The vibrator and such

[Hullygully]

The article on the development of the vibrator in the Grauniad at the weekend reminded me of so much I haven't thought about in a while (lulled by own comfy existence).

And in the end it seems to me that men are indeed fundamentally SCARED of women and their actions and laws arise from fear.

No startling insight, just saying.

[MisogynistToolMagnet]

Which article was this?

I don't think men are scared of women, per se, but they're scared of what women could be, should we ever liberate ourselves.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

I think, if you look back through history, that the oppressors have always been afraid of the oppressed. They want the status quo to remain so, because they're winning, innit? I'm thinking slavery, chiefly.

[MisogynistToolMagnet]

This one? "Felicity Jones and the buzz about Hysteria"?

[Hullygully]

In the mag. Was v good.

I think they are. I think they began in fear and continue in fear.

[Balderdashandpiffle]

I think women are scared to be liberated and let men take on more of the parenting.

Why would men be scared of women being liberated?

I think men have a crap life-balance, I'm all for it.

Work less-more time with the children.

[Hullygully]

No, not about the film. There was an article (mentioning the film of course), but about the history.

Altho with slavery, chickens, they didn't start out scared (because they hadn't met the lovely slaves), they got scared that they might lose what they had stolen.

I think men started down the road they are now on from fear.

[Hullygully]

You are talking entirely about the present and a small western-centric bit of the world, Balder.

I am talking about the beginnings.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Oh, I thought that was the oddest set of comments on that article!

It's completely unlike men I know - most blokes, IME, think vibrators are sexy/exciting. I was really surprised to find so many men commenting really negatively. More fool me, I guess.

[Hullygully]

It just reminded me how extraordinarily phallic-centric everything really is, how much it has utterly pervaded every corner of the culture. Images, films, literature etc etc.

As I said, nowt new, just was reminded.

And how it is connected with fear.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Ah, got you. Erm, not sure really. I don't think most actual men are scared of women. I do think that they may be scared of being pushed down in to the status of a woman. If you think of the insults that men use to mean something 'less' ie 'pussy', 'girl' etc., it's quite clear that the female status is a lesser and undesirable one. But I don't think they're scared of our uteruses or owt. It stands to reason that if you elevate womens' status so that it is equal to that of men, some men will find themselves lower down the food chain than they would have been had women been kept below men by dint of being women.

Now, if anyone understands that I'll give them a

[samandi]

Chickens - that makes perfect sense to me.

[solidgoldbrass]

I think the start of the patriarchy was due to men;s envy of women rather than fear. Basically, women give birth and men don't, so men had to work out a way of bringing this process under their control.

[Nagoo]

I don' think they started off scared at all. I think that they were physically stronger and able to assert themselves over us so that we were possessions.

I think they might be scared now. I would not like to be a man. They can't 'buy' their authority any more. Having to pursue a relationship with a woman who can exist independently of them does change things for them a lot. And that change has happened very fast.

I am not saying that I don't know men who have moved with the game, I do, DH is one. But I think for a lot of men, it's a scary time.

[Nagoo]

None of that has anything to do with a vibrator. [offtopic?]

[PretzelTime]

Poor dears have to be empathic and have real human relationships with women now instead of just treating us like posessions. How my heart bleeds for those with such problems.

[Nagoo]

Yep. Horrendous for them, isn't it?