Post by bloodwine on Jul 26, 2005 2:35:15 GMT -5
I wrote this several years ago(1999) and submitted it to a local free paper(The coffee mate for those that are local here) They published it and somehow it found it's way into 17 publications as far away as Australia.
I wrote this after over hearing my 4 daughter's debating whether or not my son deserved physical harm for a common offence. Here is the article.
Since the dark ages, what we have come to know as the civilized world has been a man’s world, until recently that is. There was a time when all you needed was strength to get what you wanted; the strong took from the weak. The man being the strongest in the house expected to be treated in a certain way. The woman was subservient to the men in the house, a wife was something you screwed on the bed and it cleaned the house for you. She was a tool, nothing more at least until the nineteenth century.
The winds of change started blowing around the middle of the century with the rise of the women's suffrage movement. Women saw the abolition of slavery as a slap in the face. The blacks of the south were slaves because of the colour of their skin, while women were slaves because of their gender. The African slaves were freed while women were left to toil and slave away in their homes suffering the indignation of a thankless job. Most women's lives consisted of having children (sons preferably) and serving their husbands. Through the efforts of the pioneers of the women's movement they asserted their rights to have a say in politics by getting the vote. They were allowed to dress more comfortably and some even managed to achieve a modicum of control over their lives.
World War 2 proved to the world that women were capable of doing most of the jobs that men were doing. While the men of the western world were fighting in the theatres of war, women assumed the traditional male jobs of working in factories and running things while the men were gone. After the war they really got mobilized and started pressing the men for the recognition that they deserved. The 1960's saw the burning of bras and the legalization of birth control. The 1970's saw equal right legislation and equity hiring practices. The 1980's brought equal pay for equal work and the shattering of traditional roles for females in the family and the workplace.
So now here we are in the 21st century. Women have become somewhat complacent in the demanding of their rights. They are very vocal about them when it is to their benefit, but as a group they also tend to be very silent when it suits their interests. For instance, a woman gets passed over for a promotion in a plant and a man gets the job. All the women in the place are out walking the picket line. But this same woman has no qualms about letting a man pay for dinner. As a matter of fact, she expects it.
I have no qualms as a man to say that a woman is equal to a man and this essay is in no way meant to demean women. Its purpose is to enlighten others about this man's point of view. Women in the 21st century want a double standard that puts men in the subservient position and that is no more fair than it was for women to be in this position.
Men and women truly are equals. Where women have strengths, men have weakness and inversely where women are weak, men are strong. We are different, but still equal.
This thought brings up the crux of this essay. Ladies if you are still listening, please pay attention now. If you agree with the idea of equality between the sexes, then this next statement is the most important of this whole essay.
Ladies, the next time that you are screaming at a man, be he your significant other, son or just a male in general, for leaving the toilet seat up, please remember, you have two arms and a heartbeat and you are "equal”. Couldn't you have remembered to check and put the damn seat down!!!!
I wrote this after over hearing my 4 daughter's debating whether or not my son deserved physical harm for a common offence. Here is the article.
Since the dark ages, what we have come to know as the civilized world has been a man’s world, until recently that is. There was a time when all you needed was strength to get what you wanted; the strong took from the weak. The man being the strongest in the house expected to be treated in a certain way. The woman was subservient to the men in the house, a wife was something you screwed on the bed and it cleaned the house for you. She was a tool, nothing more at least until the nineteenth century.
The winds of change started blowing around the middle of the century with the rise of the women's suffrage movement. Women saw the abolition of slavery as a slap in the face. The blacks of the south were slaves because of the colour of their skin, while women were slaves because of their gender. The African slaves were freed while women were left to toil and slave away in their homes suffering the indignation of a thankless job. Most women's lives consisted of having children (sons preferably) and serving their husbands. Through the efforts of the pioneers of the women's movement they asserted their rights to have a say in politics by getting the vote. They were allowed to dress more comfortably and some even managed to achieve a modicum of control over their lives.
World War 2 proved to the world that women were capable of doing most of the jobs that men were doing. While the men of the western world were fighting in the theatres of war, women assumed the traditional male jobs of working in factories and running things while the men were gone. After the war they really got mobilized and started pressing the men for the recognition that they deserved. The 1960's saw the burning of bras and the legalization of birth control. The 1970's saw equal right legislation and equity hiring practices. The 1980's brought equal pay for equal work and the shattering of traditional roles for females in the family and the workplace.
So now here we are in the 21st century. Women have become somewhat complacent in the demanding of their rights. They are very vocal about them when it is to their benefit, but as a group they also tend to be very silent when it suits their interests. For instance, a woman gets passed over for a promotion in a plant and a man gets the job. All the women in the place are out walking the picket line. But this same woman has no qualms about letting a man pay for dinner. As a matter of fact, she expects it.
I have no qualms as a man to say that a woman is equal to a man and this essay is in no way meant to demean women. Its purpose is to enlighten others about this man's point of view. Women in the 21st century want a double standard that puts men in the subservient position and that is no more fair than it was for women to be in this position.
Men and women truly are equals. Where women have strengths, men have weakness and inversely where women are weak, men are strong. We are different, but still equal.
This thought brings up the crux of this essay. Ladies if you are still listening, please pay attention now. If you agree with the idea of equality between the sexes, then this next statement is the most important of this whole essay.
Ladies, the next time that you are screaming at a man, be he your significant other, son or just a male in general, for leaving the toilet seat up, please remember, you have two arms and a heartbeat and you are "equal”. Couldn't you have remembered to check and put the damn seat down!!!!