Dittohd
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You seem to be mixing rights with attainment in most cases. Let's take your men's superior "rights" one by one.No, I form my opinions based on in-depth discussions with prominent Feminists during my academic pursuits, using Feminist-methodology myself, and having a mother who was incredibly involved with Hermeneutic strains of Feminist-Constructionism insofar as interview and research dynamics. I do not believe everything I hear, but apparently you do. I also do not appreciate the belittling or condescending tone, as believe me, in this particular field, I will run circles around you. So let us keep the discussion civil and humble!
What you have expressed is very detached from the reality of the Feminist movement. Some research into the field would serve you well; that particular strain of social sciences has much to teach. I suggest you learn!
You honestly cannot think of one instance where men have superior rights over women? You may not be looking hard enough, here are a few points of consideration:
We operate in a capital system based on patriarchy. Property rights were primarily male; Judeo-Christian society as a whole is patriarchal.
1/4 women have experienced some form of sexual assault in their life.
Men have a far greater share of controlling interests in the world's largest TNC/NGOs/Fortune 500.
The top 5% of wage-earners are primarily male.
Political representation is yet primarily male.
Women are still perpetually objectified in the media (Killing Me Softly is a great documentary). This affects both males and females by perpetuating ignorant social attitudes.
Women comprise the majority percentage of the bottom 5% of wage-earners.
Women experience higher rates of AIDS in developing nations; far higher.
Women are subject to much higher rates of domestic violence. Both here and abroad.
Sexual mutilation (removing of labia and clitoris) is common practice in tribal communities. Castration, not so much.
I've had this same argument recently, and it went much as this one is turning out to be. A fiery sentiment about women's advantages, and then no evidence aside from unfair alimony settlements, and a few other legal issues. One needs to separate the ability to insist in certain bargaining situations, and power dynamics as a whole.
This is merely the tip of the iceberg, as I did not want to derail the thread further by going into an in-depth discussion of hegemonic masculinity. It's neither relevant to the discussion at hand, nor something I feel you would accept.
We operate in a capital system based on patriarchy. Property rights were primarily male; Judeo-Christian society as a whole is patriarchal.
I don't see anything in our government system that is patriarchal. Our system is based on everyone voting. However our government is the way it is, it's primarily women's fault because they put the elected officials in office who are in office. Women vote in larger percentages than men do and they comprise 54% of the population. This is why the men in office create all the laws they do that favor women. Men may be in the higher positions but women are in charge. Our country is a matriarchy.
Although women may not have had full property rights in the past, anyone can own property today.
1/4 women have experienced some form of sexual assault in their life.
This is a right of men superior to women? How so? Women have the same right to rape men if they so desire. In fact, this could be argued as a superior right for women because women would never get the same punishment for raping a man as a man would get for raping a woman. This is well-known as the sentencing discount for women. Don't believe me? Let's compare the sentences women teachers are getting for raping their students these days as compared to the sentences that men are getting in the same circumstances.
Men have a far greater share of controlling interests in the world's largest TNC/NGOs/Fortune 500.
This of course is true but not because of government assigned rights. Men have the positions they have because they earned those positions. And if women want to whine that they are being discriminated again because they want these positions given to them rather than having to earn them, let them form their own business and put themselves into the positions they desire. I formed a non-profit corporation last October and made myself one of the three directors. Any woman can do the same thing. It only cost me $25 to file the papers with the Secretary of State. For Profit Corporations cost a lot more, but women have the same opportunities as men. The problem is most women put family and having children ahead of career. They also don't pick or shoot for (their choice) the tougher positions because they require more overtime and less time with family. They are not willing to sacrifice family time as readily as men are to support their families.
The top 5% of wage-earners are primarily male.
Again, this has nothing to do with government assigned rights but skill and tenaciousness and dedication to the job and working toward making more money. Again, women value time with family more than attainment of status and higher pay. Let's look in your field within the engineering departments of any college and see how many women as compared to men who are seeking these harder to attain but much higher paying jobs.
Political representation is yet primarily male.
This likewise has nothing to do with government assigned rights. In fact, this outcome is more attributable to women themselves than many others. First of all, women don't run for these political positions in the same numbers that men do. Second of all, women comprise about 54% of the population so if men are in these positions predominantly, it's because women voted them in. And even the 54% population number notwithstanding, the persons who actually vote are predominantly woman. So your statistic above is there totally because of women.
Women are still perpetually objectified in the media (Killing Me Softly is a great documentary). This affects both males and females by perpetuating ignorant social attitudes.
This also has nothing to do with government assigned rights. By the way, have you ever watched a situation comedy or rerun like "Everyone Loves Raymond"? Have you seen lately the V8 commercials that always have a woman hitting the man in the forehead because he didn't choose V8? Or the Subway commercial (I think it's Subway) where the husband (young guy) asks his wife if they can stop for a sandwich and she tells him no because they don't have time. Then the husband jumps up and down, crying that he want a sandwich. And the child yells at the father to shut up, Dad. What about the one where the father tries to help his child with her homework but is too stupid to accomplish this and the wife comes by and urges the father to leave the child alone after the child gives the mother a disgusted look concerning the father's apparent "meddling".
And lastly, objectifying? Suddenly women don't like being considered sexual objects? Have you noticed lately how many women these days walk around with their cleavage sticking out? Without sexual attraction, how else would a woman attract a man across the room? Give me a break!
By the way, you have never seen women objectifying men via their butts?
Women comprise the majority percentage of the bottom 5% of wage-earners.
This also has nothing to do with government assigned rights. Women work in the jobs that they attain the skills to hold, choose, and apply for. In fact, because of affirmative action and the dearth of women applicants, there are many higher paying career fields that pay women more than men applicants right out of college. Here's just a few:
1. Petroleum engineering
2. Chemical engineering
3. Computer engineering
4. Electrical/electronics & communications engineering
5. Mechanical engineering
6. Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering
7. Metallurgical engineering
8. Computer programming
9. Computer science
10.Engineering technology
11.Physics
12.Agricultural engineering
13.Computer systems analysis
14.Construction science/management
15.Business systems - networking/telecommunications
Women experience higher rates of AIDS in developing nations; far higher.
You assert that this also has to do with government assigned rights? Give me a break! I would strongly suspect this statistic, if true, is because women are more promiscuous than men. More women are having sex with the same, diseased promiscuous men. It is always easier for a woman to have sex whenever she wants it over a man. Let's take 10 women who go to a bar with the intent of having sex by the end of the night and compare that to a random sampling of 10 men who do the same thing with the same intentions. Who do you think will attain their objective more often? The men? Seems to me that women are now getting the result of their prized sexual freedom.
Women are subject to much higher rates of domestic violence. Both here and abroad.
I know, I know. This is also due to government assigned rights, right? So what if women are subject to higher rates of domestic violence. I thought that any domestic violence was always bad. The statistics I've heard lately say that women are just as violent as men, if not more so, especially at their younger ages. Lesbian couples experience more domestic violence than gay and heterosexual couples. But why are you fixed on or care that women are victims of domestic violence more often? How much domestic violence is OK? Is it really helpful in stopping domestic violence to argue over who does it more?
Sexual mutilation (removing of labia and clitoris) is common practice in tribal communities. Castration, not so much.
Again, nothing to do with government rights. By the way, let's compare the number of removings of labia and clitoris in women in the world to the numbers of men who these days who have their penis' foreskin removed. Both can be considered sexual mutilation. My foreskin was removed. So was my son's and both my grandson's. No women in my family have had their labia and clitoris removed. I'm assuming somewhat similar statistics in your family? Am I wrong? And by the way, in countries where they remove the labia and clitoris, it's the older women who do it, not the men. So again, it's women who are responsible.
I'm not going to go into a loooooong list of women-superior rights, but let's hit just the first six that come to mind:
1. Women have the right to falsely accuse men of rape without government punishment. Most prominent example in the news: Crystal Gayle Mangam and the Duke Lacross players.
2. Women have the right to lie to a man about who is the father of her child without punishment. And if the man, in most cases, doesn't figure it out on his own within a small window of time, he is assigned the obligation to pay child support even after the DNA proves him not the father. Women can apply for child support 17 years after the birth of the child and get forced back child support from the guy who didn't even know he was a father and had no hand in the child's upbringing for the previous 17 years.
3. Women have the right to say they have no idea who the father of their child is when in fact they do, and give the child up for adoption without asking the father if he wants custody of the child. When the father finally finds out what was done, tough! Too late! Doesn't matter that he had no way of knowing beforehand. The child has already been adopted and has bonded with the adoptive parents. Irreversible!
4. Women have the right to kill their baby without the approval of the father. It's just between the mother and her doctor. Men don't account for anything until she decides to keep the child and needs financial support. Then suddenly, he is the father, pay up! Be a man! You deadbeat! We can't live without you! Do the right thing!
5. If women have a baby and immediately decide they don't want to be a mother, government says she can drop the baby off at the nearest fire station or hospital. No problem! No repercussions. Let's see a guy try to get out of being a father if she has the child when he doesn't want one. And what if the guy wants custody of the child? Tough!
6. Women after divorce, have the right, without repercussion, to lie about and bad-mouth the ex-husband to his children, totally alienating his children from him until even they don't want to see him anymore. And those feelings in the children never go away, even after the children turn 18. The father's relationship with his children is totally destroyed forever in most cases.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop here before everyone's eyes start to glaze over. As a man who seems to support women's superiority and can spout such statistics as you do in that effort that don't even apply directly to the point in question, I think you should be ashamed of yourself. Being an academic, I stronly suspect that nothing I said comes as a surprise to you.
Cheeez! So much time wasted. Bye!