Stephanie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bill barrington Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > When we stopped being a matriarchical
> society.
> >
> > bill
>
> And when did that happen? As far as I'm
> concerned, as long as husbands continue to cringe
> and snap to whenever their wives get "that
> tone"....we're still a matriarchial society. We
> just learned that we have more control letting you
> blokes think you're in charge...
>
> Hee hee, couldn't resist

Some years ago I was given a xeroxed copy of an article that had originally been published in Playboy magazine. It analyzed such things as gender differentials in income, spending, life expectancy, and so on.

The data revealed that while men MAKE most of the money, women actually decide how most of it is spent (I think maybe even spend most of it.... in part due to outliving husbands & spending more of retirement monies?). And that while men dominate society, it comes at a cost.... they suffer more stress, die at younger ages, and tend to be much more psychologically repressed than women.

Sexism works two ways.... it oppresses women, but it ALSO forces men to risk themselves in dangerous activities ("must kill that mammoth for food", "must protect the family", "must prove my masculinity to rivals and to potential mates by successfully doing risky things", etc). It denigrates women's abilities, but it ALSO absolves them of much of the responsibility and blame if things go wrong (by denying that women are capable, it places the responsibility/blame on men). By making most decision making an explicit male perogative, it allows women to influence the decision process behind the scenes while escaping certain of the burdens & risks associated with decision making (such as public censure when things go wrong, etc).

The article presented it's case FAR more persuasively than I've presented it here. And true or not, it certainly made one stop & think.....

Racism, Sexism, etc, etc.... both victim AND victimizer suffer, to varying degrees.

Kenuchelover.