I was reading the "thank heaven for little girls" post and I started to think about a book by Warren Farrell that I am reading.
The way that entry starts "little girls start off as bits of heaven, so differnt than little boys..." reminds me of how now, and for thousands of years, we have accepted that women are beautiful, wonderful and good.
Wo do not feel that way about men.
One chapter in Warren Farrell's book, "Why men are the way they are" is "10 great things about men." When he told people he was going to write a chapter about that, the most common responce he got was "Ha! Name one!"
There is no counterpart word for "feminist," because there is no men's movement to free itself from gender roles. The gender role that requires a man to become agressive, to become a soldier, to supress his feelings, to feel a need to be dominant and homophobic at all costs. There should be.
People think that because men have "the power" that they don't need to be liberated. But the truth is that men don't have the power and never have. Only a small amount of men ever have the power, a handful decide things, and the rest of the men are used as peons, slaves, or cannon fodder. And, in exchange for a supposedly more respected role in society, men are taught that (A) they are not as good as women and (B) their lives are not as valuable. Think about the phrase "innocent women and childen." It just doesn't have the same zip to it as "Innocent men and children." Why not? Because, like that little girls post, our society paints women as these wonderous, pure things, and paints men are dirty animals.
And don't give me that "Well, women's lives are more valuable in a crisis, because of reproductive reasons." This planet has been suffering from overpopulation for the last hundred years. It's not an issue.
If men really are that bad, why aren't we trying to change how they are socialized? There is a common perception that men are born that way, controlled by their hormones and genetics and brain shape, even though we accept at the same time that we've all met men who aren't agressive, who exhibit traits that are more "woman-like" than man like. And research shows most of these people don't have testosterone depletion or chromosomal abonormatilies. I think they show that men don't have to be violent. We can change society. We no longer have to raise a generation of males to be drafted, that era is over.
In the workplace, women have more sexual harrassment rights than men. In the divorce court, women will get more money out of a divorce on average and keep the kids almost all the time. In a criminal case, women are charged with less prison time, go to higher quality prisons, and are released early more often. Women on average get better grades in our public schools, yet they still get huge affermative action and scholarship opportunities. Women still get affermative action benifits at work, women have female support groups. Men are encouraged not to have any close male friends because of homophobia. Women are now totally free and even encouraged to cross dress, that is, wear pants or a suit. In fact, suits and pants are cut for women now, yet men aren't going to be buying made for men dresses at the mall any time soon.
So don't tell me women are suppressed and always have been. Almost EVERYONE is suppressed and always has been. But women, now, have more rights than men, are percieved as superior, and have a whole movement to help them feel good about themselves and change their restritive gender role.
I think that it is men who need help today.