Have you ever wondered why, in the sport of figure skating, there are no men’s precision teams? Sure, precision skating requires attention to detail and a highly developed spatial sense. But both are surely male capabilities; in fact, aren’t they male superiorities? Isn’t that why (so we’re told) men dominate science and engineering? And of …
Category: men
Dec 01 2013
First (and last) Contact
Women have a long tradition of being diplomats. “Historically… marriage has been the major alliance mechanism of every society, and little girls are trained for roles as intervillage family diplomats…the married woman straddles two kin networks, two villages, sometimes two cultures” (The Underside of History, Elise Boulding, p.53-54). Many women have decades of experience, settling …
Nov 22 2013
A Little Less Evolved
Sometimes I wonder whether men have a defective chromosome: the Y was supposed to be an X, but somehow it ended up missing something – a case of stunted growth, or arrested development. This defective chromosome, uniquely characteristic of the human male, causes them to be a little lower on the evolutionary scale, a little …
Nov 01 2013
What happens when men do the cooking and the baking?
Used to be women did the cooking and the baking. Then men starting getting into it. And in theory, I have no problem with that. In fact, I’m all for making everything gender-unaligned. But now that men are in the kitchen, suddenly it’s important. So important it’s being televised. And my god, the drama! (And …
Oct 24 2013
The Pill for Men
‘Outrageous!’ That was the word used way back in ’85 in response to the expectation that men take a contraceptive that had a side-effect of reduced sex drive. Hello. Let me tell you about the contraceptive pill for women. Side-effects include headaches, nausea, weight gain, mood changes, yeast infections, loss of vision, high blood pressure, …
Sep 23 2013
Testicular Battery and Tranquilizer Guns (what the world needs now is)
Given the relative vulnerability of men to sexual assault (all it takes to disable them is a swift forceful kick, or, at closer quarters, a good grab, pull, twist – almost anything, really) (whereas women have to be partially undressed and then immobilized), given the relative vulnerability of men to sexual assault, it’s surprising that …
Sep 15 2013
p.s. (the grounds for assuming a woman is a lesbian)
The guy in the pick-up did not know if I was a lesbian. He apparently assumed so. Because… (take your pick; they’re all exemplars of flawed reasoning) – I do not live with a man. – I am not married to a man. – I am not a mother. – I am not feminine in …
Sep 14 2013
On Being “Good for somethin’!” (or On Being Fuckable)
So I was talking to a guy yesterday and happened to tell him my “Nice to see you’re good for somethin’!” story: one day while I was picking up all the garbage on the sides of the gravel/dirt road I walk on every day (it’s something I do twice a year, picking up after the …
Aug 22 2013
The Little Birdies
So I’m out walking today, and as I pass a neighbour tending his bird feeder, I wave. And the guy calls out to me “I’m feeding some seed to the little birdies!” The little birdies? What am I, twelve? No, I’m female. (I have a hard time believing that he would’ve said the same thing …
Aug 19 2013
Police urge riders to use caution after second sexual assault by fake taxi driver.
Right, that’ll work. Women should use caution. Okay, as long as we’re putting the responsibility on the women (sigh), how about a women-only taxi service? Anyone out there looking for a job? Someone with a BBA could prepare a business plan, someone else could prepare a Kickstarter proposal to get funding (I offer my editing …
fiction
