Abusive British babes?
BBC, Here and Now, December 7, 1994 - A recent survey of domestic violence in Great Britain indicates that nearly one in five men have been assaulted by a wife or female partner, and that men are more likely to be victims of domestic violence than women.
Unidentified Feminist Oddballs retort that because male socialization "toughens" men, women's violence doesn't count.
For more information contact Gill Webber at the BBC press office 081-576-8367
Battered better in Cambodia?
Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1994 - As I'm sure you all know, with the possible exception of Canada, no where are women more oppressed than they are in America.
But wait! This just in -- Cathy Zimmerman reports that an untold number of Cambodian women "survived the nationwide Khmer Rouge holocaust only to face a personal purgatory: their husbands."
Oh no! Can this be true? Are women worse off somewhere else? Says Zimmerman, "Battering (in Cambodia) is excused as a virile man's way of demonstrating his love for his wife."
Hm, what do you think, guys? "Virile" Cambodian men, abusive British babes, could this be a match made in heaven?
PMS again?
Sunday Telegraph (Australia), December 18, 1994 - A jury in Liverpool, England, found Jan Painter, 34, not guilty of killing her husband by reason of PMS.
Lorena Bobbitt gets off by reason of an "uncontrollable impulse," now Painter gets off on PMS, we need to get with the program, guys.
Look, O.J., if you did the dirty deed, stop beating around the bush. Have a break down in court, confess that you were overcome with an "uncontrollable impulse" brought on by TTP (toxic testosterone poisoning) or some other cock-and-bull story, propose to the prosecuting attorney, write a book, sign a movie deal, and live happily ever after.
Having it both ways?
Working Woman, November & December 1994 - Men could learn a trick or two from these gals. In the November issue, WW runs an article that gives a lot of good advice on how female executives can pay their subordinates less for doing more.
Nothing wrong with that, but then in the December issue, they turn around and instruct their readers to "ask not what you are doing for your company but what your company is doing for you."
What the hell, if WW can do it, so can The Backlash! All right, guys, about that 70 cents on the dollar thing, let's see if we can drive it down to 50 cents. Oh, and by the way, let's see what we can do about getting more recognition for men's issues, too.
Coming out for Elders?
Boston Globe, December 11, 1994 - Gays and lesbians are up in arms over the ouster of Joycelyn Elders.
"Elders had an obligation to be forthcoming on such issues. It's really chilling that she'd lose her job for focusing on this vital issue," grumbled Donald Suggs, of the New York-based Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
As a grouch, I feel that I, too, must add my voice to the angry chorus -- I'm sorry to see her go. She made me laugh.
What's work got to do with it?
The Atlanta Journal/The Atlanta Constitution, December 11, 1994 - Every now and then a feminist says something that gives us cause for hope. Enter Cynthia Tucker, who observes, "If men don't have decent jobs, they are unable to support their children. They don't marry. They commit crimes. They go to prison."
Let's see, now, after decades of adopting policies that give employment priority to women, male employment is down and crime is up . Could there be a connection?
Re-engaging fathers
Dallas Morning News, December 4, 1994 - William Raspberry has always been one of my favorite columnists, and as usual, he's got something worth reading to say:
"We have to re-engage fathers and other adult men in the lives of our children. That is no knock on women, only an acknowledgment of the truth that we need each other."
You hear that Rich? You listening, Stu? Your message is seeping into the mainstream. Ya done good, guys.
Insatiable women?
Philadelphia Inquirer, December 4, 1994 - A young father goes to prison, he can pretty much forget about his kids until after he gets out. Lock him up, throw away the key, he's a man after all.
Women, on the other hand, are different. They have special needs. Says Donna Bailey, assistant director of corrections for Volunteers of America, which runs the Birthing Center for female prison inmates in Fort Worth, "There's never enough programs for female offenders."
Never enough programs, never enough money, never enough men dying to fulfill every whim and whine of the sexist sows and their insatiable appetite for government largesse.
Blurring definitions ... again?
Philadelphia Inquirer, December 4, 1994 - A few years ago, Ms magazine published the results of a study on campus rape that claimed 1 in 4 female college students were being raped. Caused quite a fuss until we found out they were playing fast and loose with the definition.
Well, fast and loose is back again. This time, Katha Pollitt is taking men to task over an item reported in the recent Sex in America: A Definitive Survey.
What has Ms. Pollitt fuming is the finding that "Twenty-two percent of women report having been 'forced to do something sexually' by a man, almost always one who was not a stranger (4 percent of incidents) but an acquaintance, boyfriend, or husband."
Ms. Pollitt then reminds us of the Ms. 1 in 4 women are raped number, and invites us to draw a parallel.
Well, forcing anybody to do "something sexually" is never okay, and with that in mind, let's talk about how women do it to men.
Libido-arousing perfumes in the work place are one of my pet peeves. Throughout my adult life, I have always treated my female coworkers with the respect of equals, but it really steams my glasses when one forces me into a sexual frame of mind with some synthetic scent that is engineered to arouse the male libido.
Scent, as biophysiopsychoperfumologists will tell you, bypasses the 20th Century guy brain to directly zap our Harassic Park brain, eliciting feelings and impulses that are quite literally beyond our rational control. In a romantic setting, that can be nice. But at work where we need to be productive and wary of charges of sexual harassment, we might go so far as to say it's tantamount to psychological rape.
Now hold on there, mon ami, that's playing fast and loose with the definition of rape, isn't it, and no self-respecting journalistic type would do that, would he?
Would she?
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