Is it just me, or do women have a lot more advantages in this society than they'd like to let on?
It's very chic right now to talk about how oppressed women are in society, and all the ways men take advantage of them. Apparently, we men are higher-paid and otherwise far more advantaged than women. While the individual points sometimes have merit, they largely ignore the bigger picture. To put it bluntly, women have things better than men when everything is considered.
First of all, let's get the whole wage issue out of the way. Sure, men do get paid more than women in the areas that feminists are highlighting - that is, office work and high-income professions. As a lower-income male, frankly, I'm sick of hearing about it. In my particular workplace (I currently work in a restaurant while trying to get my web design career rolling), I make less than any woman working there - guaranteed. Why? To put it bluntly, they get the opportunity to make tips and I don't. Yes, we make the same hourly rate on our paychecks, but they take home at least double that for the hour they're waitresses. (Figure fifty cents an order, on average. Now figure the average amount of orders at a decently-trafficked restaurant per hour. I'll let you do the math.) Yeah, these upper- and middle-class women have a point that they sometimes get paid less - but down here, it just doesn't happen.
While I'm on the subject of take-home pay, let me digress into take-out pay. Yes, I'm talking about the dating scene, where the concept of equality between the sexes goes right the fuck out the window. For those schmucks out there who don't know how it works, here's the basic breakdown. If a man and woman go out and they're just friends, they each pay their own way. If there's even the chance of a romantic element involved and she's not making an obscene amount of money more than he does, he's expected to pay for the entire date simply for the privilege of basking in the woman's presence.
Incidentally, it's come to my attention that some women simply can't fathom the appeal prostitutes have for men - well, I'm here to give you the scoop. Men go to prostitutes when they want honesty out of an evening. With a prostitute, there's no gambling involved, no rocky ground of emotion, no worry if you're going to shell out forty bucks for a date and only get a goodnight kiss in return - you both know what you're there for, she quotes a price, you pay, you Do The Deed and go your separate ways. A prostitute doesn't lie to you, she doesn't lead you on, she doesn't get insulted if you insist on using protection (hell, she usually insists!). There are no broken hearts, no broken promises, nothing except a straightforward business transaction in a service industry that has no reason whatsoever to be illegal. (As George Carlin once said, "Selling is legal, fucking is legal. Why isn't selling fucking legal?") Yeah, it'll cost you a little more - depending on your region - but consider the relative investment, and if all you want is a quick fuck, prostitutes start to look pretty good on the ledger.
Now, this isn't to say that I'm against the whole idea of finding that Special Someone and settling down with her (okay, Hamm - "or him"), but the whole topic could be approached with a lot more honesty. Women, if you're only going out with a guy so you won't hurt his feelings, take it from one who knows - you're making a mistake. He's going to expect something more, and when you do break it off, it's going to hurt a lot more because of that invested effort. Same thing goes for men, too - if you ask a woman out just because you want to get a turn with her in the sack, do yourself and your intended fuckpuppy a favor and just find a hooker. You'll save some money, and you'll see a return on your investment a lot faster. On the other hand, if both of you are really looking for love, go at it with my blessings...but you'll come out a lot better if you get this out in the open as soon as you possibly can. (Or, as Rodney Dangerfield once put it, "Everybody's looking for love, a lifetime of deep love. Me, I'm looking for a shallow half-hour.") Honesty can only help a relationship - and if honesty would lead to a breakup, then it's a bad relationship and you're better off without it anyway.
Anyway, back to the power women have over men - as if I ever really left the subject to begin with. Let me put it bluntly, ladies - you have something we want, we'll do a lot of stupid shit to get a shot at it, and we all know it. Trouble is, you feel absolutely no shame in using that against us. How often have you heard about a woman stringing a man along for a long damn time by dangling the false hope of getting some pussy in front of him? Too often. By the same token, how often do you hear about a man stringing a woman along? Not damned likely! Just as there has to be a gross inequity of income for the woman to pay for a date, there has to be a gross inequity of social standing for a man to ever be able to string a woman along. (Okay, not necessarily social standing, although that's the most obvious variant. What it really comes down to is the comparative evaluation of self-worth; only if a woman feels much lower on the totem pole than the man in question can he string her along.)
One way this power comes out is in the military arena. Look at the one big gender inequality that feminists bluntly ignore: Selective Service. At the age of eighteen, unless a man has a damned good reason, he has to sign up for Selective Service, which means that if these assholes in Washington decide to start waving their dicks around, he's eligible to be drafted and be sent off to get killed for a war he had nothing to do with. Women, on the other hand, are automatically exempt - just because they're women. You don't hear feminists complaining about that, do you? You know why? Because that's gender-based bias in their favor. Getting picked at random to get killed in a country whose name you didn't even know a year ago is not a desirable thing, women are exempt from it, and they want to keep it that way. And why are they exempt? Simple: men think too much of women to want to see them come home in body bags. Face it, this is one place where that male chauvanist attitude feminists keep bitching about helps them, and so feminists keep quiet about it.
Here's another example: sexual harassment. Did you ever see Disclosure? You know, the movie where the sexy female executive puts the moves on a male subordinate who isn't interested, then she claims that he sexually harassed her to get vengeance on him? A lot of people treat this as a "never-happen" scenario, something that was just made up as a controversial topic to make a lot of money. Wake up, folks - this happens. Men get sexually harassed, but society doesn't believe it without ironclad proof. On the other hand, all a woman has to do to win a sexual harassment suit is claim the guy looked at her funny and made her feel uncomfortable; not only will the jury believe her, but they'll award her a ton of money for punitive damages to make up for what that Big Bad Man put her through. Fair? Of course not - but do you hear any women complaining? Again, of course not - this is biased for them, so they keep quiet.
While I'm on the subject of legal matters, here's another good one: rape. Suppose I go out with a woman and we wind up in bed together. While I'm silently celebrating my good fortune, maybe I say something to offend her. (Since I value honesty, this isn't as unlikely as some might think...but then, a lot of those who'd think that probably just tuned in and don't know me very well.) Next morning, she calls the cops and claims I raped her. I'm defenseless; it's my word against hers, she's got traces of my semen in her body, and "women don't lie about rape." Bull-fucking-shit they don't! I'm not saying that rape doesn't happen; not by a long shot. I am, however, saying that it doesn't happen every single time a woman says it does. There are a lot of conniving bitches out there who aren't above crying "rape" just because their feelings got hurt, just because the guy didn't make the right noises the morning after, just because she felt guilty, or just because he happened to call someone else's name out during sex. And suppose the guy does get acquitted - what then? His reputation is tarnished beyond repair unless he moves out of the region, and maybe even then. He'll always be known as "the rapist that got off the hook" - because after all, women don't lie about rape. Yeah...just ask Mike Tyson.
So what does this say about sexual inequality in our society? Quite a lot, in my opinion. Women get shortchanged in a few areas, and when they get shafted, it's on a small scale. Furthermore, they've got the law on their side; if Jane Doe tells Wage & Labor that she's getting paid less than Joe Schmoe for the same job, the authorities get on the case really fucking quick. On the other hand, when men get shafted, it's on a much larger scale and nobody cares. Sure, Jane Doe lost some money - but Joe Schmoe's facing prison time, and possibly death behind bars if she accuses him of the right thing. Of course, that's fine - because as we all know, men are The Oppressors, so anything they get's just what they have coming on the karmic wheel anyway. Look, women...you've got the advantage socially and legally, you're foremost in our hearts and in our minds - what more do you want?!?