“…what many unthreateningly call “the male ego” (an inadequate term to describe the drive behind men’s collective undermining of women)…” – one of the many brilliant lines in “Little Women, Big Men: Sexism and the Language of Size” by Andrea Safran. http://www.saidit.org/archives/vol4no2/language.html
Category: men
Jun 05
What do you want me to say?
“What do you want me to say?” your pre-Nigel, Nigel, or ex-Nigel says helplessly, having obviously said the wrong thing, again. “Just tell me what to say and I’ll say it.”
I want you to say what you think. And if I don’t agree with it, then I’m outta here. It’s …
May 19
Brunettes, Blondes, and Redheads
So the other day I started reading Iron Shadows by Steven Barnes. He’s apparently a bestselling author. Which is really disturbing.
Because four sentences in, he describes a woman as “a small wiry brunette”. Seriously? Does anyone actually identify women by their hair colour any more? That’s so—1940s. Isn’t it? I check. The book’s copyright …
Apr 06
Power or Responsibility?
Several years ago, a local arts centre ran an ad for the position of General Manager. It caught my eye – for a second, I must’ve thought of applying. But then my conscious self must’ve recognized it as being out of my league and I read on.
But then I thought, wait a minute! I’m …
Mar 22
Making Taxes Gender-Fair
Since men commit 90% of the crime, they should pay 90% of the tax that supports the judicial system. Prisons are expensive to build and maintain. As are prisoners – they don’t work while they’re in prison, so we have to support them. Then there’s the expense of the police forces and courts that get …
Mar 12
And now for something completely depressing
And now for something completely depressing:
http://100percentmen.tumblr.com/
Jan 27
Dolly
Wilmut’s team named the sheep cloned from a single adult cell “Dolly” because that cell had come from a mammary gland. I’m tempted, on that basis alone, to cast my vote against human cloning. I mean, if that kind of short-sightedness or immaturity is going to be running things, they’re bound to go horribly wrong.
…
Jan 07
Arrogance, I think
Fresh from the office of my supervisor who persists in gently giving me unsolicited advice, despite being neither older nor wiser, I’m struck by Rousseau’s tone (in his “Marriage”): “Extreme in all things, they [women] devote themselves to their play with greater zeal than boys. This is the second defect. This zeal must be kept …
Dec 18
Let’s Talk about Sex
[This one’s a little old, as you can tell by the Salt-n-Pepa reference, but still relevant, I think. Sigh.]
Disc jockeys generally come in two sexes: male and female. So what, you may think, sex doesn’t matter. Oh but it does, so sad to say.
I used to deejay for weddings and other parties, and …
Dec 10
Men’s Precision Teams
Have you ever wondered why, in the sport of figure skating, there are no men’s precision teams?
Sure, precision skating requires attention to detail and a highly developed spatial sense. But both are surely male capabilities; in fact, aren’t they male superiorities? Isn’t that why (so we’re told) men dominate science and engineering?
And of …