Reply #273: Okay. I usually wait until I've read all the replies [View All]

[TicketyBoo]

before addressing a post in case someone else has already made my point(s), but this one, I can't wait.

Custody, deny it all you want it still favors mothers.

Who takes off work and stays home with the child(ren) when they're sick? Who does the school call at work to come get the children if there is a snow cancellation or the child gets sick school? Which parent keeps track of when the children need vaccinations? Which parent takes them to get them? Which parent makes their breakfasts and lunches? Washes their clothes? Mends their clothes? Purchases their clothes? Buys the groceries?

Child support, ditto.

Which parent makes the most money? Still, still, still, it's usually the MAN, even if the two parents are working at EXACTLY THE SAME job.

Sentences for equivalent crimes, would you rather be a 40 year old male or 40 year old female sleeping with a 15 year old student of the opposite sex?

Since I'm not a teacher, and have no interest in having sex with children, this hardly applies.

Suicide

Not sure about that one? Care to link to several studies on the matter? Suffice to say, each gender suffers pressure to live up to expectations.

Unemployment

Get the wages equal, and they'll be laying off as many women as men. Right now, they're laying of the MOST EXPENSIVE labor, and that means MEN.

Homelessness

I haven't seen any actual studies, but I can guess that women are homeless less often because they have children in tow and qualify for assistance more often than men do. (See first response as to WHY women have the children more often.)

Overall health and life expectancy

That Y chromosome can be a pesky critter as far as life expectancy is concerned, I'll grant you. More men qualify for health insurance at work, I would wager. Personally, my mother died seven years before my father. She died at the age of 70; he at the age of 80.

Highschool graduation rates

None of my child's grandparents graduated from high school (male nor female). Both of his parents did.

Higher education rates

Our son has graduated from college. When I graduated from high school, it was generally assumed that boys would go to college; girls would get married. Being a dutiful daughter, I got married.

Maybe things are changing, but things SHOULD change. Ever hear of affirmative action? If you haven't been there, you just can't know. And it's not equal yet. Not by a long shot.

I, too, think that a "Men's Forum" is not such a good idea.

Personal notes: when I applied for a job at the post office in the early 70s, it was assumed that I couldn't cut it because I was a woman. The interviewer slung a 35-pound carrier pouch over my shoulder and asked me if I thought I could handle that. I said, "Pfft! I have purses at home that weigh more than this!" (NOBODY ever asks a woman if she can handle that 35-pound toddler she's carrying on her hip.) I have never divorced, I love my husband and my son, I never lived through a divorce of my parents. So my thoughts on this are not tinged by some bitterness about divorce, if that's what you're thinking. No. I have been faced with discrimination in the job market because a "man needs the job worse than you do." Yep. Pink collar ghetto. Keep 'em down. Let 'em know their place. One guy on the job asked me, "Why aren't you home baking cookies?" (Before Hillary Clinton said she could have done that, but didn't.) You just don't know until somebody tells you to "know your place." You just don't know.