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No winners when women turn on women

Angela Mollard

by Angela Mollard

17 Apr 05:55am

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Filed under: Children, Families, Media, Men And Women, Parenting, Society, Women

71 comments

Generally, I like being a woman. The conversations are great; breasts are both useful and attractive, if I do say so myself; plus, we get to wear more interesting stuff than jeans and variations on the blue shirt. But, recently, I’ve been hankering for a gender opt-out. I’d like a day – actually, make that a week – of being a man.

Illustration: John Tiedemann

From the outside, I’m sure it looks as if Girl World is all book clubs and mutual support, and long phone calls and caring, sharing emails. Which it is. Mostly. But while we weren’t watching, a serpent must have slithered into the Garden of Eve because, right now, us girls are in danger of critiquing ourselves to death.

There’s barely an issue that doesn’t polarise us: breast vs bottle, caesarean vs natural birth, tramp vs virgin, tiger mother vs western mother, Botox vs wrinkles, skinny vs fat, airbrushing vs real. And on it goes.

Do you ever hear men argue about their ‘elective’ vasectomies, or debate the merits of circumcised over uncircumcised? Nope, because they don’t. Live and let live, they say, then off they saunter to slay another bison.

Not us. In recent weeks, Private Practice star Kate Walsh dubbed herself – and, in effect, any other women who’d left it too late – a “loser” for failing to have children by the age of 43. Jackie O has been hounded off pedestrian crossings for having the temerity to feed her baby daughter. And the ‘too posh to push’ debate went mental again after statistics showed private hospitals perform more caesarean deliveries than public hospitals.

Add to that the seesawing gossip mag headlines showcasing ‘shock slim-downs’ one week and ‘body blowouts’ the next, and you have to wonder who’s driving these highly contrived catfights.

I used to think it was men. Like Kyle Sandilands salivating over a bunch of bikini models getting stuck into jelly wrestling (it so didn’t work on radio), male media executives undoubtedly used to light the fuse paper on these issues, then step back and watch us girls fire up. I was at work on the evening Elizabeth Hurley stepped out in her Versace ‘safety pin’ frock, and I recall the night editor rubbing his hands together as he dropped the photo into the front page. “This will get the claws out,” he chortled.

Now, though, we’re igniting ourselves.

A female editor chose to run the photo of Jackie O and, days later, the NSW Families Minister Pru Goward weighed in with the finger-wagging. It was a female TV presenter (Britain’s Kirsty Young) who said stay-at-home mothers feel like “non-persons”. And we’re the ones battling with our conscience and each other over birthing methods – not men. Sure, they may rally with the essential oils and the stress balls, but all they’re really thinking is, how can all this be my fault? Is there any chance of a cup of tea and a biscuit? 

One of the best things about being a woman is the support we galvanise for each other. Yet all that bra burning and glass-ceiling smashing will be in vain if we continue to view every issue as a gladiatorial battle that must produce a winner and a loser. A friend of mine still hasn’t been able to tell another friend that she had an elective caesarean, so fearful is she of the silent condemnation. And if I go to another lunch where all that’s discussed is who has and who hasn’t had Botox, I may have to shoot myself in the head – with more than a needle.

I reckon it’s time we girls commandeered the barbecue. Leave the boys to the salads and let’s grill the steak, rather than each other.

Catch Angela Mollard on Weekend Today, Sundays at 7am on the Nine Network. Email angelamollard@sundaymagazine.com.au.

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71 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Sad Sad Reality says:

      06:32am | 17/04/11

      Women hate women. Say it isn’t completely obvious and so. Tell me beautfiul women aren’t hated by their less attractive sisters. Such reality would destroy the very foundations of womynkind.

      Reply

    • mike j says:

      12:41pm | 18/04/11

      Want to know why women hate other women, SSR? Because other women are the only check on the rogue freight train that is female entitlement. As women spend their entire lives trying to avoid personal responsibility for their actions (social and political gender biases make this easy for them), they become adept at spotting when others are milking the system, or taking the easy way out, or making excuses for their own inadequacy.

      Men give up trying to point out the bewildering hypocrisy in the feminist expectations of their female friends when they realise that these women are incapable of reason and logic, and that arguing with them is a sure way not to get laid.

      So the only free and honest critics of women are other women.

      The author here isn’t advocating unity of women at all. Just that they hold each other less accountable for their actions.

      Welcome to every blog ever about the ‘sisterhood’.

    • Erick says:

      10:33am | 17/04/11

      Stop using other people’s names, Erick!

      raspberry

    • Super D says:

      06:42am | 17/04/11

      You are right, I’ve never heard a man speak passionately regarding circumcision - its always a passionless factual discussion - these are the costs, these are the benefits.

      I have however heard women speak far more passionately on the subject - normally the see it as an act of mutilation and I would postulate that its this sort of militancy amongst women that has led to the dramatic decrease in circumcision rates.  Women don’t want to be judged harshly by the other women at their mothers groups!

      Consider the following conversations:

      Man 1: We got Johnny circumsized
      Man2: Whatever

      Woman 1: We got Johnny circumsized
      Woman 2: I could never mutilate my child.

      Reply

    • Eva says:

      03:09pm | 17/04/11

      I doubt it. I would have loved to have got my sons circumsized but somewhere along the way the medical profession (not urologists) have demonised it. Now I have to worry about whether they will suffer from phimosis and know that they will have less pleasure from using condoms so maybe will be less likely to use them.

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      06:55pm | 17/04/11

      You said it Eva, my B-I-L HAD to be circumsized at 25, nearly killed him. My father returned from WWII convinced it was a good idea, my brother & I were snipped as were my 3 sons, neat, tidy & they gained 2 minutes a day over the uncircumsized for the rest of their lives

    • AliceC says:

      11:26am | 18/04/11

      @Eva

      Your son’s ‘could’ suffer from a wide range of medical issues in their lives. Is it worth cutting things off ‘just in case’?

    • Jamo says:

      11:32am | 18/04/11

      THAT….is jus so true Super D…speaking as a man….that is just so true…and men are now being led by women into the debate about the moral issues….we really don’t care…but do care what our women think..so some how…even some of my mates want to talka bout the ‘moral’ points of this issue. I am actually quite female in the way I speak to and with women, but when I talk to men about this kind of thing..I wonder…why are we having this chat…cut or don’t dude!

    • Aaron says:

      12:01pm | 18/04/11

      Eva circumcision doesn’t increase the pleasure when using condoms, the glans becomes exposed when the condom is applied, and in some ways you gain more pleasure from not being circumcised as you don’t become desensitised.

      Provided you teach your children hygiene the chances of them getting an infection is as high as the chances of you getting an infection, less in fact while they’re not sexually active.

    • l.m says:

      12:55pm | 18/04/11

      you just haven’t been reading the same things that I have, then.  Particularly on the blogs interested in men’s rights, the comment sections become warzones whenever someone brings up the issue of circumcision.

    • Leto says:

      01:01pm | 18/04/11

      I’m a man, and i’m pretty happy that I wasn’t mutilated at birth. Nor were my appendix or tonsils removed on the off chance that they may become inflamed.

    • Jason Todd says:

      09:21pm | 23/04/11

      I have to say. the circumcision debate is an interesting one. I for one am against it as I believe that it confers no significant benefit to the recipient. Although some studies have suggested that it may increase the risks of disease transmission if you are engaging in high risk sexual activity, if you practice safe sex and good hygiene, the difference is betweeen the two is negligible.

      I am uncircumcised, and speaking from that viewpoint. I can’t imagine that being circumcised would be beneficial or pleasurable. Having your glans exposed all the time just sounds…painful frankly.

      At the end of the day, we are still talking about genital mutiliation, for better or worse. Female circumcision or genital mutiliation is considered heinous worldwide, why is it accepted for males?

    • Varuni says:

      06:48am | 17/04/11

      Add to this the recent report that said women were less likely to get a promotion when working under another woman.

      Reply

    • Bitten says:

      09:11am | 17/04/11

      With respect to that issue, let me add if a male superior tells a female subordinate to improve her work performance, no questions asked - he’s her boss. If however a female superior tells a female subordinate to improve her work performance, she’s not her boss, she’s just a bitch. Sexism works both ways my son.

    • Damian Parkhill says:

      06:53am | 17/04/11

      Females fighting over irrelevant issues? I blame the media!

      Reply

    • Ray says:

      07:12am | 17/04/11

      That’s the nature of the beast. Women turn on anyone.

      Wait a minute they turn me on for s…...x.

      They turn me off for turning on anyone. They are nasty pieces of work with that kind of nature.

      Whew that was close

      Reply

    • Fqybian says:

      07:15am | 17/04/11

      I always wondered why the magazines contradicted themselves with alarming regularity. I work in a heavily female dominated profession and find that we women can be terrible to each other. Just go to any schoolyard to pick up your kids and you can still experience the clique alive and well too. I have heard that the “oppressed” (or marginalized) can be really good at doing similar to each other. Can this mean we can turn it around and blame men for oppressing us after all??? That said (with tongue firmly in cheek), this sort of behavior to each other baffles me, but then I’ve never really fitted in with the schoolyard mums.

      Reply

    • Joel B1 says:

      07:59am | 17/04/11

      The majority of the issues raised in this report were of a body image type.

      That’s why women have still got a long way to go.

      And no, I’m not saying the origins of this are with women. The more men can get women to worry over the shape of their eye-brows the less chance the women will realise how duped they’ve been.

      Reply

    • Tegan Keli says:

      09:26am | 17/04/11

      Being female is only a part of the human equation. Thats why a woman needs a man. Two negatives will always reject each other just like a magnetic field. However as the feminist have done away with gender and categories, isn’t this article romanticism from modernity? Or, perhaps the men in Australia aren’t men at all and the woman can’t notice them. Any wonder why woman abort 120,000 potential citizens annually in Australia for whatever reasons. They hate kids as well as men and each other.

      Reply

    • Dan says:

      10:01am | 17/04/11

      Good article, until the end. Get the hell away from the BBQ, you know you will just end up being nasty too each other about your steak turning technique and while you’re deciding whether to prick the snags half will explode.

      The answer to women being nicer to each other is not for them to become more like blokes. You just need to realise that the world does not revolve around you and what you think, so you don’t always need to share how you feel… actually maybe the BBQ wasn’t such a bad idea.

      Reply

    • Glen says:

      11:00am | 17/04/11

      Still a man’s world ladies ha ha.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      11:05am | 17/04/11

      Problem with some women is that they have never been disciplined in their lives. Daddy gave them everything, never punished her for her misdeeds , she gets married and expects the same from her man and her work boss. They are basically kids running am mack.

      This is the selfish character in some women. Women from Mediterranean cultures seem far more disciplined and honorable then women from north European cultures.

      Reply

    • Rachel says:

      11:56am | 17/04/11

      Wow that’s pretty bitter. For every ‘undisciplined’ woman there is an ‘undisciplined’ man who expects his wife to do all the house work and cook for him just like his mummy did. Plenty of manchildren out there.

    • Sha-shin says:

      03:13pm | 17/04/11

      Rachel, Tim’s assessment was accurate, not bitter. Wmen have no concept these days of how to add value. They are spoilt brats.

      PS a wopman that doesn’t cook is clean is only useful for sex. Sex is in abundance these days.

    • Brenda says:

      03:41pm | 17/04/11

      Yes Rachel I hope there are plenty of disciplined women who fix the car, change the tyres,  paint the house, lift heavy furniture, climb high ladders, wash the windows, mow the lawns, dig the trenches and provide a strong shoulder to lean on when the going gets tough. 

      As an exercise in appreciation,  take a look out your front window one day and write up a list of all you see that was built by a woman.

    • luu says:

      08:31pm | 17/04/11

      Ah yes, women are just so selfish, which is why women today still do the majority of unpaid work and are often employed in underpaid, overworked care positions. If only the men in their lives disciplined them to make those sandwiches just right.

    • acotrel says:

      11:00pm | 17/04/11

      @Tim You’ve obviously never lived with a woman who has been ‘disciplined’ by her father!  Blokes who hit their daughters should be locked up.  They create real problems for the next poor bastard w ho comes along into their lives. Even mild bullying creates problems!

    • Tim says:

      11:54pm | 17/04/11

      Come on ladies by disciplined I don’t mean physical beatings, but being told they have done wrong and to admit their mistakes. Like I said not all women are like this. I’ve seen ladies with disciple and etiquette learned from their fathers, brothers and mothers. The problem lies in women circles where they allow this unmale(bitchiness) type of behavior to cross fertilize. I’ve experienced it at work, school and day to day life. It’s unattractive ladies and it’s not going to help you get married or find the love of your life. Just a tip ladies!

    • Ripa says:

      12:34am | 18/04/11

      @acotrel
      You equate hitting with discipline??  idiot.

    • Tom says:

      08:27am | 18/04/11

      @Ripa, I suggest you leave acetroll alone on that one. Not his fault, however he has seen that issue differently to most.

    • Audra Blue says:

      09:31am | 18/04/11

      “They are basically kids running am mack.”

      Tim, I think you mean “running amok.”

      Sincerely, The Seplling and Grammar Police

    • Jade (the other one) says:

      11:43am | 18/04/11

      I definitely think bitchiness and discipline are two different categories. Some of the bitchiest, cattiest women I know are the most “traditional”. The rest are the most “capable”. I can’t cook to save my life, don’t enjoy cleaning either. I wouldn’t know where to begin to change a tyre or paint the house.

      Yet I manage to go through my day not judging my friends who’ve had plastic surgery, or who have had a natural birth or been drugged up to the eyeballs, or who circumcised their children or not, or breastfed or bottlefed or had kids or didn’t have kids.

      Sometimes, I think its the non-traditional, “spoilt” women like me who are the only decent kind. Me and my friends are more interested in having a good time, and perving on the footy boys while our boyfriends watch the game than in tearing each other down. Then we sit back and drink our beers while the boys crowd into the kitchen to cook for us, then argue over who cleans up while we relax and talk about the latest fashion.

      I note from the comments below that there are some perfect examples of women turning on women. Just look at the response to Rachel’s comment - the most negative, spiteful and nasty, are unsurprisingly, from women who are traditionalist.

      And Brenda - if you ever go out to the country, you will find that more often than not the women do all that and more. Most of the country girls I know change tyres, fix engines, paint houses, repair fences, muster cattle bigger than they are, shear sheep as good as the men, do plumbing, kill the odd snake, repair tractors, butcher beasts, go hunting and the list goes on.

    • Epic Fail says:

      12:04pm | 18/04/11

      @Audra Blue: “The Seplling and Grammar Police?” You Ma’am have failed epically!

    • Audra Blue says:

      02:01pm | 18/04/11

      It was a deliberate mistake.  It’s called a “joke”.  Maybe you’ve heard of them *shakes head*

    • Radical chick says:

      11:07am | 17/04/11

      Women are often too judgemental. It’s better to have deeper friendships with men if you can overcome the fact that they’ll fancy you somewhere along the line.
      If women realised that they can do wonderful things together they’d be a power to be reckoned with….as it stands we are not nor we are any closer to be. We’re all too guided by glossy magazines and their contrived ‘disagreements’…..

      Reply

    • Martin Hopes says:

      02:10pm | 17/04/11

      Too right, glossy magazines have a lot to answer for…another problem is grudges and petty jealousy - Men don’t hold grudges / jealousy against each other in the same way women seem to, and women are bitchier to each other than men are to each other!!

      Men are from Mars, women are from Venus - truest words ever written, it is just a pity that women don’t understand this, they think they can change their mans habits and ways - you can’t, so stop trying.

    • strawberry j says:

      06:49pm | 18/04/11

      Wow radical chick.  You have got it right maybe tell the sisters.

    • Derrick says:

      11:36am | 17/04/11

      @Angela, We don’t all wear blue shirt’s all the time,I have a check one as well and wear it with volley’s,send’s the women crazy..

      Reply

    • Gman says:

      01:12pm | 17/04/11

      Haha thats good Derrick

    • iansand says:

      11:46am | 17/04/11

      Nothing that can’t be fixed if you all find a footie team to support.  Hours and hours of shallow conversation, right there.

      Reply

    • Bron says:

      12:44pm | 17/04/11

      I have always worked in male dominated industries and they are as bitchy as women, they just don’t make it such an emotional issue. Angela, I suggest you get some new friends as all my female (and male) friends are f-ing awesome. Our lives are all about good food, booze, music, travel and always aiming to have fun whilst taking care of each other. With them on my side, what does it matter what other people say about me?

      Reply

    • Dogbolter says:

      07:35am | 18/04/11

      So agree, Bron. I also work in what’s laughingly called a “male-dominated” area, and I’m sure it’s because women just don’t want to get their hands dirty.

      I would much prefer to work with men simply because they are straight down the line - even when gunning for you or your job. Women sneak around, slyly backstab and conduct a bitch/gossip campaign against you. The only times I’ve been moved on is due to women. I’m female, proud of what I do and independant, and yet I hate working with women. Don’t trust them, never will. Until I see one working in my industry (IT) at my level (computer/tech repair/build) with the same level of enthusiasm, I’m staying well away from them. And my buddies? All male. They have no issues being mates and consider me one of the guys, but as soon as one gets the girlfriend, that’s the end of it. Men can handle women being friends, women can’t. Jealous b*****s, the lot of them.

    • Eva says:

      03:15pm | 17/04/11

      We may be competitive about the size of our breasts and as a small woman it has taken me all my adult life to become a “real woman’ but we can also be certain that men are constantly worried about the size of their dicks. Being unable to compare as easily as we women can do with our appendages they ask discreet questions about the men who have come before them to try and discover where theirs come in the size competition.

      Reply

    • Leto says:

      01:08pm | 18/04/11

      Small women are great:)

      And as a man, I worry less about the things that I cannot change. Penis size being something I cannot change.

      Having a very large penis would be terrible. I imagine that it would be rather painful for women to accomodate. Who want’s to cause their partner pain, it’s supposed to be pleasurable!

    • Natalie says:

      03:28pm | 17/04/11

      I agree that there are times when women are absolutely horrible to each other. However, I have spent time in the company of only women over the course of a long weekend and generally what I have experienced is that the kind, caring, compassionate side comes out. I am not blaming men for the meanness of women but maybe womans competition for men is part of the problem.

      Reply

    • Jamo says:

      11:37am | 18/04/11

      Agree…women do actualy tear each other down, because the sub concious notion is that women are some how in competition with each other..even if partnered the story continues…the attack is still on, but at different things, like how they bring up children and so on.

    • Les says:

      09:11am | 18/04/11

      “I reckon it’s time we girls commandeered the barbecue. Leave the boys to the salads and let’s grill the steak, rather than each other.”
      Here here!!

      Reply

    • Audra Blue says:

      09:27am | 18/04/11

      Women can be horrible to one another.  It only comes out when they are competing for things:  a better job, a man, that last pair of to-die-for Louboutins.  *sigh*

      I have taken myself out of the woman-as-warrior loop.  I don’t compete with any woman for anything, let a one a pair of stupidly high, ridiculously overpriced shoes.  I prefer to work for a man.  They are straightforward and honest and if you look nice, they admire you in what they think is a covert manner, and if you screw up, they tell you, give you a chance to fix things and move on.

      I’ve had many wonderful female friends in my day, and I’ve treasured each friendship.  But the friendship has always moved on and I’ve never tried to make it stay.  It’s a natural process and it was always for a good reason.  But I’ve also been a victim of those nasty back stabby types who are BFFs to your face and then smile with evil glee as they bring about your downfall.  So now, I don’t bother.  I’m friendly with women but not interested in taking any of them into my close confidence.

      I shake my head in shame and wonder when I see what women do to each other these days and I’m glad I’m not a part of it anymore.  I make my own choices my way and if I happen to mention it to a woman and she sneers or looks at me like I’ve grown two heads, I thank my lucky stars I didn’t decide to become her BFF.

      Reply

    • bec says:

      10:02am | 18/04/11

      And yet you haven’t recognised the common denominator in all your relationships? Hmm. Fascinating.

    • Erick says:

      10:37am | 18/04/11

      And right on cue, enter the sneering, judgemental woman to illustrate Audra’s point!

    • Erica says:

      10:44am | 18/04/11

      Audra - you should write a book , there’s a lot of women that could do with some advice like that. Kudos!

    • bec says:

      12:45pm | 18/04/11

      Oh Erick. If you keep being bitter like that, you’ll never find a nice spouse. You’ll be stuck indoors of a Friday eve, cuddling your cats and watching endless re-runs of Sex and the City.

      I don’t see why there’s anything wrong with pointing out that if you’re unable to be friends with 50% of the population, you’re socially defective. I’d say exactly the same thing to a guy who said he couldn’t be friends with another guy, or to someone who said that they couldn’t be friends with someone of the opposite sex. I’ve never met someone who said “I can’t be friends with other women” who was actually sane or pleasant to spend time with.

    • Audra Blue says:

      12:53pm | 18/04/11

      Thanks for the props Erick and Erica.  Bec, you seem to think that it’s somehow my fault that any positive female relationship I had was as a result of failure on my part.  It wasn’t.

      Life moves on and sometimes friendships with it.  Think about how many romantic partners you’ve had but don’t have any more.  Was their demise all your fault?  No of course not.  I can confidently say that anytime a friendship just drifted out of my life, I could call those women up now and say “Hi” and they would be happy to have a coffee and a catch up.

      I have a close BFF relationship with my sister.  She has always been there for me and vice versa.  I don’t see why I need to cultivate numerous friendships with women when I wouldn’t have the time to sustain them.

      I guess it just means that you and I won’t be friends.  And that’s shame because I’ve always enjoyed your posts and you seem like you have a steady head on your shoulders.

    • bec says:

      01:19pm | 18/04/11

      I don’t have a sensible head on my shoulders. It is thoroughly gin-addled. Let me disavow you of that here and now.

      I was similar once and as with 90% of the rantings I spew forth, it is because it touches into a place where I have once been (namely, anti-feminist, racist, homophobic, conservative) and because I am now not-so-secretly self-loathing . When I was younger I was adamantly of the view that women were lame; that I couldn’t be friends with them, that they were boring, that they were bitchy and only ever called each other “sluts”. You know, because I wasn’t like *those* other women - I was fun-loving, and not a man-hater, and I was cool and totally didn’t bitch about other people. Except for the part where none of the above was true, and low self-esteem and shitty social circumstances brought me in contact with only the tooliest of tools.

      The factors aren’t necessarily social incompetence (though it very much was in my case). Life circumstances often surround you with utter knobs you have no control over. And 50% of women are below average - just like how 50% of men are. But to say it’s all women, or that they’re not worth being friends with, I mean, fuck. It was my female friends who sat with me drinking and talking the night my mum got cancer, and it’s my female mentor who keeps me in my profession. My life would be horribly impoverished without women, and I’m struggling to think of anyone whose life is 100% fantastic without meaningful quality relationships with people of both sexes.

    • Kelly says:

      03:23pm | 18/04/11

      Bahahahahahaha ... Erick’s dig at someone else making a sneering judgemental comments. Well isnt’ that the pot calling the kettle black!
      What a hypocrite!

    • Kelly says:

      03:57pm | 18/04/11

      Oops - I was too busy laughing at Erick’s self righteous dig, I forgot to check my spelling and grammar. Damn the redundant ‘a’ and incorrect placement of the apostrophe.

    • Kelly says:

      09:29am | 18/04/11

      For goodnessake. Women make up 50 per cent of the population. Why on earth should we all have to agree with each other? I don’t hear cries of ‘be strong for the brotherhood, etc’ when male journalists call Tony Abbott a fool. A woman expressing an opinion that differs from another woman’s is not a personal attack, it’s life. Get on with it.

      I can’t see the value in writing an article like this. Unless the purpose is to get inane and idiotic comments by socially inept losers hell-bent on blaming ‘others’ for their woes.

      Mind you, if that’s the measure - congratulations! It’s well on the way.

      Reply

    • Leto says:

      02:36pm | 18/04/11

      I like your comment. Well written.

    • Thommo says:

      10:07am | 18/04/11

      Ego really is a dirty word. It’s all about Ego for women. Every choice they make is considered on a how will it reflect on me with my friends basis. A woman may love a man but if her friends say he is aloser or whatever she’ll dump him. Women don’t have the balls to stand up to each other over what really matters so they fight little proxy wars over irrelevant issues. All female arguments should be settled in the jelly pit.

      Reply

    • jim morris says:

      10:38am | 18/04/11

      No winners when women turn on women? maybe everybody wins when the female chauvinism groupthink begins to fragment. people are individuals and should be treated that way. If a sole-parent is male the individual’s particular situation should be taken into account instead of lumping them in with every other male (who are by legal definition ‘advantaged’). The affirmative action legislation remains in place after 29 years, based on the premise that all women are disadvantaged, when it is obviously not true.

      Reply

    • uhfuhyf says:

      10:40am | 18/04/11

      “Do you ever hear men argue about their ‘elective’ vasectomies, or debate the merits of circumcised over uncircumcised? Nope, because they don’t. Live and let live, they say, then off they saunter to slay another bison.”

      Wow - an article in the mainstream (well sort of) media that extols a MALE virtue…never thought I’d see the day.

      Reply

    • Jamo says:

      11:46am | 18/04/11

      Angela, this article is wonderful, totally true and spot on. Reminds me of the Mean Girl books. Great work.

      Reply

    • Meh says:

      12:59pm | 18/04/11

      From early childhood, females attack on the emotion level. Where males quickly get into trouble for settling disputes with their fists post teenager years, females fighting at the emotional level are still allowed go unfetted by society or the law.

      This type of undermining confidence is used by PR a-holes and insitutionised undermining of women confidence is probably one of the worst contributors (breast feeding advocacy groups / women mags / etc.).

      As males have not gone the emotional fighting route, most male adverts are built on fun or sex.

      Reply

    • Tigger says:

      01:33pm | 18/04/11

      Hahaha as if women will ever stop being bitchy to each other. (Not that they are all the time, or that men never are, but on the bitchy index women far exceed men.)

      I have noticed that women seem to need peer group acceptance far more than men do. A lot of what they will do or won’t do is governed by what everyone else (i.e. other women) is doing. Or what the gossip mags report that everyone else is doing. And on many of their decisions they seem to second-guess themselves as to whether their peer group would accept it.

      In short, I reckon that women are sheeple. And being bitchy (and the victim’s fear of being judged and outcast) is an effective means of keeping the black sheep in line.

      Reply

    • Audra Blue says:

      02:08pm | 18/04/11

      I agree.

      Men are motivated by pleasure and fun.  Women are motivated by pain and punishment.  Sick and sad but true.

    • fred says:

      02:10pm | 18/04/11

      Men fight about everything too:

      Holden vs Ford
      Collingwood vs Carlton
      Qld vs NSW.

      Some fights are worth having.

      Reply

    • Thommo says:

      09:49am | 19/04/11

      There’s a big difference between a debate and a fight. One gets nasty.

    • tonelok says:

      07:06pm | 18/04/11

      Geez!!!.Thank god i’m a singleguy.Like crack a beer chill out.

      Reply

    • ted thorne says:

      10:33pm | 18/04/11

      The vanity and conceit of the writer is so typical of women, and that really is quite an ugly trait.

      Reply

    • Luke says:

      07:33pm | 27/04/11

      As a man… i’ve known this for years…

      Reply
 
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