Amy's Robot

Gender-politics media post: Be warned.

Gender-politics media post: Be warned.

In yesterday's NY Times, there was an Op-Ed piece by Maureen Dowd about how now, again, there's research coming out indicating that the more successful and self-sufficient a woman is, the less likely she is to have a husband or children. The reverse is true for successful men. The article is mainly about women age 35 and up, but actually includes the statistic that over 50% of "career women" age 35 do not have children. I find this almost impossible to believe. But first, what is a "career woman"? Do the ladies who do manicures and work checkout at Target count? If they do, then how can that factoid be true? Also, Maureen Dowd starts the piece by saying that men won't ask her out because she's too successful (Editor at the NYT, after all) and is, therefore, intimidating. WHAT? Look at this woman! If I look like that at age 50, which she is, I'll be grateful. And she can't get a date? As Cher says, and as she quotes in the article, snap out of it guys.

It seems like young men are not like this, but then again, I don't have a boyfriend. Could it be that this love-of-unimpressive-women is only true for men, say, 35-50, and that men in my age group, 25-30, who grew up after the second wave of feminism had already happened, don't have this problem? God, I hope so. Otherwise I will probably end up being Cynthia Heimel. (this excerpt gives you a good idea.) Which, actually, might not be so bad.

Another side note: this company called Coincidence Design will stalk a person that you have seen on the street for you, learn intimate details of their life which they report back to you, and then actually set up a "chance encounter" for you, like seating you together on a plane, getting you stuck in an elevator together, etc., so you can then work your nasty, creepy, pathological stalker charm on them. And guess what? They only work for men, and will only stalk women. Wonder why that might be. Because men are more likely to sue if they find out they are under surveillance? Because women are less likely to need a method as lame as this to meet people? Becky let me know about this one. She and I both hope this website/company is just an elaborate joke or performance art or something.

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posted by amy at 12:01 PM | #