In Defence of Men

[wayneL]

I thought this would be nice in view of the clear anti male agenda of certain posters on this site.

I was sitting in the Bay Espresso Cafe on Omahu Rd Hastings having some lunch. It has the best coffee in the bay, they roast it themselves and flog it all over NZ... anyway, it was busy and all the NZ Heralds were taken, even the copies of that useless left wing rag The Dominion were being read, so I had to resort to a woman's magazine.

There I was was suffering the subliminal, covert and even sometimes overt attacks on male character, such as the fashion is in advertising these days when lo, I came across an article entitled "In Defence of Men".

So amazed was I that there was some member of the fairer sex that seems to respect, even like us, I forgot to take note of the publication and author.

I thought I'd search online to see if I can find it... alas, no. But I did find that there are several articles on the same theme. such as this one written by a delightful lady named Leanne Bell:

http://www.andtheylivedhappilyeverafter.com/29.htm

SNIP: Men are in dire need of defense. They suffer in silence, most of the time, taking every blow, suffering every insult and accusation, holding up bravely under the constant barrage of animosity that our society throws at them.

Discuss

 

[springhill]

I was sitting in the Bay Espresso Cafe on Omahu Rd Hastings having some lunch. It has the best coffee in the bay, they roast it themselves and flog it all over NZ...
Discuss

Sounds like something my GF would say, congrats wayne, you just took one step closer to becoming one of them

This should have read: I was sitting in some sh!thole pub, which BTW had a blocked toilet.... i know, because i blocked it, scratching my left nad, when some wench (who let her in isn't this still the 50's?) came in bagging the crap out of her husband,son,dad and male boss. I said to the bar owner (who happened to be divorced 3 times..... this year) "OiWTFmaaaaaateareyougunnafknallowthisfknkindatalkroundfknere?"
At which point he grabbed her by her New Idea mag and her fake Loui Vuitton bag she bought in Bali and turfed her right over the road in this crappy Cafe, that apparently has the best coffee in NZ.
After that we were all happy.
The end.

 

[wayneL]

Oh ****!

I'll have to get my @rse down to Turk's Bar in Havelock North for some retraining. LOL

 

[Mofra]

There have been some interesting articles released on the impact of modern society on the roles of men in new society, and the struggles for identity overall.

Worth noting that suicide rates for young men are much higher than for women, as are rates of depression despite the fact that young men are far less likely to seek help for psychological disorders.

 

[derty]

There have been some interesting articles released on the impact of modern society on the roles of men in new society, and the struggles for identity overall.

Worth noting that suicide rates for young men are much higher than for women, as are rates of depression despite the fact that young men are far less likely to seek help for psychological disorders.

The rates of depression and suicide may be due to men being less likely to seek psychological help.

The young men in today's society are just as prone to body image dissatisfaction as the young women. The media pushes an image of the young man that most guys (especially in the realm of today's relative inactivity and resultant BMI's) cannot hope to live up to.

As much as I hate the nanny state, media and advertising seem unable to self regulate themselves to provide a relatively benign product for the youth in their quest to mould subsequent generations into mindless consumers.

 

[disarray]

i read an interesting article lately on The Misandry Bubble which explains how a lot of social problems are caused by the balance of power shifting to women and the continual attacks on males and their nature.

Executive Summary : The Western World has quietly become a civilization that undervalues men and overvalues women, where the state forcibly transfers resources from men to women creating various perverse incentives for otherwise good women to conduct great evil against men and children, and where male nature is vilified but female nature is celebrated. This is unfair to both genders, and is a recipe for a rapid civilizational decline and displacement, the costs of which will ultimately be borne by a subsequent generation of innocent women, rather than men, as soon as 2020.

in it's simplest terms, marriage has become a very bad deal for men, and given more than 40% of marriages end in divorce more and more men are rejecting it. this is bad news for any society that wishes to be self-sustaining.

 

[Julia]

I thought this would be nice in view of the clear anti male agenda of certain posters on this site.

Is there an anti-male agenda? I'm a bit worried that because I've not noticed any such thing, I may be part of it?

In fact the opposite is true. I think some women have become way too precious.

It's always hard to find the right balance. Before Germaine Greer, Betty Friedan et al, women did endure an inferior role, socially, intellectually, financially, and possibly even sexually. That this did eventually change to allow something like an equality of opportunity has been a genuine liberation for women imo.

But some of the little princesses of today, who have no idea what it was like to have to e.g. get the husband's permission before obtaining a bank loan, have become a bit carried away and demanding, often emasculating blokes in the process.

I could go on about the men I know who have been unfairly disadvantaged in divorce settlements, not just financially, but in terms of access to children, but it would serve no purpose.

There's much to be said for the capacity to leave aside the gender divide, and simply see one another as people.

 

[wayneL]

I may be part of it?

No, you are very balanced IMO.

 

[Dunger]

As much as I hate the nanny state, media and advertising seem unable to self regulate themselves to provide a relatively benign product for the youth in their quest to mould subsequent generations into mindless consumers.

The advertising departments of most companies today are terrible. They are sexist both ways by objectifying women to sell products to men and emasculate men by making them look dumb and stupid to sell products to women.

A perfect example is an ad that has pamela anderson in an office meeting with a bloke that starts day dreaming about her wearing a bikini and she makes him look dumb by asking him a question while he's off in la la land and the ad makes it look like he flukes the answer.

If the only way these companies can peddle their wares is by denigrating each gender then we are in real trouble. Obviously these products have no real qualities or brand value to sell on its own.

 

[sails]

SNIP: Men are in dire need of defense. They suffer in silence, most of the time, taking every blow, suffering every insult and accusation, holding up bravely under the constant barrage of animosity that our society throws at them.

Just recently I heard of a situation where a father was sent a letter to say his Tax Benefit had been stopped because he didn't care for his children. This couldn't be further from the truth. The department had apparently made no effort to verify the situation.

There had been a falling out and the wife had apparently informed the relevent departments that she and her husband had separated although still living in the family home. She stated that she had 100% care of the children which was not true.

To add insult to injury, he then got a bill to repay Tax benefits they said were overpaid. Considering he was also still fully supporting his family financially (including the wife), it seemed quite an unjust slap in the face.

The system itself seems to be heavily female biased. In this case there was no discussion with this very caring father and action was taken simply on the fanticies of the wife.

Is this normal for men to treated like this here in Australia?

 

[wayneL]

I don't mind a bit of good natured ribbing about male nature, so long as it is:

1/ In jest

2/ That it cuts both ways

I have PMSL about the "man-flu" phenomenon, yet have had the same women become insulted and defensive regarding femalisms. Gotta get some balance back there.

Re marriage: I guess I'm very lucky to be married to a woman who although definitely sees the faults in male character, is equally scathing about her own gender.

There's much to be said for the capacity to leave aside the gender divide, and simply see one another as people.

I think we are different, and I enjoy the differences , both mental and physical. I think men and women have different strengths and weaknesses, with quite some overlap, but something to capitalize on rather than denigrate.

 

[Logique]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Julia
I may be part of it?

Quote: from wayneL:
You are very balanced IMO.

Times 2 on that.

Actually I'm not sure I've noticed any particular anti-men agendas in ASF, I must visit different threads.

I guess I've returned serve in a way, having often alluded to the Helen Clark PM'ship in NZ. Now there was a place to begin looking. But NZ'ers of all genders came to their senses, realizing the extremism involved, and balance was regained.

 

[awg]

There have been some interesting articles released on the impact of modern society on the roles of men in new society, and the struggles for identity overall.

Worth noting that suicide rates for young men are much higher than for women, as are rates of depression despite the fact that young men are far less likely to seek help for psychological disorders.

Its worth noting that death from disease, accident and injury is higher in almost every category and age group for men!

This discussion arose before in another thread, and I pointed out that support of woman thru education, healthcare and anti-discrimination was growing, and this was neccesarily at the expense of men.

Some female posters were a bit taken aback by that, and I thought they were not at all anti-male judging buy their other posts.

If you ever bring this up in a femenist environment, you really get howled down. ( Until you talk to mothers of boys)