Killarney,

You are on the defensive, attacking the source. Those are real-life, practical examples and situations, unless you are dismissing transgender as 'straw-men' themselves.

Such simple questions, but as yet (and forever) the answers evade the radical feminists.

How many $millions of taxes expended on feminists and feminists' 'issues' over the decades?

The educated middle class elite who are the big swinging *bleeps* of feminism (*?! radfems to advise which is appropriate) can't even find any compassion for mothers breastfeeding, let alone recognise the very, very simple incontrovertible fact/practicality that most women go through (and choose to go through) a number of transitions in life outside of the careerist route approved of by feminists.

Can a lesbian who became a man and maybe even fathered a child (as reportedly some can do according to the spin in the media) be regarded as a man by radfems and is she a traitor to the cause?

Such simple questions affecting real people, yet you dismiss them as 'straw-men'.

Killarney, you are extremely naive if you think there aren't some radical feminists out there, just as there are radical misogynists.

Surely even you have met them?

Personally, I can't stand either groups of people, as they seem to exist just to hate the opposite gender to themselves.

I met one only last week at a seminar on elder abuse.
The lecturer was discussing elderly people being violent to each other in a residential care setting. She stated that physical violence was well known in some care facilities.

When asked what the gender divide was between the violent residents, some woman in the room yelled out "Of course it is the men doing most of the hitting, because aren't all men controlling?".

For the record, the lecturer did not make any comment on that assertion.

Suse

I have two things to say about the incident you describe:

One, in forty years as a feminist, I have NEVER encountered ANY feminist make a nakedly man-hating comment like that, especially to a room full of people. If for no other reason, feminists know full well how much we as a society have been programmed to hate them, so they are very conscious of this.

However, I have encountered many, many, MANY people who distort and exaggerate innocuous and reasonable comments made by feminists out of all proportion, in order to make them seem man-hating, angry and combative. I have no proof, but methinks you might be doing the same. Either that or the woman you describe was definitely NOT a feminist – just a woman having a gripe.

Two, you don’t include the answer to the person’s question. What WAS the gender divide on elderly abuse? Or did everyone in the room shut up and pretend the question was never asked? (We don't want to get into all that gender stuff, do we? People will say we're feminists.)

And if you wish to trade anecdotes … Just a few nights ago, while out for a walk, I witnessed a woman being beaten by a young man on the front lawn of a house. The youth appeared to be her son.

So what does that anecdote say about men? Nothing. No more or less than your anecdote about the supposed ‘militant feminist’.

On the beach

Of course I dismiss this garbage. Apart from the fact that toilets and transsexuals are completely out of place in a commentary about men in advertisements, this is just another instalment in your continuing agenda to turn every OLO gender thread in to a spruik-fest for anti-feminism.

And BTW … Why the need to keep on reminding people of how evil feminists are? Are you terrified that if you slacken off on your eternal vigilance, people actually might start noticing that they are real people who have something worthwhile to say?

Rhetorical question only. No answer required.

Killarney, you weren't at the conference, so you have no idea what really happened.
She told everyone at her table she was a feminist, so I guess she was.

". What WAS the gender divide on elderly abuse? "
The lecturer didn't say, but I looked up the booklet on statistics she gave out to everyone later that evening. 66% of violent elderly nursing home residents were male.
They had violent encounters (including 3 deaths) with predominantly other elderly female residents in the 43 nursing homes in the study.

I already knew this though, having worked in Nursing Homes before. Demented male residents are often aggressive, while most female ones tend to be more sad.
Nursing homes are often considered microcosms of wider society, so we can certainly read something into that.

I have been involved in women's rights issues for 30 years, and my community nursing has taken me into many, many homes where I have witnessed good and bad feminists, as well as many good and bad men.

Maybe you have just been mixing with the same groups of feminists for 40 years, and haven't met the real men haters I have?
We will never get anywhere more in our quest with equality amongst the genders if we constantly lock horns with most men when you and I both know there are many good men in our community.

Suseonline, "Demented male residents are often aggressive"

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but maybe an observation and question from a layman might not hurt.

I know that Alzheimers may have different effects on women and men, and causes them to act very differently (to their past). From elders I do voluntary work with it is noticeable that men feel shame and frustration when care is offered, even where they are they are deserving of assistance and need it. Also, men are very frustrated, exasperated, by their own loss of independence and powers.

The women on the other hand while strongly independent too (that generation had a strong focus on doing for yourself), more easily accept care and adapt to limited movement and so on.

With both sexes the proviso is that no-one likes to be patronised and have their independence removed, so the decent thing (and it makes strong economic sense) is to maintain them for the longest time possible in their original home.

The other factor affecting a few men could be hardening of the arteries and consequent negative behaviour from alcohol abuse. However most who abused alcohol and drugs are not there in old age, or the number would be very few.

Suseonline, I have gone around the subject a bit. The only thing I am certain of is that the longer the stay in the family home the better, but government (and relatives!) are not always ensuring that happens. There is conflict at different levels of government, eg., high council rates and inadequate rebate.

Visiting any older person in his/her home is very different to seeing them in a retirement home. They are different people entirely, but especially men. It isn't just socialisation, I believe there are fundamental differences between the sexes as well and linked to survival of humankind. However, both sexes do better in the home they have lived in and raised their family.