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In the latest round of the battle of the sexes, Ann
Rudin, the mayor of Sacramento, has informed her public
works department that the word manhole
is no longer
an acceptable term, and the department is trying to come up
with something more concise and elegant than personal
access chamber.
Concocting non-sexist nomenclature is a delightful hobby
(how about shaft collar,
a sexually neutral term
from the mining industry?), but this exercise is another
reason to be glad you don't live in California.
Here, it's a major scandal when public-works crews are caught hanging out at convenience stores when they're on city time. There, rather than patch potholes and leaky water mains, they spend their working hours at the noble task of purging the language of sexism. No wonder tax-limitation measures always succeed in the Golden State.
Then appeared the Roper survey on Thursday, with the
headline Men rate lower than ever with women.
To see
how much trouble I'm in, I asked Martha some of the
questions.
Are men controlling and manipulative?
Sure, especially husbands under 40. But they're not
nearly as good at control and manipulation as children
under 6, all mothers and women over 35. Mid-life crisis
makes men think
Why am I bothering?
and it makes women
think I'm never touching another dish.
I agreed, except she left out cats, who always pester you until they get their own way, and never compromise.
Are men basically selfish and self-centered?
All people are selfish and self-centered. Isn't that
what survival is all about?
Do most men find it necessary for their egos to put women down?
No, because women usually aren't important enough in
a man's world to be worth the effort. Men are generally so
arrogant that they don't feel any need to put other people
down. They brag constantly, which is irritating, but
bravado isn't the same as a put-down.
However, most women find it necessary for their egos
to see men as deadly addictions, victims of the Peter Pan
syndrome -- or whatever this month's buzzword is, like
co-dependency -- and as childish morons who couldn't get
dressed, fix a sandwich, brew coffee or find milk in the
refrigerator without a woman around.
Are you annoyed by pictures of nude women in men's magazines?
No. I'm annoyed by how much nudity there is in
movies, and how little we see of the men. You see lots of
nude women, and never a front-on shot of a man. It's not
fair that only half of society gets in on these vicarious
thrills.
Do most men look at a woman and think immediately how it would be to go to bed with her?
Of course. All people check each other out -- for
about 20 seconds. The annoying thing is that the man you
live with never notices if you dye your hair, buy new
lingerie or stand naked on your head in the living
room.
Are you annoyed by your mate's failure to do household chores?
My mate and I don't do household chores. Our children
do. We hope that domestic slavery encourages them to leave
home to become careerist yuppies who will be able to
support us handsomely in our golden years.
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