Men's Rights

[jessica r]

(without any idea of how I got there) I recently read about Men's Rights and some of the issues for which men fight. I will be honest, as a woman I was shocked and then somewhat amused and slightly annoyed that some men felt the need to define their rights, when "rights"-particularly in the US, were written for men and then women and other minorities had to step up and define and claim those rights. But after I opened my mind to these issues I found that some are very interesting and relevant. So I wanted to post to see what other people think. Here are some of the issues, in no particular order. Men, feel free to correct me if I state something the wrong way or to add something to the list:

1) Men have responsibility to children they father without a choice in the matter of abortion
2) Men make the same amount of money for physical labor as a woman who cannot perform the same physical tasks
3) Men are still expected to "court" women and pay for items on dates, etc
4)Men are required to register for the draft while women are not
5)Men often lose custody of children in divorce and rarely receive child support when they do win custody
6)Violence against men committed by women isnt taken seriously (rape, spousal abuse)
7) Men dont have the creative freedom in their dress codes that women do
8)Men often do not get paid paternity leave
9) The preference of women and children over men in emergency situations
10) Men receive harsher punishments for crime

All of these issues are based on trending data. There are also some issues about men dying sooner than women, girls performing better than boys in school, more money and attention being given to breast cancer research than prostate cancer research.......

[Matt]

[Gabrielle]

Sorry, I know you heart Bowie, but I don't. I prefer the original in this instance:

[Matt]

How can you not heart Bowie? He's so... Bowish.

[Gabrielle]

I don't actively dislike him (like some artists), but I don't fall on my face over him. Sort of like good ol' MJ. Actually, I think I liked MJ's music more...

[Matt]

Hmm. Well, your loss. :P

[Gabrielle]

CRAPUS MAXIMUS.

Gab needs to go cook dinner for her family. I gotta get my apron and pearls on so I can cut onions and bellpeppers and make a kickass spaghetti.

Nobody say anything while I'm gone. I'm pulling an asano_man, here.

[Matt]

That sounds good. You should use some eggplant too. Instead of noodles, try spaghetti squash. It's delightful.

[Gabrielle]

::bursts a blood vessel laughing so hard::

Sorry, but the suggestion of any sort of squash while cooking for my dad is like suggesting a gay man give Phelps a wedding ring. He gets grumpy that I include onion and bellpepper- he "doesn't do" veggies. Which is fucking stupid, because then he complains it's "missing something" in terms of flavor if I leave them out. Eg: he tastes the difference when I use onion powder, then picks at it, "What's with all this chunky shit messing with the meat?!" if I use the real thing.

::fumes::

[Matt]

Haha, my dad and sister are kind of the same way.

[jessica r]

I am notorious for trying to sneak chopped carrots into foods...chili, spaghetti, spinach ravioli.... I remember being 15 and cooking a pot of spaghetti before going to a friends house to sleepover when my dad called to tell me that something was "wrong" with the spaghetti. Trust me...you cant taste it---its just knowing that its there that makes it hard. A few months ago I was eating stir-fry that my brother made and he saw me picking around the carrots. I caught his eye and *gulp* had to admit that I dont actually like cooked carrots....which is why I always try to chop them up super small and hide them in food.

[Gabrielle]

But, uh, why carrots?

[jessica r]

If I can remember correctly, it came from my mom trying to teach me how to add vegetables to dishes to make them healthy, but I took it a little out of context. At the time, carrots were the only thing I could think of to hide in food, and I've just sort of stuck with it.............