[Prudence]

It's the same mentality as that which insists that strict Islamic laws are for the protection of women.

I'm going to rant now because I'm stuck somewhere doing something I don't want so I'm already peeved.

It is my opinion that certain men in patriarchal societies can't stand the idea that there is this one thing women can do that men can't. In some times and places it was considered dirty, demeaning, and unworthy of male attention. In others it's portrayed as an exalted role, placed on a pedestal, and controlled for our own "protection."

The result is the same: for those particular men (and the stark-raving mad women who support them) women are worth no more or less than that particular biological function. And anything that is perceived to interfere with that function is, by definition, unnatural.

It used to be, in Western society, that women were lesser minds, completely incapable of controlling our animal lusts, bent on continuing Eve's mission of dragging men away from their deserved paradise. Now we're lesser minds who are too innocent to fully understand the evils of the world that would drag us away from our noble, and only, mission of spawning future generations. If we had sex without the direct intent of procreating, well, then we would be tainted by lust, which is the sole prerogative of men.

It frustrates me until I can no longer speak. In a society where the pundits decry the evils of single or gay parenting, wail and moan about the poor boys who will grow up with no proper role model (because girls only need how to bake and clean from mom), the role of fathers is nonetheless marginalized. Fathers don't need paternity leave. They don't need to bond with their children. They don't need to attend t-ball games or go to PTA or help with homework or fix boo-boos or do anything except bring home the paycheck and occasionally administer discipline. The "parenting" is supposed to be the woman's job, the woman's only job, the job women are supposed to spend their whole lives wanting to do - and wanting to do by themselves. If dads are so necessary, why continue the ideal paradigm of dad works long hours to support mom and kids at home? Why not divide the labor so that kids benefit from both parents, not one parent and a wallet? Thild-rearing is called a privilege, but to too many men it's really perceived as a burden they want to ensure they don't inherit.

And lately I've been running into this attitude more and more. I don't know if it's because my recent spate of interviews has made me more sensitive or if it's sun sport or what, but lately any time I leave the safety of this rather enlightened community I run smack dab into a nest of mindless twits who ernestly insist that I'm completely misguided in my ambitions. I only *think* I'm suited to practice law. If I have functional girlie bits, I should concentrate on my "duty" to produce kids for my husband; only defective women pursue careers.

I'm frothing again and now I have to go to a seminar taught by a woman who thinks I have "credibility issues" she can't articulate. This should be fun.