Cut Men: Do They Not Bleed?

Fox News ^ | May 13, 2003 | Wendy McElroy

[jimkress]

Male bashing -- the stereotyping of men as brutal, stupid or otherwise objectionable -- is commonplace. Our sons, husbands, fathers and men-friends are gleefully slandered because they are male. They are subjected to malicious jokes and attitudes that would be decried if directed at blacks, Hispanics or women. The assault against men must stop. But how?

[Paul C. Jesup]

Paul....you need a good woman who's comfortable being a chick...it'll take the edge off.

I'd love to, but all the good ones of my generation are already taken and with the way the sex-laws (harrassment, rape), divorse laws and child-support laws are in this country. I cannot take the risk right now in my life. I don't have the money for a lawyer right now.

[Luna]

I bash both sexes equally.

[wardaddy]

Milk stool gender here...lol

[Nick Danger]

Men just have to laugh it off...and succeed anyway.

That is easier to do if you are already an adult when it starts. I used to laugh at this stuff too, until a 12-year-old nephew of mine tried to kill himself. He was thoroughly convinced that he was doomed to mature into a wife-beating, daughter-raping, deadbeat dad -- and he just didn't want any part of it. He would rather be dead than grow up to be an — ugh — man.

If you're a kid trying to make sense of the world, these never-ending messages that there is something basically wrong with you can be unnerving, because it appears that it's all true. It's on TV, it's in the comics, you see and hear adults saying these things all the time. I don't think it's healthy to be doing this on such a widespread basis. Even kids understand that jokes are jokes, but that's not what goes on with this stuff. It's presented as science, or common knowledge. I think it's doing enormous damage to developing minds of both sexes.

[Our man in washington]

Cherry wrote:

"there are women's health initiatives because it was discovered about 10 yrs ago that virtually ALL medical research on no-gender based diseases such as heart attacks were been done ONLY on men....."

True, but the reason for doing so was not because researchers didn't care about women but because doing research on women wasn't cost effective. Women are so much less likely to get heart attacks that one has to have a much bigger sample of respondents to get reliable results on women.

Here's a way to think of it. Let's say you wanted to determine why 18 year-olds get cancer. You get 1,000 18 year-olds and ask them to keep track of their physical activities and diet. A year later, you check back and you will probably discover that none of them got cancer, regardless of what they were doing. Your study therefore has no value. For such a study to have value, you'd need a much bigger pool of respondents, which costs a lot more.

The upshot is that medical research gets cheaper as the risk to the group you are studying gets greater. If you took 1,000 70 year-old men and studied them for a year, for example, you could probably get some robust data on factors that cause heart disease. It's virtually certain some of those men will get heart disease.

With women, the sample would have to be bigger because the risk of heart disease is smaller. Bigger samples cost more.

[wardaddy]

Marry only to have children....unless poetry gets the best of you.

You're a man I assume. Best to marry in your 30s.

There are plenty of good women around.

Move South....or to Utah.

Caveat: Be careful....abortion is killing. Be prepared to take responsibility.

[Paul C. Jesup]

I live in GA.

[Taliesan]

This is one of the reasons why, as a young white man, I don't think I am going to live to see 40.

Puuulease. Relax.

[Capitalist Eric]

tell the male bashers that they must learn to take it if they are gonna dish it out.

Actually, I tell them that the vast majority of male-bashing women belong chained to either the kitchen sink... or the bedpost. They're not much good for anything else...

Telling them this really sends 'em into a frenzy... ;)

And it's a lot of fun to watch them lose it... :)

[brbethke]

white men have become the scapegoats for the ills of this country

As a wise old man once said to me, "That's because we're the only ones in this country who get off our butts and do things!"

Get off your butt. Do things. Chances are you'll meet a woman who likes to do the same things. This commonality of interests is part of what makes my Wife 2.0 such a vast improvement. I wish I'd known this before I bought the 1.0 version.

[brbethke]

Correcting myself: what my old friend said was not true, of course.

Still, it is a little weird to have your kid come home from school and say, "Dad, I wish I was black. Black kids can get away with anything."

[Ben Bolt]

I think I understand you're problem Paul . When I changed my attitude my associations changed . Things never looked the same to me since then & frankly It's a good thing !

[Billy_bob_bob]

I do a similar thing to the feminists I run across. When they start going on about "men" I like to say how us men aren't going to need women in about another ten years, and I'm doing my part to help make them obsolete. Within ten years there will be andriods for sale that will be hard to tell apart from people. They will be warm to the touch, they will be able to carry on a conversation, and they will be fully "functional" in every way.

So keep it up girls. Another ten years and us men won't have to give you the time of day. Enjoy your power while you still have it.

[Capitalist Eric]

I wish I'd known this before I bought the 1.0 version.

I made the same mistake. Finally realized the 1.0 version was critically flawed, and kicked her to the curb. Version 2.0 (when I find her) will probably come from outside the western countries... I refuse to deal with more western (nitwit) women, trying to find a good one among so many faulty examples... I'll go where the odds are a little better.

Be well...

[Right Wing Professor]

there are women's health initiatives because it was discovered about 10 yrs ago that virtually ALL medical research on no-gender based diseases such as heart attacks were been done ONLY on men

This is a feminist myth.

[stainlessbanner]

you need a good woman who's comfortable being a chick...it'll take the edge off.

Ain't that the truth!

[wardaddy]

Damn....my wife and I were in Roswell 6 months ago and it looked like good hunting to us.

[FormerRep]

Man bashing... so what? Like many well-educated, middle-aged, white men I fit the profile of most serial killers. If the jokes start to bother us, we'll just go 'Dahmer' on the offenders. That said, the bash never bothered me since I dish out stinging retorts. If you want a P-C response, you're not getting a pass from me.

[semaj]

Is that you Chris?