Dr Helen has an interesting post up in which she disputes the conclusions drawn by the authors of a British study which found that women are angrier than men. Writes Dr H:
The researchers speculate that women’s anger is prompted by feelings of powerlessness caused by “entrenched sexism in modern society.” As opposed to what, less sexism in ancient society? When sexism was more prevalent, women were even more “ladylike.” Today’s women are encouraged to express anger in our “you go, girl” culture but instead of using anger constructively, women continue to take the mean-girl routes, talking behind people’s backs, avoiding confrontation and personal responsibility for their anger by being anonymous and/or passive aggressive in their approach. What this leads to is probably… more anger.
Asked to comment, Lindsay Lohan did a shot of peach schnapps and asked me to kindly fuck off.
And of course, Lawrence Summers has disconnected his phone.
For what it’s worth, I suspect most of the anonymous commenters on my site who resort to ad hominem attacks are actually men—a supposition I base not on any kind of “male” or “female” writing style (the trappings of such conventionalized indices being easily exploited by any writer of moderate skill, making them all but useless as probative measures for determining the sex of an anonymous writer), but rather because, well, chicks tend to dig me!
I have very nice forearms, you see.
Quips Dan Collins at Bloody Scott:
I know that you’ve observed me state that it is foolish to try to propitiate the Islamists and other such extremists, but in this case I recommend, at the risk of seeming hypocritical, that you not point out to women that they are the angrier sex: it will only piss them off.
Anyway, Dr Helen’s post and the comments are both worth reading—because it is the reaction to the post’s conclusions that are where the real performatives of the various schools of feminist ideology will likely prove most instructive.
Speaking of impressive, sexy forearms—time to go lift weights.
I have to keep up appearances, you know.
Plus, I got a little loaded last night and ate an entire half gallon of Rocky Road…
I think that should be “asked me kindly to fuck off.” Wait a minute. Asked me off to fuck kindly?
Well, she didn’t ask me kindly. She asked me to kindly fuck off.
So the split infinitive here is justified because Lindsay is a bit of a formal lass.
I kinda like a formal ass.
Hmmm.
1. Making Islamists angry? So what. Eventually we’ll kill them all.
2. Making women angry? No fucking way man.
We have to live with them. This is one threat for which there is no solution.
Well other than Jeff Goldstein’s obvious self-love phase.
memo, they have sleeper cells. Everywhere.
Norm from Cheers said it best:
Honest, Officer, she appeared26.
Actually, AFS, the proper way to express that is:
Women: Can’t live with ‘em ………….
<….>
Not at my house.
Dammit.
In the immortal words of Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” I note that the first utterance of this line was by the prison warden, not Luke. When Luke repeats this line moments before being shot, he is of course being snarky. Hence may I suggest a simple but likely ineffective solution to women’s anger? Treat them as equals. Demand they stop acting like…..well, like women. Insist they tell you their issues to your face, and that they not use their feelings as justifications for their conclusions, but rather use logic and facts to argue a point or demonstrate their hypothesis.
If this don’t make ‘em stop whining, nothing will.
memomachine, watch that stone-age morality, now…
Have you ever gotten in trouble with an SO for something you did in one of her dreams?
I mean, Christ, just how do you argue with that?
Austin Mike
Girls whine. Women act.
Thank you, Darleen!
I read Dr. Helen’s article and it made me SO angry I was distracted all the way through the comments! I don’t think that “study” has taken hormonal swings into account much.
As one whose glands have passed the reproductive stage, I can tell you that “mean girls” are NOT a phenomenon of the intertube, video-game-playing, IPOD-dependent generation. Vicious is just what some girls do, and inevitably they’re the same girls that cause the boys to forget there’s a brain in their heads, also. I sat next to a member of Generation Gadget on a plane from Atlanta to Corpus last night, and was impressed that she asked her mom if she was allowed when the drink cart came around. Nice girls, man’s best buds, have always outnumbered the mean in my experience, it’s just that nobody notices.
So, while I’m typing, let me share a revelation I had while work-traveling to Memphis this week. It dawned on me just where the feminist movement went off track. They’ve focused on the money (i.e., equal pay… blah, blah, blah…), and allowed themselves to feel insulted by the extension of common courtesy. I’ve never been a libber, and avoid using Ms. whenever possible, but I’ve never had any trouble making male co-workers so sure of my fundamental abilities that my value to the enterprise is never in question.
You see… I WANT the guys I’m traveling with to lift my bags in and out of car trunks, upstairs if necessary, to hold doors open at restaurants, and do all the things that remind me of my femininity. I don’t think those touches affect in any way the amount of respect these officers and gentlemen have for me. Seems to me this is what women really should be after, allow us to admit to being the weaker sex but admit that our brains can be wonders to behold. F*ck the money… it’ll come to you if you earn it.
Lordie! That is some un-politically correct thinking, but somebody’s got to say it!
TW: Lets come to terms55, indeed.
Women rock. They’re kind of like guys, only grown up. Girls, on the other hand. Meh.
Oww! That’s just a little too close to home, thankyouverymuch.
Forget the forearms… when dealing with angry women use your speed.
If you were surrounded by the women’s softball team from a major university, would you reason with them?
Hell no. Run.
Not to say they are angry…. just saying running is good exercise, and it has way more dignity than getting your ass kicked by a girl that looks like Boog Powell
Born Red, that is very sound thinking.
Dan, my guardian told me when I was 16, “Birds are not blokes in skirts”.
It was good advice so obviously I ignored it.
Men aren’t bothered by capable women, just by women who make gender an issue.
Well, the missing piece from my comment was that men are guys who grew up. That doesn’t mean they stop being guys, though, all of the time.
Women aren’t bothered by capable men, just by boys who make gender an issue.
Adults don’t have to play those games.
Hmmmm.
Gender can effect the method(s) of how anger is expressed and/or internalized.
But the emotion of anger is not gender specific.
Shocking.
In fact I was so shocked and angry that in a fit of territorial aggression I went outside, screamed at the neighbors; took a machete and chopped down their orange tree. Then I pissed on it.
I feel better now. Well, the handcuffs are a little tight and the pepper spray still a little fresh, but I’m not angry anymeore. I found my happy place a bit later than perhaps I might’ve but the important thing is the journey.
Ladies? how would you have handled it?
Neighbors – ya gotta love ‘em!
When my new neighbor had some landscaping done 6 years ago, his landscaper did some small damage to my side yard. I went next door to inquire what he intended to do about getting his landscaper to fix it. I was not hysterical or demanding – just logically approaching the problem. My husband was away at the time.
My neighbor simply closed his eyes and pretended I was not there. I thought at first that he was joking. I spoke to him again and still received no response. I finally went into my house and called the landscaper myself. When I received no better response from him, I decided to stop worrying about these foolish men and fix the problem myself since it was not that huge and wasn’t worth suing over.
But, of course, I did discuss the situation with my other neighbors and friends. I have lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years and this small town even longer. Word-of-mouth is a bitch. I have not spoken to my neighbor since. The much sought after invitation to my husband’s poker game was never forthcoming. And the landscaper? Well, he went out of business about 10 months after the incident.