cooking. Cooking a multi-course meal is pretty intensive work, perhaps you two could try making something simpler together first? It might be a less stressful way for you to learn how to work together. : )

I like reading the stories from couples who've negotiated the workload in a way that works for both members. I read an article somewhere which said the three biggest reasons couples fight are sex, money and division of labor. This thread certainly validates that article.

I think MMM is sweet on me....

Since I have boobs and a vagina, I'm sure it's pointless to say, but I'm not a feminut, a wingnut, a moonbat, a wimmin, a gormless blob or even a ball-buster. I rather like men, and the many I've called friends would likely say I'm pretty guy-friendly. I bring in just as much money as my spouse, and in fact have worked and supported our family longer than he has. (he was in school, not a mooch, just to be clear) I can fix most of the basic stuff that breaks in the house, the cars and the finances. I also know how to call a plumber, a mechanic and an electrician. If my marriage would end, I would expect nothing more than my share of what we've built together. I live in a no-fault state, which means no alimony. Maybe you should have gotten your divorce in such a place.

If you want to think all women (or, pardon, feminuts) are your ex-wife, more power to you. Like the rest of us, your choices put you in the position you're in. If you can't live with the consequences of your actions, it's certainly not up to feminism to fix your life for you.

When I saw the AP article about sex abuse in schools, my heart sank. Not because I don't feel sympathy for kids that are victims in school, which of course I do, but because it's another reason to go after America's new favorite target - teachers. Half the country already thinks we're lazy, undereducated, incompetent, union drones, parent haters and more concerned with our own asses than those of our students. Now we're perverts, too.

Yay.

Christmas with my ultra-conservative family is going to be a barrel of laughs this year.

As for the topic at hand, while I think there are boys who were taken advantage of by authority figures who most certainly knew better, I don't see the need to make boys (or girls) who aren't (by all reasonable measures) traumatized feel like victims. Don't we have enough of those, both male and female?

At least the letters here haven't devolved the way the rest of the internet has in reference to this story - with battle cries for the dismantling of public education. I poke sticks at some of the more curmudgeonly folk who post here, but I have to say, compared to the rest of the web, we're pretty lucky to have the group we do.

but the goose anus crack made me LMAO.

Please don't start wearing makeup. If you do it, that means I have to do it, and there is already too much crap and too little morning time in the bathroom.

xoxoxox

~me

But I'm not eating with anything I store that close to my armpit.

"Fandoms" are a bit nuts, and more than a little longwinded. At least they haven't taken to calling themselves the fanosphere.

Heh, Mr. Manjoo, I love your columns. And I love that you speak your mind about the pop-culture insanity that has taken over our world. You inspire debate and you argue like a champ. Keep it up.

I for one won't buy the Lexicon OR the Official Harrypedia, because I may be the last adult on the planet to refuse to buy into a children's book heralded as the greatest literature of the 21st century. Just because it sells doesn't make it good. I might buy the Annotated Machinist, though....

*ducks*