International Women's Day

[EC]

Today is IWD.  It's interesting because I just noticed that Google doesn't have any kind of fun picture, whereas for almost every other thing, they do.  I also just noticed that my daytimer doesn't recognize it, but it does recognize Secretary's Day.

So, I won't pass any judgement about that, I just found it interesting.

Happy International Women's Day!!

[SMc55]

And to you. I didn't know that  :-/

[jrat]

its also International Kitchen Day................................................


im so kidding. :-X

[SiOuxTribe]

They also never have anything in November for Native American History month.  Its sad, America's (and the world's) Forgotten Minority.

[ali]

at least it sounds like there is some sort of recognition happening there... all we have in australia to recognise aboriginal culture is "sorry day" which started a few years back, which they've renamed "national day of healing" or something. sorry day seemed like such a crap way of trying to make amends for 200+ years  of mistreatment/neglect/persecution, but at least it was a start. we had massive turn-outs around the country for marches etc but our prime minister still refuses to say sorry in public, which is completely ridiculous

[ali]

happy women's day ladies!!

[MMJ_fanatic]

women=good 8)

[EC]

And to you. I didn't know that  :-/

No worries, doc.  I just called my Mom and she didn't know, either.  I just think it's a good day to think about stuff.  :)

[EC]

ratsprayer just reminded me that women's day is over.  

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing women who had to go through a lot of really hard things in order to try and make the world a better place.  And still are.

And that goes for all of the people in the world who do brave acts.  Thank you.  

If anybody is interested in reading about feminism, here is a good place to start:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism and as with anything, you take what you read and you decide how you feel about it.

Girls and boys rock!  

[ratsprayer]

well behaved women never make history.

 ;D

[tomEisenbraun]

i don't think i like feminism.

i'm cool with women not being oppressed and not taking shit from our good old-fashioned american chauvinist men, but i don't really stand for bra-burning and women attempting to out-do men.

oh man, did i just make myself sound chauvinist?

anyways, i think men and women complement eachother. That's why we're here. Unfortunately, our society has thrown everything out the window and considered power to be the ultimate measure of a person, regardless of sex. So women wear pant-suits and carry briefcases attempting to fill the same penny-loafers as men who pretty much hate their jobs too, but do it for the money. Not so much because they love it, but because it's one hell of a status symbol.

Screw that. I say, women, don't be afraid to be women. Take five years off when you have kids and enjoy the color pink and be feminine. I'm not saying you have to, but there's nothing wrong with being one sex or the other. God made us men and women for good reason, we've both got ways in which we complement the other. Men, we're bigger (on average) which gives us the ability to protect. Chivalry comes into the picture with this one. We are fathers, the ones who are (or were at one point) expected to be the head of the household, and seen kind of as representative of the family. And women, there's a saying "Behind every great man is an even better woman." Which is pretty much completely true. Think of how worthless men would be without you guys' brain power to help us out. We'd be pretty bumbling. Maybe not completely, but I know for a fact that a great woman makes a man want to be an even better man.

This is all coming from a man's perspective, which i why i haven't listed a ton of things about women, because i really don't know how you guys feel. But am I wrong? Does that make sense, with the complementing eachother thing? I don't want to come off sounding like a fool. I'm not some woman-oppressor, I just think that women attempting to be CEO's and Presidents of companies just seems weird. I mean, i don't even know why men want to do that, I'm not a business-minded person, but that just doesn't come off right to me. The women I normally think of in that position are power-hungry, and that doesn't rub me the right way.

Sorry if this is totally discombobulated. If i really screwed up, lemme know, but be gentle, because I'm pretty frickin worn out. I'll look over this tomorrow, and see if anyone hates me, and i'll do my best to fix it. Please comment or whatever, and I'd especially love to hear what you girls/ladies think.

(i'm not trying to say women are best suited for the kitchen, if that's what you tried to read in from this, just so you know)

[ratsprayer]

i think people, men or women, should be whatever they want to be and what best suits their own life.  my wife prefers the role of a stay at home mom, to take care of the kids and be a housewife.  i happen to work at home, but most of the nearly seven years weve been together, shes not had to work, and we both wanted it that way.  its not because im  trying to keep her down, or she wants to be lazy.  personally, i believe its best if one of the parents can stay at home with the kids and not have them be put in day care.  my ultra-feminist sister-in-law likes to criticise and thinks were just following gender roles.  bullshit.  basically, like i said in the beginning, everyones life has a different plan.  if some woman wants to be ceo and all that, good deal.  if another wants to do the opposite, so be it.  i do think feminists, just like any other extremist, tend to look at things one-sided and think all women should fuck men over as much as possible.  to each his or her own works best in any aspect of life, me thinks.   ;D

[EC]

Oooooooky dokes.  Tom, you and me are gonna have a BIG talk in Nashville.  

just kiddin'.  ;)  Kind of.  I need a bit of time to think.  Too early.

[Jaimoe]

Tom, that's the biggest load of crap I've read since I joined this board. You basically have no concept of feminism or the levels and definitions of feminism. In fact, some of the statements you made taken out of context, could be construed as supporting feminism. Do yourself a favour and take a few sociology classes or  better yet, take a women's issues course, if it's offered at the college or university nearest you.

[EC]

Okay, so Tom I just emailed you a really easy thing to look over.  I think it's really important if we have this discussion that everybody stays calm and has understanding of where the other person is coming from.  I'm not angry or anything like that, but I am interested in keeping you interested enough to learn a few things - just to give you some perspective, because it's something that you said yourself you hadn't really been interested in.  So I'm at work and can't really write but in spits and spurts.  I just found this, which is basically a western timeline of events.  I really want to talk about early history and matriarchy vs. patriarchy (because I wonder if you know about how it used to be ages and ages ago).  Anyhow, here's a timeline so you can know maybe how things got started.

http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/mar98/path.html

:)

[tomEisenbraun]

I'm not some woman-oppressor, I just think that women attempting to be CEO's and Presidents of companies just seems weird. I mean, i don't even know why men want to do that, I'm not a business-minded person, but that just doesn't come off right to me. The women I normally think of in that position are power-hungry, and that doesn't rub me the right way.

okay, so 1:30 in the morning isn't the best time to write a peudo-rant. i apologize for the above statement, as it was reeeallly not thought out. or at least not written the way i wanted it to be. and also my head is a little broader at this time of day, too.

about the CEO thing, i'm not trying to say women shouldn't do that. I think I was thinking more of corporate America when i wrote that, and people in pin-stripe suits behind giant wood desks in $400 chairs on the 80th floor of some building downtown. That said, I don't really like any of those people, regardless of sex. And by don't really like, I mean I'd be pretty cautious about them if I met them. It sucks, but that's a lot of what stereotyping does, and since i have absolutely no ties to that world, i see almost eveyrone in it as a serious foreigner. i don't hate those people, i just have absolutely no understanding of that world.

moving on, i just realized that i forgot about every single business smaller than the model i just described. and realized there's a lot of really kick-ass smaller independent (or maybe not so independent, butwhatever) stores that have women in charge of them. So what I said only applies to like DuPont sized companies. or something. do you get what I mean?

Jaimoe, I'm sorry I came off like I did to you. When I think of feminism, the first thing that comes to mind are the kind of people that coudl be referred to as "femi-nazi's". The kind who hate men, and want to one-up them at every chance. Who make it a life point to show how they can better than men, and that they don't need them, which is garbage. Men and women need eachother in order for society to work.

I'm sorry my ramble came out like that. And I'm also sorry that I chose to write it that late at night, with most of my thoughts elsewhere. But I said a few htings I meant. The part I quoted is the one that shouldn't be taken for what I said, because it really is shit. And I'm sorry for that.

That said, I also forgot about the worldwide issues of the subject, which involve women being beaten as power symbols. In the middle east, it's considered good status to beat your wife. There's something wrong with you if you don't, they think. I remember hearing a story of two people from some islam nation who had converted to Christianity, but in order to not be found out, one of the things they had to do was to fake beatings. The man would make all kidns of noise sounding like things being thrown and the woman would scream. I find that pretty sick, that you would be looked down on for not beating your wife.

The kind of oppression that goes on globally, that is extremely real, and i apologize for forgetting that when i wrote my rant. Those issues are extremely important, and damn hard to overcome. So the more awareness, the more we can start helping wih it, if even just in small ways.

I guess I did wind up coming off the completely wrong way with what I wrote. I've got pretty big heart for that kind of stuff, but when I hear feminism, I think of America. And how we really aren't that oppressed at all in this country. If you've got points to make against that, please let me know. And please don't be hostile, I really have not read much about it, but from what I can tell, the biggest way our country oppresses women is through what the media has done with body image...which is pretty much close to evil. But that's more of a psychological influential thing, and can be avoided/overcome.

I think I've written enough, now. So I'll leave you with all that.

If I just said something more that offended you, please be civil about it and let me know, and I will listen to what you have to say. I'm not a hard-headed prick about this stuff, and I will most certaily be willing to learn some more.

~Tom

[Jaimoe]

I understand your points Tom, but women continue to be oppressed in America, but it's generally more layered and subtle and I believe conditioned in the social consciousness.

For example, there's still an unequal pay scale in the US between men and women. The perception that women are inferior because of their perceived inferior physical strength still permeates North American society. Exploitation is another  blatant form of oppression that continues at an alarming rate worldwide. Etc... etc...

Anyway, with regards to feminism definitions, the "femi-nazis" would be in the radical feminist category. Feminism can mean many things and can be defined in many ways and levels. Women that want equal pay and equal rights are feminists. In fact, any woman (or man) that believes in women and women's rights is a feminist, so you too Tom are a feminist
 ;D
Enough with this for today. I gotta get back to Trade Deadline Day for the NHL and ready myself for Canada vs Mexico tonight in the World Baseball Classic.

[Angry Ewok]

I love International Women's Day, because it's just like Valentine's - a holiday created by men for the purpose of getting in good with their lady.

"Hey baby, Happy International Women's Day - I appreciate you because you're a strong, beautiful, awesomeness woman."


How could a guy complain about being given yet another opportunity to get some bonus points with his lady?

 ;D

[EC]

I love International Women's Day, because it's just like Valentine's - a holiday created by men for the purpose of getting in good with their lady.

"Hey baby, Happy International Women's Day - I appreciate you because you're a strong, beautiful, awesomeness woman."

How could a guy complain about being given yet another opportunity to get some bonus points with his lady?

;D

Okay.  Fo serious, you have to tell me you're jokin'.  Otherwise, I gotta talk to you, too.  

Still want to talk - still at work.  Jaimoe, you're an excellent speaker.  And Tom, good work on your re-claim.  

[realdeal]