>Flanagan frets and frets about how biology is inherently unfair to girls, but she shockingly neglects to mention the fact that birth control (and abortion) is the way to level the playing field. Anyone who really cared about girls would be spilling ink over sex ed and access to birth control, not this blind lamenting about how weak and fragile girls are.<

Ah, but Flanagan thinks she _does_ care--in that she doesn't want to see girls foolishly ruin their chances to be virgin-until-wed-and-good-wifey-moos-thereafter to her sons. :) Flanagan and those of her ilk honestly believe that no matter how independent a girl is or how much she's accomplished, her main value is still as a virgin, then wife--and on that value hangs civilization's only chance to remain civilized. Their columns are a steady drumbeat intended to scare girls (and their parents) into thinking that their idea of wifehood is still the only right one no matter how many times it's been proven that one size doesn't fit all. Walsh is right on to call Flanagan out on this crap--the latter is a concern troll of a particularly poisonous sort. Think Delores Umbridge from Harry Potter--all sweet and caring-seeming, but underneath raging that "children" won't listen to what she has to say.

...Manderley's sinister housekeeper who vanished after that nasty business in Daphne duMaurier's REBECCA?!?! I figured that beyotch would crop up to cause trouble somewhere else--she was entirely too good a villian not to...oh. Never mind. But for anyone who hasn't read REBECCA, read it instead of trying to make sense of this mess. And even if you've read it before, you should still read it again instead of trying to make sense of this mess.

>And just think, we as the audience all get the special privilege of being a part of their learning and growth. Awesome!<

...not to mention their SALON paycheck-for-learning-on-the-frickin'-job-and-wasting-space-other-more-deserving-strips-should-have. Peachy. :)

..of what SALON _should_ be running instead of KOF:

Shooting War

http://shootingwar.com

Get Your War On by David Rees

http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war69.html

Bad Reporter by Don Asmussen

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/11/14/DDASMUSSENBR.DTL

Kukuburi,Princess Planet, The Abominable Charles Christopher (thanks, Machete!!)

http://www.transmission-x.com

SinFest

http://www.sinfest.net

Cat and Girl

http://www.catandgirl.com/

Dinosaur Comics

http://www.qwantz.com/

Cyanide and Happiness

http://www.explosm.net/comics/761/

Megaton Man

ttp://www.worldfamouscomics.com/megatonman/

8-Bit Theater

http://www.nuklearpower.com/latest.php

Apartment 3-D

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/apt3g/aboutMaina.php

Mary Worth

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mary.asp?date=20071125

Migraine Boy

http://www.gregfiering.com/migraineboy/Book/009.html

XKCD

http://xkcd.com/

Freefall

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01499.htm

Gunerkrigg Court

http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=7

Pibgorn

http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2007/11/07/?uc_full_date=&campid=0&

Order of the Stick

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0506.html

Goblins

http://www.goblinscomic.com/

...and may be the mastermind behind all this, is she planning to do something about that, or...?

...that LW's husband has so little respect for her and her abilities _and_ consistenly blames her for everything. (God, if he hates almost everything about her, why the hell did he marry her in the first place?) And it says a lot that the LW feels guilty over what happened to her ex-husband even though it sounds like that wasn't her fault. LW, whatever your decision about your current spouse (and I'd say leave him--it's bad enough he's getting violent, but that he thinks he can outwit the IRS...that's future disaster, for sure.) you need to figure out why you feel you have to bear so much of a relationship burden that you hook up with guys who are going to scapegoat you.

>Your husband has invested $70,000 of his parents money in a business that takes time to turn a healthy profit, if it ever does.<

So his idea of engaging in tax fraud is a logical, smart idea?

>If you were truly a 50/50 partner you would climb down off of your high horse, put on an apron and wait tables, bus tables and wash dishes.<

Yeah, she should get back into the kitchen like a _real_ woman, right? You do know she's the business' accountant?

>Women are too hormonal to think straight and that drives men crazy. <

They are hormonal only if they have to deal with creeps like you.

>In the course of my thirty year marriage and raising two kids I have probably said I could kill you just about as many times as I have been told: I could kill you.<

Lovely marriage you've got there, sport. The only ego that needs deflating is yours.

>I am not ready to say that our "commitment to girls" involves fostering their independence and strength. Moreover, I wouldn't just yet equate the expanding visibility of female sexuality with sexual responsibility and autonomy.

When I look around, and especially when I go out, I see girls (specifically girls) as increasingly willing participants in their own objectification and degradation.<

Has it occurred to you that because some girls haven't been taught sexual responsibility that that is the reason they participate in being objectified? You are making the common mistake that teaching girls about sexuality equals encouraging them to be sluts. But it's the "protect girls from sexuality" crap that actually gives these girls no idea of what to look out for or beware of. It's the girls who are sheltered and don't know how how to set their own boundaries and handle sex that are the ones who get pregnant or abused or played.

1) Thanks! The poster named "setme!" was actually the original collator on this--I just keep reposting it.

2) No, I hadn't heard about the BBC REBECCA (One of the reasons I'm seriously considering moving to London someday is because radio drama is still done over there and presents some nifty writing opportunities.) Thanks for the heads-up--I'll see if it's over at the BBC site.