And unfortunately, Cara, what I mentioned about the inappropriate behaviour of a group of inebriated women did indeed happen. Granted, it doesn’t occur often; in fact, I’ve only seen two examples of it in my entire life, but it does happen.

Best wishes to you both.

*groan* Here we go. Some woman said something less than flattering about a SPECIFIC group of men in a SPECIFIC article about a SPECIFIC incident so she MUST have been talking about all men everywhere!!

Stop her ! Stop her noooowwwww!!!!!

How about you boys stop trying to wear the shoes you claim don’t fit you, okay?

Since the third post in this thread further details the problems these druken goons are causing for women in the area, how about you stop trying so hard to change the subject and deal with the simple fact that, more ofen than not, mixing entitled, pornfied jackasses with copious amounts of liquor and a permissive atmosphere will result in this sort of bigoted behavior.

Not to mention the fact that I witnessed with my own two eyes exactly this sort of behavior constantly. I was a cop for years. No amount of bogus cries of “reverse sexism!!!” is going to change what I saw day after day.

That’s my explanation for why I didn’t take issue with it. As for the actual meaning, we’ll have to wait for Betty to come back and defend herself.

Also, Ran, I’ve clearly let up on the comment policy as of late: go check out the “Whose Abortion?” thread. If I haven’t deleted “women are selfish baby killers” rhetoric, I’m certainly not going to delete “men are jerks.”

Scotty, yes, misogyny is an antonym for feminism. The opposite. What you were trying to say there, I’m not sure.

I’ve been out on the town for a ‘boys night out’ and witnessed just as many examples of sexist behaviour by women; is that considered okay as a form of retribution for years of apparently misogynistic behaviour by men, is it considered okay as an expression of women finding themselves, is it considered okay under the democratic freedoms guaranteed to all of us under the guise of “freedom of speech/expression”?

I’m not calling you a liar, Scotty, but I find this hard to believe. Personally, I’ve never seen a large, drunken mob of women surround a man and forcefully demand that he whip out his dick for their pleasure. If they did, it would be appalling. It wouldn’t be exactly the same, because men don’t live in constant fear of sexual assault at the hands of women, particularly drunk women. But it would still be appalling, utterly inappropriate behavior and I would certainly condemn it.

But again, I don’t think it happened.

I also never painted you all with the same brush. I don’t see how you could infer that. I also regularly receive comments from men, have discussions with them, read their blogs, and I’m married to quite a good one. I don’t hate men; I hate patriarchy and what it does to far too many men. I don’t see anything here that would indicate otherwise.

I don’t think that women are a tool to be used by men; how about you stop treating men as tools that use/abuse women?

Men are tools for the abuse of women. But so are knives. And most of the time, knives are benign and actually very helpful things. Saying that knives are used in violent acts doesn’t mean that I’m going to get stabbed every time someone picks one up. And saying that men commit violent acts towards women isn’t the same as saying that all men commit violence against all women. Normally comparing people to objects isn’t a device I would employ, but I was working off of the metaphor that you started with.

So. Back to the violent misogynist assholes, hmm?

What’s the antonym for misogynist? Feminist?

Sorry, that was unfair of me, wasn’t it, to tar all you women with the same brush? Please, don’t get me wrong, I agree with you on this issue; it was highly inappropriate behaviour, and it should have been handled with more concern/fervour. I’ve spent the last several years trying to understand womens’ issues and in the clear-cut cases of misogynism, sexual repression, sexual degradation, and that ‘second-class citizenry’ kind of mindset that seems to prevail amongst some boys clubs; I’m surprised that, as a species, we’re even remotely viable.

But, Betty/Cara, you’re not implying/inferring/suggesting that men are the only ones capable of this kind of behaviour, are you?

I’ve been out on the town for a ‘boys night out’ and witnessed just as many examples of sexist behaviour by women; is that considered okay as a form of retribution for years of apparently misogynistic behaviour by men, is it considered okay as an expression of women finding themselves, is it considered okay under the democratic freedoms guaranteed to all of us under the guise of “freedom of speech/expression”?

I wholeheartedly endorse your fight to be treated as equals (and isn’t it kind of a shame that the Bible doesn’t grant you the same right(s), and that’s not even entering into the Old/New Testament argument), and even, if you’re not someone with a faith in a deity, but rather, someone who believes in the inherent right to be treated as human being whose viewpoints differ to yours, don’t you find it strange that we can be so diametrically opposed on certain issues.

Men have been tarred with the same brush for many years (we’re all bastards, right?); do you want to be tarred with the same brush? I try so very, VERY hard to understand womens’ issues; how about you cut some of us a break?

I don’t think that women are a tool to be used by men; how about you stop treating men as tools that use/abuse women? Don’t get me wrong (again); there ARE individual cases of men being shit-heads, but there are just as many cases of women being just as unkind, disrespectful, condescending, and downright mean-spirited towards men.

Let’s try a little harder, eh?

I wish I was surprised that there’s been more trouble this year, but it’s just about what we’ve come to expect from Summernats. As you noted (how did I miss those quotes?), the organisers don’t give a damn, and the police have been hopeless on it either. It’s a disgrace that this happens every damn year and the government still funnels money in it to drive the tourism dollars.