What about men?

I thought this, from 16 year old Joshua Walsh, in the Irish Times, was fantastic;

“Manliness”– the characteristics of being a man

Since when do we live our lives based on a definition

Everything’s also based on our reputation

To be a shoulder to cry on yet we have no shoulders to cry on

Our shoulders carry the weight of a family, both emotionally and financially

While we hide our feelings so casually

Behind a false personality

Of objectifying women

To impress our fellow men

While being told by these men to man up instead of open up

This leads to many giving up

As 70 per cent of suicide victims

Are men

Let that sink in

A man at the edge of his life being told to man up

And not to fess up

That he’s not okay

He’s not alright

That he needs help

Help that would be on offer to a woman before the first tear

While many people steer clear

Of an emotional man looking for affection

To be told it’s alright, I’m here for you

It would mean the world to a man

Yet to the world it would mean

He’s not a man
 
Wow, that's excellent. To nitpick I'd say Mams probably bear the emotional weight of a family more, re financially one might be accused of adhering to stereotypes - but I guess I just have re Mams and emotions.....

One very sage young fella there!! Bravo
 
Betsy Og said:
To nitpick I'd say Mams probably bear the emotional weight of a family more, re financially one might be accused of adhering to stereotypes - but I guess I just have re Mams and emotions.....
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Yep, and when a man bears the emotional weight of a family more he's a softie. When a woman bears the financial weight of the family more the man is not being a real man. Either way when a man doesn't conform to the stereotype, when he veers into what is traditionally female territory, it is seen as weakness.
 
It is International women's day today.
Does Patricia Casey?
"International Women's Day is ultimately an excuse for virtue signalling, as every 'woke' celebrity and social commentator steps out to decry misogyny, gender bias, and the rape culture on campuses, while demanding trigger warnings, safe spaces, and insisting on deplatforming those whose opinions they do not agree with.

Of course, some will also and rightly call out female genital mutilation, domestic violence, homelessness and poverty.

But these social problems and many others also assail men and to appropriate them as female only is both incorrect and narrow. It also locates women as victims in the overall social landscape."

Personally I think she does but she seriously over-eggs things and, while rightly points out that many "women's issues" are also faced by men, she doesn't mention that they usually disproportionately affect women.
The line "men worry about women laughing at them, women worry about men killing them" springs to mind and while it also massively overstates things there is some truth in it.
 
I'm a man, so there's an element of theorising here, but a lot of International Women's Day is very patronising to women.
And I think bundling something like FGM under the same umbrella as issues like gender pay gap (if there even is one), does a disservice to it.

So International Women's Day... I'm against it and agree with Patricia Casey.
 
I think it is ridiculous. I have worked for a couple of large financial institutions and the money and effort that is spent trying to convince people that they value women and the gender bias doesn't exist beggers belief. Even today, the lobby is lit up in purple lighting. Its tokenism. If companies want to get rid of the gender bias, then actions speak louder than words. Bank Of New York Mellon recently announced that they were banning people from working home unless it was for exceptional circumstances. They had to back down when it was pointed out that this would dissaportionately affect women in the workplace. Again, I bet there was announcements every week in that company telling people how serious they took the issue of women in the workplace prior to that.

I think these things are patronising. Its like the Pride Day stuff as well. But then again, I am a man who cares what I think!
 
I'm not against it; there are real and massive issues facing women. Those women just aren't in Ireland or even in most of the developed world. FGM, forces marriage, rape culture (the real ones, like what's happening in South Africa and India and elsewhere), property rights, equality under the law etc. even the right to have a birth cert and death cert, let alone vote. These are the issues facing women in much of the world.

Not liking the fact that men generally tend to work longer and generally focus more than women do on work rather than family and calling those choices biases and inequality is, in the context of the real inequalities women face around the world, appalling.
It reminds me of the lunchtime protest by Google employees about general gap equality there which completely ignored the fact that half of the people working in Google are contractors on vastly inferior wages who are treated disgracefully.

So, International Women's Day is fine but why not shine a light on the real issues faced by women.
 
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Duke of Marmalade said:
I think the Boss needs a root and branch review to flush out this gender bias, if necessary by affirmative action like banning the likes of myself, Sunny and odyssey.
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I agree. My Metrosexual credentials (I cook, bake, have fixed my daughters makeup and have recently had to learn how to use a sewing machine because my youngest daughter got one last Christmas) means I can comment unfettered by any restrictions imposed by the Patriarchy.
 
odyssey06 said:
I think bundling something like FGM under the same umbrella as issues like gender pay gap (if there even is one), does a disservice to it.
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They both come from the same place - the notion that women / girls are:
A)"Other" &
B) Less

Change has to be structural. International Womens' Day is a platform to highlight issues affecting women whether great or small.
International Mens' Day *(19th November) serves as the same.

That people you don't rate or you don't agree with post nonsense on the subject doesn't mean the day / platform is any less useful. It just makes it another day at the office - the world is full of idiots. Especially on social media.
 

By definition though, with an International X Day, you emphasise the distinction of the "Other".
If you talk to me about an issue, I can agree or disagree or support a particular policy initiative.
 
New Yorker Cartoon from my day by day calendar for today:


“No, we’re good. This gentleman accidentally touched my breast and I accidentally broke his nose.”
 
odyssey06 said:
New Yorker Cartoon from my day by day calendar for today:


“No, we’re good. This gentleman accidentally touched my breast and I accidentally broke his nose.”
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I've had my This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language felt by women in the past (when I was younger, before I had gone to seed). Would it have been okay for me to break their nose?
 
Purple said:
I've had my This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language felt by women in the past (when I was younger, before I had gone to seed). Would it have been okay for me to break their nose?
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You should really stop keeping your wallet in your back pocket like that. You're encouraging the wrong sort of attention...
 
Purple said:
I've had my This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language felt by women in the past (when I was younger, before I had gone to seed). Would it have been okay for me to break their nose?
Click to expand...
Why would you,
Don't you know equal amounts of red and blue makes a Rich Purple,
 
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