Dear Divorce Doctor,

You've just proven my point.

Thank You.

You simply refuse to take responsibility for your actions.

You allow yourself to make whatever insulting comments you like but you don't return the right of reply to others. They immediately become -
a 'PC Swamp of Power Feminists.' or in your latest comment, 'the claws are out.' Did you actually read your tirade that followed my relatively harmless remarks?

Not knowing anything about me you made all these ugly statements about
me personally. Don't you have a daughter? Would you speak to her like that? Shame on you.

And being an older man - what kind of role model are you?

I've told you - but you won't listen - judge people individually, not on a gender basis.

Re-read my post which you quote, "I thought that eyesight is generally thought to decline with age, along with intelligence.

But, perhaps those are FLAWED beliefs, like so many others."

I was making a general comment. You took it personally.

There are no 'claws.'

Except in your mind.

It's all very, very sad really.

Sorry to Lazarus-ise a thread that should probably have been left to quietly die, but I found an appropriate quote — applicable, I would have thought, to both sexes.

Eleanor Roosevelt: "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Vanilla:"a thread that should probably have been left to quietly die"

Why should it have been left to die (Divorce Doctor notwithstanding)? Are you uncomfortable with the reiteration of the various ways in which our societal institutions denigrate and discriminate against men? If this thread were about institutional sexism directed against women, you'd no doubt be a prolific contributor, yet you want it "to quietly die" when it's about the converse situation. Sadly, that is precisely the problem that has lead to the current climate in which the denigration of men is seen as suitable for advertising all sorts of things, from the RSPCA to foodstuffs, not to even mention the many other ways in which men are treated as second-rate citizens.

Vanilla: "Eleanor Roosevelt: "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

I don't feel inferior, I am discriminated against and it's very definitely without my consent.

What should "quietly die" is the toxic "feminism" that has lead to all this. Sure, women in some third-world countries are not treated well, but those countries aren't Australia and their predicament does not justify anti-male sexism here. Nor does it justify inaction there,yet few "feminists" are willing to leave their comfortable male-supported existence here to go and do something there.

Antisceptic: "Are you uncomfortable with the reiteration of the various ways in which our societal institutions denigrate and discriminate against men?"

No. In fact, I would contribute more to this thread if there were more dispassionate and concrete examples of discrimination rather than just generic invective.

I joined the thread in good faith, but the aggression here doesn't do it for me. I've left feministy threads for similar reasons.

But you're right, it was wrong of me to say "I should have left this thread to die" if others were still getting something out of it, so I apologise for that.

Vanilla: "I would contribute more to this thread if there were more dispassionate and concrete examples of discrimination rather than just generic invective."

There have been several examples given that you chose to including R0bert's interesting question regarding road accidents, which you ignored. The thread was successfully derailed by Foxy making misandric "jokes" and then choosing to respond only to DD, which is like joining a thread about religion and responding only to Gibo, then complaining that there was nothing "concrete".

I doubt anyone was getting much out of the thread lately, which is a shame because it has the potential for an interesting discussion if the ideologues could only be stopped from derailing it.

Dear Antiseptic,

"How many men does it take to clean a toilet?"

"None, that's woman's work."

"How do you bring a woman to orgasm. Who cares?"

Those two jokes I believe were your contribution to this thread, apart
from referring to us as "grrrls." So you have to accept some responsibility for the way this discussion turned out as well.

Then with DD it got really personally and nasty. And I felt obliged to defend myself. I apologise if I derailed this thread. It was not intentional on my part. Things just kept rolling along.

I too entered this thread with good intentions, until the agression started. I thought -I'd introduce some humour - to make people lighten up - and not turn all of this into a "gender war."

I kept saying - let's judge people individually - not on a gender basis. Let's not lump everybody into the one group.

As Vanilla said, "The aggression here doesn't do it for me." Well it certainly did not do it for me either.