Your wife wears a ton of wedding bands?

Moissanite. Superior or equal to diamond in all optical qualities. 9.5 hardness. No cleavage planes.

She is probably the last person he wants to know it is a fake!
I'm all for slummin' it up, but I certainly understand Elias' desire not to do so. I've made far worse financial decisions on far more fickle prospects.

Congrats, Elias. I think it's a nice ring.

She'd probably find out eventually, and if it were me I'd rather she found out from me. Frankly if she cared then that would set off alarm bells.

Pretend to break up with her. That always goes over great.

What a fucked up thing to say. Being subordinate is not a prerequisite for being flattered by a proposal of marriage.

Feminism has been great for society, for everyone. And it isn't over yet. It's going to get better. Women have more power and autonomy than they use to, but that's only part of the story. Feminism reduced society's expectations and conditions on people of all genders. People have more freedom to choose the paths they want to choose in life, regardless of their gender. Women don't have to be the carers and nurturers, and men don't have to be the leaders and workers. Men don't have to be macho, and women don't have to be men's property. Breaking down those boundaries increases the productivity and happiness of our society as a whole.

There are different degrees of "feminism". I'm all for everyone being treated equal and fair, but many proponents of feminism take it too far. Women have it pretty fucking great in the US, Canada, and (most of?) the EU.

I think feminism often tries to disparage some of the differences between men and women, maybe because of unpleasant realities associated with the women's side of those differences, but I don't know.

I think it's better to promote, focus and apply our differences. There are certain things that are a woman's responsibility -- like making babies -- and others that are a men's responsibility -- like killing things.

One giveth, and the other taketh away

Women have almost ALL power and that's still not enough for them. It has been said that women control 80% of spending (directly and indirectly), women have basically all reproductive power, women aren't nearly as independent as you'd think when you factor in the sexist assistance provided by government specifically to women, and the favoritism applied to them in education and the workplace to appeal to Feminism politics.

Not only are women predominantly in control of the choice to have sex or not (basically if she's healthy, and maybe even if she's not, there is a line up of men wanting to fuck her), but women also have more options for birth control, most of which are completely unverifiable by a man, and in the event that a woman does get pregnant she is basically 100% in control of whether she keeps the baby, whether she allows the father to be involved, and whether the father is forced to provide for the child (irregardless of whether the father gets to be involved in the actual raising of the child). Nearly the only choice that a man actually has is whether to wear a condom or not, which a woman can at least easily verify. And those aren't bulletproof and can fail rather easily.

Where I live a single mother that doesn't work is effectively paid as much or more than a man working full-time at a skilled trade. Even women without children are often provided assistance in ways above and beyond what we offer men (i.e., typically men are the vast majority of homeless). Instead of seeking "equal opportunity", Feminism seeks "equal enrollment" and "equal employment". In other words, it isn't enough that women are equally able to apply for a position and that the position is filled without discrimination against gender. Instead, slots are reserved specifically for women (i.e., discrimination against gender). Even if a much better qualified man applies, and even if no qualified women apply, only a woman can hold that position. In some cases, it is a requirement to have a specific quota of women in a particular program or department in order to satisfy requirements so even if there aren't qualified female applicants they need to be hired anyway instead of leaving those positions unfilled.

Expectations really haven't changed much for men in our society. Men are still expected to work full-time and provide for their family most of the time. Women generally have the choice whether they want to work or not. Men are required to provide for their families by law, whereas women are typically not held equally responsible for their families. Which is to say that if a woman is working and earning an income the law in most jurisdictions will not require her to use it to provide for her starving family. She has every legal right to use the money for herself. Legally, the man/father is generally responsible for providing, and can be punished for failing to do so. Where the law doesn't enforce it, society does.

Women are generally given custody of children, even if a reasonable person would find them unfit to be mothers, or even if the fathers are more fit. Fathers are generally lucky to get weekends or visitation rights. Mind you, fathers are generally forced to pay large portions of their income towards "child support" to provide for the children they have limited access and control over, and the law doesn't even attempt to restrict the usage of women's use of these funds (i.e., women can spend it on themselves instead of the children).

Feminism is a lie. It has nothing to do with equality. It has everything to do with female privilege. There are examples of women accomplishing equal roles to men long before feminism came along. Families are complex structures. Women that choose to focus on their careers or otherwise pursue "male" roles in society generally will have to miss out on traditional "female" roles (like mothering and caring for children). Or else they'll try to "have it all", and generally their employer and government (i.e., male tax payers) will have to foot the bill.

Women are not men, and men are not women. They are not "equal". There are and always will be differences between us. Roles more or less formed naturally for the betterment of society, and it does a great disservice to our ancestors and our present society to portray this as an oppression of women. Women are not and were not oppressed by men. The reality is that basically all societies go out of their way to provide for and protect women. Does that mean that they have had complete freedom? No. The real brainfuck is realizing that men didn't and don't have all that much freedom either. Certainly today they have a lot less freedom than women do.

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Feminism isn't even consistent. It says that women are just as capable as men are one minute, and then says that women deserve special assistance the next! It says that women can earn their own living one minute, and then says that men still need to pay the bills the next!

When women are questioned on university campuses about what types of men they would date or find attractive, the vast majority of them describe the male stereotype: strong, confident, pays for the woman, shows her a good time, asks her out instead of the reverse, etc. When asked about how they feel about "nice guys" or men without money they always say they find those men unattractive and would never date them.

For all intents and purposes, the roles are still in place. The only difference is that women now have the privilege of crossing role lines when and if they choose to, whereas for the most part men are much more constrained. Even if a man wanted to play a stereotypical female role, he obviously can't have the baby, and in so far as he could be a stay at home father that would only be possible if his wife happens to earn enough to support them and herself chooses to let him. In general, even if those conditions were met, you would still find that such a man is not respected by society, or his family, for doing so.

While it's true that men have traditionally held the top jobs in our society, it is also true that men held and continue to hold all of the bottom jobs too. The really tough, dangerous, an unglamorous jobs are essentially all men. You don't see feminists fighting for equal employment there!

Feminism teaches us that women were oppressed and it's easy to believe it, but if you do a little research you find it to be much less black and white. Society did not oppress women, and there was never a conspiracy within society to do so. There were never any secret meetings of a "Patriarchy" to design a system where women suffered. The reality is that women have enjoyed relative luxuries for centuries.

Feminism is not great for everyone. Arguably, it isn't even good for women. It basically teaches them to try to be men, but they are not men. Our society has essentially become hateful of men. Men are no longer respected. In popular media, they are always represented as lazy, irresponsible, bumbling slobs or abusive animals.

Turn your media devices off and maybe turn your brain on.

Bamccaig, what a load of diatribe.

Karadoc ~~: I'm glad there is at least a few people who aren't misogynistic assholes here.

While I don't dispute there is some disparity, I really really dislike those statistics you brought up because similar statistics are often cited and to me they appear meaningless to the point of being lies (i.e. the statistic is technically correct but there is too much missing data so it is also meaningless and is used to create the false impression that they imply some discrimination).

How many more women choose to be "stay at home moms"? Maybe it is 30% and so women are actually over represented?
Maybe women choose different career paths which are less employable (like artists)?
How can I treat this statistic seriously when there's so much missing information?
A slightly better statistic to see is "for each position (not sector), what percentage of men/women are unemployed (of those actually seeking jobs)". Ideally I'd have some measure of their aptitude as well, but I'd like to see someone measure that

What percentage of women attempts to become board directors?

When questioned, most women say that they'd rather vote for men than women. This is a societal discrimination, in much the same way that people tend to vote for taller people, however I'm not sure what people want to do about it (maybe disallow politicians from showing themselves, so you can't know who is taller than who).
Another missing piece of data is what percentage of women actually make an attempt at holding governing positions, how many women are into politics? Maybe men make up 80% of politicians and so women are actually more likely to be voted into office?

This is as pointless as the 20% less representation statistic. How many women apply for lecturing positions? How many attempt to get senior status?
You'll agree that men and women tend to choose different subjects in universities, do women tend to cluster under fewer subjects (causing them to be eligible for less of the open teaching positions)?
Also, maybe its just a language thing, but why focus on lecturing positions? The positions that matter in a university are the research positions.

What percentage of law practitioners are women? How many of those choose their family over their career and so do not advance their career far enough to become judges? How many are considered but refuse the offer?

Working in the same sector is not enough, working in the same position is how you make a comparison, because different roles in the same sector get different salaries, and generally the more effort you put into your career (over your family for example) the better a job and salary you will get.
It is also my observation that generally women are less prone to ask for raises, and negotiate for them less ferociously, giving them a lower salary due to their own failures.

All of that said, I do still believe there is some discrimination against women (some against men too), it is just that these kind of half-assed statistics with tons of missing data get my blood boiling whenever I see them (and I'm already ill right now).

Well, if they don't have the balls to ignore the pressure...

The obvious solution is to breed as to completely eliminate all differences between the sexes except for the sexual organs.

It was only a matter of time until this topic was going to head into this direction.
Anyway, buying jewelry requires resources > raising children requires resources > man with resources is a safer partner for the health of the children.