Letters to the Editor
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Butt out!
Lose the naked butts ad!
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Something I'd like to make clear
is that I don't think my father and grandfather behaved as they did because they were men. I think it was because they could. They had insufficient empathy and impulse control, plus no external checks on their behavior. When they were in situations where they had external checks, like the workplace, they generally managed to control themselves.
Power corrupts.
Do women have too much power now and should the pendulum swing the other way? Until the draft is either leveled or eliminated and women are allowed into combat positions, and men are quitting their jobs to care for children at the same rate as women, then I think not. What I think is happening is that some men have figured out that feminism seriously reduces their access to and control over wives. Naturally, they're upset. I wouldn't expect them to be anything else.
My grandfather was definitely a boring old man, by the way. He wrote lengthy anti-Semitic diatribes until the day he died, and blamed the Jews for everything that went wrong in his life. He was also a staunch opponent of women's rights, but I think he knew that had feminism happened a few generations earlier, he would have been out on his rear.
What's interesting is that even his sons thought he was disgusting. Two of them left home before they turned 18.
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Sweet job -Emily,
Billy Joel can't drive without hitting a tree. I'll leave the wisdom to others.
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I am the anonymous with the rapist grandfather.
I think my paternal grandfather might have altered his abusive behavior if the laws had come down hard on him. His wife would have probably benefited from birth control and circumstances that would have allowed her to do something besides domestic work. She was a highly intelligent woman and I have read some of her writing, most of it of a religious nature and much of it poetry. She understood meter and clearly knew what a half-rhyme was. Sad.
However, I doubt anything other than imprisonment would have changed my maternal grandfather. Sexual abusers don't stop their behavior because of laws or changed social and cultural attitudes. My guess is that he might have dropped his Klan membership. He would have kept raping his daughters.
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Why it matters...
I had tried to post this earlier, but the computer went beep beep beep and died. And it was a good post too.
I asked how often did your father rape your mother?
And you said he didn't.
But you had just told us how you think the victim mentality is a good thing, based on the hard lives your mother and grandmother went through. And as evidence of that, your father could legally rape your mother!!! Aieee!
But it turns out your father never raped your mother.
Why are you advocating blaming current generation men for the sins of their grandfathers? Why do you want to punish and setback current men and demand compensation for offenses your grandmother and mother endured and not you?
Do current men really have it that easy?
Can current men really drop out of the rat race and parent their children?
Stop with the victim mentality and the blaming. There are plenty of feminists like Wendy Kaminer that think it stinks and it counter productive.
I am very sorry for what your mother and grandmother had to endure. No one should have to endure that. I don't see why that entitles feminists to bash men or to demand offsets from current men.
As a society and culture we tend to object to collective punishments.
Congrats to your mom for earning her software engineering degree. It may be small consolation to your mom now, but now it would be very easy for her to get a job in software (well as easy as for any man.)
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Paging a Psychiatrist
This woman needs an ear.
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Mikes Pace
...and Kurt Godel starved himself to death because he thought people were trying to poison him.
Bad logic, dude.
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The good old days
However, I doubt anything other than imprisonment would have changed my maternal grandfather. Sexual abusers don't stop their behavior because of laws or changed social and cultural attitudes. My guess is that he might have dropped his Klan membership. He would have kept raping his daughters.
The beauty of it is that imprisonment is now possible. Back when my grandfather was a husband and father, he would have had the same access to any daughters as he did to his wife. Thankfully, he had no daughters.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder about those who are longing for the good old days. Are they like Katie Roiphe, who appears to be pining for a knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet? Or would they like to have the free and heavy hand that my grandfather had?
The traditional family structure is still possible, it just has to be done without coercion. Non-traditional structures are also possible, and I strongly encourage those men who think the female role is so great to try it on for size.
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not a punishment
How on earth is a man punished when a woman is able to own a car or a house or hold a credit card in her own name or have some control over who does what to her body?
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juicy butt (watch this space)
I can see how Roiphe feminism would be attractive to some women. It is much more difficult to make systemic change in society than it is just to smile while you pick up the Legos.
What a condescending, dismissive, ignorant statement. Snarky, but not an argument.
Is your thesis filled with such bon mots?
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When was the last time... Are we really discussing...
not a punishment
How on earth is a man punished when a woman is able to own a car or a house or hold a credit card in her own name or have some control over who does what to her body?
How long have women been allowed to own cars, or hold a credit card in her name? Is feminism still fighting that battle, or is that just another victim ploy?
Women have no control over their body? Can you explain? I don't see government mandated impregnation camps. I see rape and sexual harassment rightfully labeled as crimes. I see abortion still legal.
Where is the punishment of men?
Lobbying by NOW for sole custody and default custody given to women. Lobbying against a rebuttable presumption of joint custody.
Not acknowledging as has occurred in this thread all of the crap that are imposed on men regarding their roles. Blaming all men ("I BLAME THE PATRIARCHY!") for the reprehensible sexist behaviors of a few. Pathologizing male sexualtiy: You Objectified Me!! AIEEE!!!!
But truly, if you think this is about your inability to hold a credit card in your name, then I have to ask you what the color of the sky is outside your spaceship...