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"...I would argue, as Mary Wollstencraft first hypothesized, that a lot of these manipulating behaviors come from feelings of helplessness. Many women spend their entire marriages being managed and handled by men who, after entering into holy matrimony with a woman, try to avoid relating to their wives on any level...."
-- drinkwater
Drinkwater,
Could you try to construct a branch of feminist "thought" that doesn't reduce to:
Men act bad because men are evil
Woman act bad because men have treated them badly?
Maybe it's a little more elaborate:
1. Women are victims
2. Men are oppressors
Therefore: All oppression and wrong, and and all victims are women, and if it looks to be the other way around, you're just not looking deep enough.
You are correct that we don't know the woman's side of this story, and are judging her somewhat unfairly. But, when you hear of a man who "doesn't help out around the house enough," are you eager to ask how time-consuming and stressful is his job is relative to hers? If a woman complains that her husband "Doesn't compliment my appearance enough any more," do you ask how much weight she's gained during the marriage? Judging the other spouse in absentia is an inherent characteristic of this type of column.
