Um, just having a flick through your Sydney Morning Herald (and every other paper), you may notice a section very sympathetic to, and indeed celebrating, the strength, skill and intelligence (in an extraordinarily limited context, but it's never stopped Roebuck et al waxing lyrical) of men exclusively. This section doesn't occassionally lift out on the weekends, it's built into every day's edition.

West makes some interesting points about media depictions of divorce, but it's hardly a consistent line against men - just look at the easy ride Shane Warne's getting (and this is after he's lost his contract with Channel 9).

Not a lot of sense in this one.

Agree with CR that it's good to be able to laugh at oneself. But it seems there is a perception (either right or wrong) that the male-bashing media is contrived by women, and vice versa, in which case it's not a matter of laughing at yourself, but gender stereotyping.

Still think the abortion issue is out of place here.

Regarding villains being portrayed as men, a higher percentage of the male population than the female population has a criminal conviction. So maybe “all too often” the villains are men? How about suggesting positive solutions rather than just blaming the media for not showing enough female villains.

Regarding violence being forbidden on television except as against men here’s an example of two ads by the same company that share the violence around! I speak of the Hahn Light “Some drink it because they’re responsible – others just love the taste” advertisements. In the first advertisement the man bomb dives into the spa and the woman throws a piece of soap at his head. In the second advertisement the man jumps off a balcony onto a beanbag, knocking the female occupant off into the water.
Yes I don’t approve of violence to anyone either. Well I suppose these advertisements could be technically be classified as violent but I think most people are too busy laughing…. people know that these advertisements are not “real” violence the same as we know that when Wiley Coyote has a rock dropped on his head chasing Road Runner it’s okay.

There are lots of ads placing men in (supposedly) sexually demeaning positions but there are similar ads for women, eg Chiko Roll ads, Windsor Smith shoe ads or the recent Lynx deodorant “Mile high club” ads. Lisamaree the ad you reference is for a Ford ute.

Regarding opinion pieces being biased against men, have you read any Bettina Arndt, Janet Abrechtson or Miranda Devine lately?

Regarding sexuality men must have a sexuality. Their sexuality may be asexual, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender etc and may change over a man’s life. I can’t understand how the point regarding Brokeback Mountain proves anything.

I agree that we need to understand the full spectrum of human behaviour. I respectfully suggest that going around complaining about how horrible everyone is to men is not going to assist….

Peter West makes a salient point that its okay, even funny, for media to ridicule and even have a swipe at men, but this complaint is very small bicikes when compared with the stuff women haved to put up with. Its still a man's world.

Look down the list of opinion writers in opinion online and they are nearly all men. Look at the line up of political commentatots in the Australian print media, they are nearly all men.

Look at the warmongers who brought on Iraq - Saddam, Bush, Bin Laden, Howard, Blair..... nearly all men.

As a bloke I am often embarrassed by my gender, the history of destruction and pain we have brought upon humanity. If I chance to glance through a women's born-to-shop magazine, as a woman I would too be ashamed of my gender.

Yes the pendulum sometimes swings too far, and in these cases we should pull it back, so thanks Peter. The days of women being smugly superior should be well and truly over. Margaret Thatcher helped put an end to that myth.

That said, its still a man's world. We have (relatively) little to complain about .

We have yet to make up for the burning of 200,000 witches a few centuries ago. Let alone the dozens of attrocities committed by us men since then.

Should men receive a more sympathetic treatment?
Should women receive a more sympathetic treatment?

Shades of Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Is it too big...is it too small...that's all you think about, sex, sex, sex!", perhaps?

Surely, your sex shouldn't matter, either way, when it comes to what kind of 'treatment' or 'access' or ‘privilege’ or ‘status’ you deserve/receive. Positive discrimination applied now towards the cause of women is probably as distasteful/not a wise idea as it is when applied to other ‘causes’?

History showed: give men money and power (or let them seize it), and they lord it about the town, with women paying the price, to some arguable degree.

Give the new generation of I-Have-A-Right-To-Have-It-All SuperWomen the same amount of money, power, privilege and status that men used to enjoy throughout history (or allow women to assume it, as the case may be), and surprise, surprise, men start taking a perceived hit and a bashing, as if it is perhaps karmic payback for past wrongs against the female cause. (Maybe it is fair/timely that men suffer a few hits for a while, as a weird form of cosmic restitution/rebalancing?)

Is it the case that we’re just turning women into (or allowing them to become, if you prefer) a contemporary version of what men used to be? How many women will turn out, for a change, to be as happy with the cost of being Top Dog as the stereotypical Male Top Dog was?

I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said, “When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers”. Perhaps we all (men and women, both) should be careful for how much ‘privilege’ or ‘status’ we seek/demand/take/accept?

>>The movie Brokeback Mountain ...misunderstood ... as being about gay men. It’s not... It’s a story about two ordinary men who develop an intimate relationship because of the circumstances they are thrown into.<<

Now how credible is that?
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>>Research suggests (though the links are complex) that TV violence encourages violence in the community<<

You better believe it. The power of auto suggestion is what the advertising industry capitalises on. Why else would companies spend millions of dollars on advertising if they had no linkable effect on our subconscious (and unconscious) mind??
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Females are better than men in expressing their feelings. Their brain is also better developed (but smaller) for multitasking and verbal expression.

Sexually females "generally" prefer to talk through the sex act - males just want to get on with it.

Females can also speak for both male and females because unlike men - genetically speaking - they possess both a penis and a vagina.

Females also communicate much more than men about interrogational issues hoping that men will one day get it. NOPE.