Newsgroups: soc.women
Subject: Re: Hating Men with Full Force
From: rivero@mdcbbs.com
Date: 28 Aug 92 10:42:09 GMT
Organization: Electronic Data Systems, Unigraphics Division, Cypress CA
Nntp-Posting-User: rivero

In article <1992Aug27.120558.12106@ultb.isc.rit.edu>, kls4344@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Person in flux) writes:
> In article <1992Aug26.152345.16950@news.nd.edu>, slarsen@monet.helios.nd.edu 
> (susan larsen) writes:
> 
>>I would have to agree with you on this, Katie.  In my dialog with women
>>at workbreaks, on the front porch, the store, anyplace where women gather
>>exclusive of men, man-bashing abounds.  And the most vocal at it are the 
>>"mainstream women" (as opposed to any hue of "feminist).  I think that 
>>some of the men who are claiming that such acts are "outrageous" and 
>>that net.women must be exaggerating are completely missing the point. 
>>This man-bashing DOES exist, and it happens so frequently that I believe 
>>that women use it as a female-bonding mechanism.  This is not a positive
>>situation, IMO, but just because we don't like to hear about it does 
>>not change the fact that it is happening.
> 
> Sue, your observation that this sort of man-bashing happens so frequently that
> it appears to be a sort of bonding mechanism for women struck a chord with me. 
> I wonder if this behavior isn't some sort of alternative for these women who
> may well not feel empowered by or involved with the "traditional" feminist
> movement; the bonding could be their substitute and their way of empowering
> themselves.
> 

  Close. But there is one more factor to acknowledge. Remember that, at least
here in the United States, the average full time working woman works 8 hours
per week less than the average full time working man. That extra time off
occurs in the early afternoon hours where , taa daa, the most abusive anti-male
TV programming occurs on programs such as Oprah, Donoahue, and Geralso (anyone
know what his real name is?). 

  While it may be true that men still earn more money (after all, they work
more hours), in joint households, the woman traditionally controls the
discretionary spending, a fact not lost on the advertisers.

  In relationships which are having troubles (and what relationship isn't)
women often spend the husbands money as a way to "get even" for some minor
transgression. At a meeting last Wednesday for The Parent Connection, I asked
the men in the audiance how many had experienced economic abuse at the hands of
their wives as a prelude to legal hostilities. All of them had, which led to
the informal acceptance of the theorum,"Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman With
A Credit Card". This is a fact of life not lost on afternoon TV and the home
shopping channels, as time and again, research by advertisers has shown that
the angrier you can get a woman, the easier you can extract her husbands
money from her, and the demographics for the 4PM - 6PM weekday slot
are "working mothers home alone with kids", prime time to whip them
into a vengeful spending fury. After all, anyone who believes glueing 
colored plastic onto the ends of their fingers is a "plus" can be
talked into anything. (Did you know the word,"Gullible" isn't in this
here dictionary??????)

  So, while it's partly correct to place blame for the male bash on
extremists such as Andrea Dworkin, a major portion of the cause for
"mainstream" male bashing lies with the advertisers, and WON'T go away until
the networks start to see men controlling the discretionary spending. Then
those same TV programs will turn the "bash" in the opposite direction.


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|  Michael Rivero rivero@mdcbbs.com  Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Animator   |
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| Email is flaky here. I'm not ignoring you, I just don't get your       |
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Newsgroups: soc.women