Well, I didn't even know severin was of the fairer sex before this thread! And I have no idea why she hasn't had kids (not that having kids should be de rigueur--the easiest accomplishment there is).
Severin, it's not vitriol and we're not all brutes; men seem to see dispassionate debate as a virtue, perhaps forgetting that it remains only pseudo-objectivity they prize so highly. It's all machismo, perhaps?
Anyway, I value your contributions.

Dear Anti,

I really don't have that much more to say.
Except that I was brought up with the
understanding that if you want to see
change, you can't sit around and wait
for someone to do it for you. You have to
make it happen. Personally I want to see
true active equality, not the practice of
accusing one gender while excusing the
other. I have two sons that I love deeply, and
I wished for them (the same as I would have done
if I had a daughter) and that was -
that they would grow into
decent human beings - (which they have done much
to my joy and pride).

As for my preference of contraception?
That - as I've stated previously
is a matter of personal choice for each
individual to decide. However, even school
children know about the dangers of unprotected sex.
The use of condoms would seem mandatory in
the current climate of STDs.
But I'm sure you already know this.

Dear Severin,

I must apologise for the uncalled for remarks
made against you on this thread. But don't
pay any attention. These remarks reflect more
on the person making them, then they do on you.
You always say what you think, which some people
may not like, but that's their problem, not yours.
I respect and admire you tremendously. And it's
always a pleasure reading your posts.

Houellebecq, <'Why is it so hard for you to accept men want the same reproductive rights as women? Women have all these rights and 'still have a long way to go' apparently to secure their 'rights' to abortion. Men have no right to abortion at all."

I have finally worked you out H! You have uterine envy!
Here's the thing H, no matter how equal men and women are in other ways- you men will never have a say in our uterine activity.
Get over it.

Yabby, I have never had to have harsh words with you before, but I am really disappointed in your nasty comments to Severin.

It is no one else's business why she or anyone else has not has children- least of all you. That's getting way too personal.

Suzeonline:"you men will never have a say in our uterine activity. "

and yet you women demand a "say" in our penile activity. Entitled much, lovey?

Foxy:"Personally I want to see
true active equality, not the practice of
accusing one gender while excusing the
other."

Yet you can't help jumping in whenever a woman is questioned by a man. Yabby would probably point out that this is simply a natural female response of "closing ranks" whenever one of those awful men comes around. It is that response which is at the heart of the gender wars, it seems to me. Any utterance by a man that is not gushing in its praise for women has only to be objected to by a woman and there'll be a flock of birds around all squawking indignantly, flapping their beaks and making an awful racket. It makes rational discussion about any subject relating to gender almost impossible and is why I started being actually vitriolic - may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

You see, I believe we reached equality in this country some time ago and all of the so-called "discrimination" is no more than the buffer in the system. Social structures are large and unwieldy and the people within them live for a long time. As we saw with the "baby boom", demographic changes take a long time to make their full effects known sometimes. Simply adding more feminist ideology to a society that is already saturated with it will not create a better society, since the response time is relatively slow.

It is time Western women stopped thinking about what their society can do for them and started thinking a bit more about what they can offer in return. It's that old responsibility thing that some seem to dislike so much.

Squeers (yup, it's true by accident of birth I was born a female), Foxy and Suzeonline - thanks for the kind words.

Apparently stating that both sexes are responsible for safe sex and contraception is an attack on all the good blokey blokes whose 'wisdom' is oft expressed on the pages of OLO.

However, I still believe in sex being a two-way kind of thing. In fact, I forgot to add that respect is an important part of the sex act.

Respect means that you use a condom to protect against STD's, take a contraceptive pill or (if not wishing to be a parent ever) have a vasectomy (a simple surgical procedure) or, indeed, have a tubal ligation (a major surgical procedure). None of these procedures are 100% effective, however humans have more options than now than at any other time in history.

Frankly, I don't understand the anger that erupts from the same group of posters every time sex is mentioned. I have my ideas, but, as I don't know any of them (apart from Yabby's age and marital status, Antiseptic's estrangement from his son) the assumptions I could make are simply that, assumptions based only on what I have read here.

Severin, I'm pleased to see you're starting to grasp the concept of a mutual responsibility. It makes a lovely change from "I'm a girl so you hate me" which is the usual drivel we've come to expect from you.

Severin: "Antiseptic's estrangement from his son"

Huh? the boy lives with me 50% of the time and I pick him up from school every afternoon, whether he's at my place or Mum's.

As my daughter says "nice try. bzzzt, fail"

Who's children are going to be looking after you when you're old and frail and even less rational?