July 2018 archive

Men Who Go Fishing, Jass Richards

guest post –   Men Who Go Fishing Jass Richards (www.jassrichards.com)   I understand now why men like fishing. First, there’s the noise of the motor.  Men like noise.  They think they’re the ones making it.  So they think they sound like a lion or a bear.  They think they’re threatening.  Instead of just bloody …

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SlutWalk: What’s the problem?

1. SlutWalk was reportedly initiated in response to a police officer’s comment about not dressing like a slut if you don’t want to get raped. The underlying assumption is that one’s attire — specific items or style — sends a message. And indeed it does.  High heels, fishnet stockings, and a heavily made-up face are …

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Men’s and Women’s Sports

One good thing about television stations’ mega-coverage of the Olympics is that women’s events are shown a lot.  Often within close temporal proximity to men’s events.  Comparison is inevitable.  And interesting. Consider volleyball.  Now the women, when they dive for the ball, they do this really neat shoulder roll: it’s smooth, efficient, and really cool …

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Take Her Seriously

I used to think that the problem with rape was that women weren’t being explicit – they weren’t actually saying no, partly because men weren’t actually asking.  Perhaps because there’s (still?) something shameful about sex that makes people reluctant to come right out and talk about it.  Or maybe that would destroy the romance.  Whatever. …

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I can’t possibly be that strong

The other day, I stopped to help a neighbour whose car was stuck in his driveway.  (It was winter.  Snow.) “Want me to push while you give it some gas?” I offered. “Do you think you can?” he replied. Well, if I didn’t think I could, I wouldn’t’ve offered.  Numbnuts. On another day, I heard …

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The Provocation Defence – Condoning Testosterone Tantrums (and other masculinities)

According to the Canadian Criminal Code (and probably a lot of other criminal codes), murder can be reduced to manslaughter if the person was provoked.  Provocation is defined as “a wrongful act or an insult that is of such a nature as to be sufficient to deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control …

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Blind to Natural Beauty

Living in a world in which most people are blind to natural beauty is so painful.  What little beauty there is left so often gets destroyed, irrevocably, without a thought.  After polite requests and rational explanations, I simply beg, Please don’t, but they just smile at me, with incomprehension, perhaps amused by my apparently baseless …

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Life as We Know It

So I noticed this morning the birds are gone.  They used to wake me up every morning around five o’clock and since I’d just gone to bed at two or three, I’d roll over, put in my earplugs, and go back to sleep.  And I just realized that I haven’t had to do this for…must …

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YAY Canada!

– we’re barely in the top quarter when it comes to the gender gap in wages (we’re fourth worst) – we’re barely in the top quarter when it comes to the gender gap in health (it’s safer to be pregnant in Estonia than in Canada) – speaking of which, we’re one of the last six …

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