I don't even want to reply to half of that. And you and your exes, dude, get your shit together and fight them back if they're such jerks to you (or better yet, ignore them 100% and stop using them as an argument for why women are heartless monsters against poor men -- I'm going there -- women
have their own slew of issues when they're raped and we have a court system that's fucking clueless at the best of times to both sexes and against many problems; men certainly have the problem where their rape is treated as a non-issue, and women may face more lasting problems with STDs or an unwanted pregnancy).
Gender aside, NO ONE SHOULD PUT UP WITH ANY HARASSMENT; I don't care if you're a man, a woman, or hell, even puppies and kitties -- No one! But the fact you're telling women to stop vocalizing their issues (especially while arguing how men have them too) is pure crap and it's just mean.
I'm not against your "men's rights" stuff, I DEFINITELY agree it's awful when men are given the finger in paternity cases even if the mother is a bitch or hardly has the financial means to support her children, or when a man is laughed at for being raped (though women also have their "blame the victim" problem too though), or the large sum of men who die at work. But why is it so hard to let it go and agree that MEN
AND WOMEN have these problems. Yes, sometimes it happens more to one than the other (women = rape, men = workplace death for example), but again, it's hard getting into that without going deeper into the rabbit hole about what makes men and women the genders they have come to be and embody or the way society has guided it. We both have problems that make life shitty.
Also, you keep talking about rights. I never denied that, and I agreed with it. Again, I say that we have rights, but pay equity, work representation, and equal social roles (especially with respect to what's considered "feminine and masculine duties") are NOT part of what women have as equal as men. YOU'RE arguing about rights, I didn't deny we had them, I'm arguing about today's equality, today's "
fight".
Also, men often hold higher positions than women. Shall we see the cream of crop?
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-fortune-1000Women represent between 4-5% of the Fortune 1000.
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workplace#footnote4_6pk985yOops. Not much better when looking away from the Fortune 1000. It's even more disgraceful when looking at minorities.
This is a search for "women's pay to men's 2012" or "women/men pay ratio", not "why do women earn less" or anything like that. I'm trying to compensate for unfair phrasing.http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2012/04/16/11391/the-top-10-facts-about-the-wage-gap/http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/23/pf/college/women-men-pay-gap/index.htmlhttp://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discriminationhttp://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/01201/6036-eng.html http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/2010-30-e.htm#a9http://www.payequity.gov.on.ca/en/about/pubs/genderwage/wagegap.phpThere is a wage gap.
Also, I'm not going to turn this into religion, nor do I want to. But the fact the Pope fucking said women can't reach his position
is worth fighting for on its own. Who the fuck are men to tell us what we can and cannot earn? This may be religious, but looking at it from a work perspective isn't much different given how locked out we are from higher up positions.
But yeah, the wage gap is smaller, but it's not based or compensated for "unexplained differences" that reference men and women doing the SAME work, for the SAME length of time, or in the SAME field. That is hard to do. Even with that in mind though, women are much more urged and socialized into other fields than health, maths, and sciences, each which earn more and show a larger distribution of men working in them. This is a socialized problem. Women earning less is not only because they're pushed into "lib arts" but also in part of that fact many women make the sacrifice to be with their families and take jobs that can "adjust" for family-related issues (sick kid, daycare, or whatever else). This is why I hated doing research on criminal recidivism rates: Most reoffending criminals are for minor drug charges than murder, two different types of offences (with, arguably, the former being less severe than the latter). Comparing men and women in the work force is damn hard and have to be appreciated for the apples and oranges they are, their lines of work (although "work") are quite often different (but the Law Office stat in one of my above URLs shows that, while there are many Associates, few make it to Partner).
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/04/16/its-time-that-we-end-the-equal-pay-myth/The gender wage gap is caused by many factors, such as:
1. Women choosing or needing to leave and re-enter the workforce in order to meet family care-giving responsibilities, resulting in a loss of seniority, advancement opportunities and wages
2. Occupational segregation in historically undervalued and low-paying jobs, such as childcare and clerical work
3. Traditionally lower levels of education (although this is becoming less of a factor as more and more women graduate from all levels of education)
4. Less unionization amongst female workers
5. Discrimination in hiring, promotion and compensation practices in the workplace
Thank god for #3. #5 leaves us fucked; #2 is why you see a lot of men dying at work (which, i agree it's foolish if women argue about the 1:20 ratio of women dying at work.... But I'd argue, and a "good feminist" would say why are
any people dying at all is problematic); #1 is just the sexist delegation of women needing to take care of kids more than men.
And thanks Google Dictionary for the definition on a 'rapist'. At least I cited the "more reputable" and task-oriented Merriam Webster dictionary definition than relying on a search engine to do that for me.
(Merriam Webster, by the way, states "an
INDIVIDUAL who rapes").
"As an addendum, I think RPGFan is one of the few places where this honestly CAN'T end in tears because people here are largely receptive and open to discussion and debate rather than parroting stupid crap, IMO."
^^^^^^This...even though for the most part I am not political, not religious, and truly don't care much about most issues I do enjoy the fact that I can read stuff concerning those issues here which are well written and form good arguments without devolving into name calling and drivel
It's actually why I'm not embarrassed in whatever social circle I'm in to say "I go to an RPG site!" since the discussion tend to be quite broad and arguments better than skin-deep or of the "fuck you I'm right" varietal.