Reading - MAR > DEC 2020

Kept up with tracking, but not publishing out into the ether, what I've read this year. Last time was in February, apparently. Wild ride in 2020, many distractions. Not to mention moving back overseas and related complications. Regardless, something like a book a week, give or take. On average. Plus comics. And OCD surfing of the internets. Lot of fiction this year, apparently. Coping mechanism for the stresses of the 'real' world? Possibly. Reread a bunch of Crichton this summer. Reminded me of my dad, who I got the 'reading habit' from - and who got it from his mom - and who used to read all the Crichton, Clancy and Griffin he could get his hands on. A handful of biographies, some financial literacy, some positive psych. We'll see if in 2021 I can post up more often, maybe monthly. Onwards.

Gladiator by Philip Wylie

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman

Anno Dracula: Dracula Cha Cha Cha by Kim Newman

Helltown by Dennis O'Neil

Richard Dragon: Dragon's Fists by Jim Dennis (Dennis O'Neil and James R. Berry) 

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

The Stranger by Harlan Corben

Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman

Peace Talks (Dresden Files Book 16) by Jim Butcher

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks  

Rising Sun by Michael Crichton

The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino

Travels by Michael Crichton

Congo by Michael Crichton

Timeline by Michael Crichton

A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife: On the Other Side Known Commonly as The Little Book by Daniel Quinn and Tom Whalen

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

The Mystery of the Iron Samson: The Life and Training of Strongman Alexander Zass by Yuri Shapshnikoff (Author), A. Drapkin (Author), Logan Christopher (Editor), Professor "Stone" Paul (Translator)

A Feast Unknown (Secrets of the Nine #1 - Wold Newton Parallel Universe) Book 1 of 3: Secrets of the Nine by Philip Jose Farmer 

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Resurrected Destiny (The Last Witness Book 1) by Gerald Welch

Ballistic Kiss: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey

Playing with FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early): How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom by Scott Riecken

The Holy by Daniel Quinn

Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined by Drew Carey 

Battle Ground: The Dresden Files 17 by Jim Butcher 

8 Mins: An Anthology of the Last Eight Minutes of Earth by Victor Dandridge 

After Dachau by Daniel Quinn

The Sentinel: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child & Andrew Child 

Levon's Home by Chuck Dixon

Art in the Blood (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 1) by Bonnie MacBird 

Unquiet Spirits: Whisky, Ghosts, Murder (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 2) by Bonnie MacBird

Uncaged: My Life as a Champion MMA Fighter by Frank Shamrock 

Shamrock: The World's Most Dangerous Man by Jonathan Snowden 

The Devil’s Due (A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, Book 3) by Bonnie MacBird

The Size of Your Dreams: A Novel that Transforms Lives by Dave Mason and Chana Mason

The Cash Machine: A Tale of Passion, Persistence, and Financial Independence by Dave Mason and Chana Mason

The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver 

The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver

--

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 1 & 2 by Kousuke Oono

Savage Wolverine Vol. 1: Kill Island by Frank Cho

Second Coming: Volume One by Mark Russell, Richard Pace, Leonard Kirk, Andy Troy

Skybourne by Frank Cho, Marcio Menyz

Black Hammer Volume 4: Age of Doom Part Two by Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, Dave Stewart

Green Arrow: War of the Clans by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino

Secret Volume by Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Bodenheim, Michael Garland 

Punisher: Soviet by Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, Paolo Rivera

Wonder Twins Vol. 1: Activate! by Mark Russell , Stephen Byrne 

Captain America: White by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale 

Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 (of 6): Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley & Nathan Fairbairn 

The Complete Jon Sable Freelance Volume 1 by Mike Grell

Absolute Planetary V1 by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday

Green Lantern: Legacy by Minh Le & Andie Tong

Doomsday Clock: The Complete Collection Paperback by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank 

Jacked by Eric Kripke & John Higgins 

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale by Zack Whedon, Joss Whedon, Chris Samnee 

Batman: Three Jokers by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok 

Reading, Summer '19.

Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly

Zero Cool by Michael Crichton writing as John Lange

Drug of Choice by Michael Crichton writing as John Lange

Judgment by Joseph Finder

Finally, Some Good News by Delicious Tacos

This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life by Annie Grace

Elevating Overman by Bruce Ferber

LEGACY, Books 1-7 by Gerald Welch and Warren Murphy

The Carnivore Diet Holiday Handbook: How to Thrive & Survive the Holidays on a Carnivore Diet by K. Suzanne

How to Fight a Hydra: Face Your Fears, Pursue Your Ambitions, and Become the Hero You Are Destined to Be by Josh Kaufman

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys into Fame and Madness by Neil Strauss

The Truth: Sex, Love, Commitment, and the Puzzle of the Male Mind by Neil Strauss

The Frugal Carnivore Diet: How I Eat a Carnivore Diet for $4 a Day by K. Suzanne

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by Larry Correia and John Ringo

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners by Larry Correia and John Ringo

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints by Larry Correia and John Ringo

The Monster Hunter Files (Anthology) – by Larry Correia, Jim Butcher & others

Monster Hunter Guardian (Monster Hunters International Book 7) by Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt

--

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 10: End Of The World by Ed Brisson (Author), Ryan Cady (Author), Damian Couceiro (Illustrator, Artist), Ibraim Roberson (Illustrator, Artist), Andrea Sorrentino (Cover Art), Di Meo, Simone (Artist), Hayden Sherman (Artist)

Dead Man Logan Vol. 1: Sins Of The Father by Ed Brisson (Author), Declan Shalvey (Cover Art), Mike Henderson (Artist)

Black Hammer Volume 3: Age of Doom Part One by Jeff Lemire (Author), Dean Ormston (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator)

Black Hammer Volume 2: The Event by Jeff Lemire (Author), Dean Ormston (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Illustrator), David Rubin (Illustrator)

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four - The Complete Collection (Injustice: Gods Among Us by Brian Buccellato (Author), Tom Taylor (Author), Bruno Redondo (Illustrator,

Black Hammer Volume 1: Secret Origins by Jeff Lemire (Author), Dean Ormston (Illustrator)

Return of Wolverine by Charles Soule (Author), Steve McNiven (Illustrator, Cover Art, Artist), Declan Shalvey (Artist)

The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 & 2 by Garth Ennis (Author), Darick Robertson (Artist)

Stumptown Vol. 4: The Case of a Cup of Joe by Greg Rucka (Author), Justin Greenwood (Illustrator), Ryan Hill (Illustrator)

Plastic Man Paperback by Gail Simone (Author), Adriana Melo (Illustrator)

Atomic Robo and the Dawn of a New Era by Brian Clevinger (Author), Scott Wegener (Illustrator)

"...the “sneaky fuckers” strategy - the way in which subordinate males manage to accomplish mating with females."

The Myth of the Male Feminist | Playboy: 

"As we close out 2017, let’s take some time to reflect on lessons learned over the past 12 months. In an act of no holds barred brutal honesty, this year completely obliterated the myth of the male feminist. Though these men claim to be champions of women’s rights, we’ve seen time and time again how they are nothing but wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

In the last several months, Harvey Weinstein, Joss Whedon, Louis C.K., Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose have all fallen into this camp. In the case of writer Michael Hafford, who has been accused of physically assaulting four women, he went as far as authoring a column for Vice’s women-focused site, Broadly, in 2015 titled “Male Feminist Here,” parodying the deceitfulness of this very group of men. [Editor’s Note: Hafford is a former contributor to Playboy.com; the company was unaware of the allegations made against this individual during the brief time he contributed to the website.] 

 From an evolutionary perspective, the approach has been described by the late evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith as the “sneaky fuckers” strategy, referring to the way in which subordinate males manage to accomplish mating with females—which they otherwise might not get to do—by taking advantage of instances in which dominant (and more appealing) males are preoccupied, fighting off intruders. This has been observed across multiple species in the animal kingdom and in humans, it takes the form of feminist men. 

These men know by rote all of the right things to say in order to gain a woman’s trust. They pride themselves on being sensitive, socially conscious “allies,” calling out “male privilege” and “problematic behavior” by the “patriarchy.” They will subvert any hint of their masculinity...

I’ve encountered a healthy number of male feminists in my day and they never fail to disappoint when it comes to posturing. Many proudly declare how much they admire “strong women” and will be sure to randomly insert inspirational yet irrelevant quotes into everyday conversation, like “Well-behaved women seldom make history,” or name Judith Butler as one of their favorite authors. (Yes, these men actually exist.) In doing so, they’re attempting to atone for the atrocious behavior of other men when really, they are engaging in their own special form of projection. A research paper published in Motivation and Emotion earlier this year suggests that virtue-signaling—commonly seen in men apologizing for the behavior of other men—is a reflection of a person’s own moral failings. Voicing outrage at unethical behavior is a way for people to alleviate guilt, essentially through overcompensation...

 When it comes to the hot topic of gender in particular, they know that men and women are different, but they will proclaim otherwise, saying nonsensical things like there are no differences between the sexes or that differences are socially constructed, because doing so will win them points and secure them sexual partners. 

But pretending these differences don’t exist only leads to a wider chasm between the sexes. 

 In a dating context, it hampers our ability to understand one another and form any genuine or meaningful connection. So, going back to the intersectional feminist dating checklist, I guarantee any guy who touts the “right answer” to each of these bizarre, social justice-related questions will reveal himself in time to be hideously deceptive. 

Thankfully, it seems women, including female feminists, have become wary of these red flags. They even inspired their own SNL skit last year, wherein a bunch of “male feminists” approach a woman in a bar only to call her “bitch” when she rejects them. Women deserve equality and to be treated no differently from men, and there are plenty of decent men out there who agree with me. The difference is these men don’t feel the need to run around waving a giant banner notifying everyone of this (or wearing a pink pussy hat, the national emblem of the Woman’s March on Washington in January). 

To have healthy and successful relationships, the solution isn’t mindlessly telling women what they want to hear, nor setting impossible expectations on men based on a biased worldview. For those who have bought into the unfortunate narrative that women are an oppressed class in need of special treatment in order to level the playing field, I will say that helping and supporting women because they are women is patronizing. 

There is nothing a male feminist loves more than educating women on how oppressed we really are."

"Everyday Women's & Gender Studies."

😯😱😬

Reading: July - Nov 17.

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted by Will Bowen

Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child 

The Detachment (A John Rain Novel Book 7) by Barry Eisler

Crazy Horse: A Life by Larry McMurtry

Robert B. Parker's Bull River (Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch Book 6) by Robert Knott

The Hidden School: Return of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies by Ace Atkins

Embarrassing Confessions of a Marine Lieutenant: Operation Branding Iron by Donny O'Malley

Flight: A Novel by Sherman Alexie

Financial Peace Revisited: New Chapters on Marriage, Singles, Kids and Families by Dave Ramsey

MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins 

Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook by Tony Robbins

The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett 

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

The Elephant in the Room: A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the “Alt-Right” by Jon Ronson

The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones: And the Less Amazing Adventures of Some Other Real-Life Superheroes by Jon Ronson

True Allegiance by Ben Shapiro

The Kill Society: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Swing Set by Janice Weber

American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston

The Midnight Line: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams

The Wild Storm Vol. 1 Paperback by Warren Ellis,‎ Jon Davis-Hunt 

Wolverine by Daniel Way: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by Daniel Way, John McCrea, Staz Johnson , Javier Saltares , Steve Dillon, Bart Sears, Ken Knudsten 

The White Donkey: Terminal Lance by Maximilian Uriarte

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 1: Berzerker Paperback by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino

Cow Boy Vol. 1 A Boy and His Horse Paperback by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos

Wolverine: Origin - The Complete Collection by Bill Jemas, Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada, Kieron Gillen, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert

Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood by Greg Rucka, Darick Robertson

Wolverine Vol. 3: Return of the Native by Greg Rucka, Darick Robertson 

Wolverine Vol. 2: Coyote Crossing Paperback by Greg Rucka, Leandro Fernandez

Atomic Robo and the Temple of Od by Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 2: Bordertown by Jeff Lemire

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 3: The Last Ronin Paperback by Jeff Lemire

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year One: The Complete Collection 

Wolverine: Old Man Logan Vol. 5: Past Lives Paperback by Jeff Lemire, Filipe Andrade,‎ Eric Nguyen 

Hulk: Planet Hulk by Greg Pak,‎ Carlo Pagulayan,‎ Aaron Lopresti,‎ Gary Frank,‎ Takeshi Miyazawa

There it is.

Dude went complete savage.

Don't judge me, man.

Women: greater gender in-group bias + heightened anticipatory fear response.

Gender differences in automatic in-group bias: why do women like women more than men like men? - PubMed - NCBI: "Four experiments confirmed that women's automatic in-group bias is remarkably stronger than men's and investigated explanations for this sex difference, derived from potential sources of implicit attitudes (L. A. Rudman, 2004). In Experiment 1, only women (not men) showed cognitive balance among in-group bias, identity, and self-esteem (A. G. Greenwald et al., 2002), revealing that men lack a mechanism that bolsters automatic own group preference. Experiments 2 and 3 found pro-female bias to the extent that participants automatically favored their mothers over their fathers or associated male gender with violence, suggesting that maternal bonding and male intimidation influence gender attitudes. Experiment 4 showed that for sexually experienced men, the more positive their attitude was toward sex, the more they implicitly favored women. In concert, the findings help to explain sex differences in automatic in-group bias and underscore the uniqueness of gender for intergroup relations theorists."

Men and women differ in the way they anticipate an unpleasant emotional experience, research finds -- ScienceDaily: "Men and women differ in the way they anticipate an unpleasant emotional experience, which influences the effectiveness with which that experience is committed to memory, according to new research. In the study, supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust, women showed heightened neural responses in anticipation of negative experiences, but not positive ones. The neural response during anticipation was related to the success of remembering that event in the future. No neural signature was found during anticipation in either positive or negative experiences in men. Dr Giulia Galli, lead author from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience said: "When expecting a negative experience, women might have a higher emotional responsiveness than men, indicated by their brain activity. This is likely to then affect how they remember the negative event." "For example, when watching disturbing scenes in films there are often cues before anything 'bad' happens, such as emotive music. This research suggests that the brain activity in women between the cue and the disturbing scene influences how that scene will be remembered. What matters for memory in men instead is mostly the brain activity while watching the scene...  This finding might be relevant for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, in which there is excessive anticipation of future threat and memory is often biased towards negative experiences."

Listener-Blue — feminismisahatemovement: it-goes-both-ways: ...: "...what you may not be aware of is the *reason* women get more afraid than men at horror shows. It’s because women are more prone to *anticipate* and have a negative emotional response to the upcoming terrible event. Don’t hate me. Hate science. “But you’re not answering my question… what does Feminism mean?” I’m getting to that. See, science… when it’s done as science actually finds out some pretty crazy shit. Like did you know that men naturally have almost no bias for other men? “Bullshit!” No, seriously. Men lack (or have an exceedingly small amount) of a trait known as “in-group bias”. Pound for pound men just like women more. They like talking to them, like being around them, like spending time with them and care about them and their well being WILDLY more than they do other men. “Okay, so what? Guys are douchenozzles to other guys? Big fucking deal.” 

Except women don’t lack that trait. In fact, women have in group bias in *spades*. Women like women more than they like men. A lot more than they like men. For example, if two people are bleeding… one male and one female.. a woman (and a man actually) will almost always be drawn to help the bleeding female rather than the bleeding male. And this isn’t social conditioning that girls are weak. This trait shows up in children kindergarten age. “You’ve made me sit through all this shit why again?”. 

Tie the two together. Tie in group bias with heightened anticipatory fear response. Then give them political power. Meet Feminism. 

Or, try this: In Canada abused women get three hundred and fifty million a year in services from the Canadian government for domestic abuse shelters, help, and so forth. Men get $0.00. Remember what I said about men not being overly concerned about the welfare of other men? And how women are hyper concerned about the welfare of other women and themselves, especially in relation to dangers perceived or real? So… okay, an instinctual bias towards a specific kind of public policy. That doesn’t mean the fears aren’t real? No, the fears often are very real… but the *response* to those fears is very often disproportionate to what they’re afraid of. And more importantly, in a group with a primary driving force of in group bias… you *never* see the concern for men that you do for women under any circumstances. It not only doesn’t exist, it never will. It’s why a group of Feminists cheering about women dwarfing the number of men in college isn’t met by anyone with a lot of puzzled looks. 

“But alright… so Feminism isn’t so much about equality, but how can you be against helping women and seeing that they have equal rights?” I’m not. “But you’re against Feminism.” Feminism isn’t about equal rights. Feminism is an anticipatory response to a perceived fear that has snowballed since its earliest inception driven by women’s in group bias and men’s lack thereof. 

And here’s why I’m Anti-Feminist: Because it shows no sign of slowing. There is no “end" game. There is no “equality" that can be reached for the Feminist. Seriously. ever think about that? At what point do the Feminists pack it up and call it a day? What event could occur that would convince Feminists the “patriarchy has been dismantled" and they could go home? Hint: it will never happen. No event would trigger that. Equality can never be reached for the Feminist… so all the Feminist movement can do is attempt to secure more and more and more power and advantage (which is historically all it has ever done if you’re actually intellectually honest about the whole thing). And that’s dangerous as fuck."

"Maybe, just maybe, men are not broken versions of women."

Listener-Blue — The last post makes me wonder..: "What was on my partner’s shopping list of perfect womanly traits when he interviewed me for the position of possible long term relationship? Was he looking for someone needy and demanding? Someone constantly needing reassurance? Was he looking for someone who can be short-tempered and irrational? Someone who gets irritated by the tiniest thing with no warning? Was he looking for someone who is selfish at times, who often doesn’t put him first but who expects him to put her first all the time? Was he willing to put up with all of this so long as I make the dinner and do his washing? So long as I keep house? So long as I behave like a proper little wifey? You know what - he doesn’t give a fuck about that stuff that men supposedly care about. Hell, I don’t even do it. Not like that. He suffers through all the shit and he doesn’t even get the good stuff?! I don’t even iron his fucking shirts for him? What kind of shit ass wife am I? He must not have read the ‘how to find a perfect wife’ manual that men are apparently given in adolescence. Or maybe, just maybe, men are not the shallow evil pigs these idiots make them out to be. Maybe, just maybe, men are capable of loving someone as a whole, just as women are. Maybe, just maybe, he tolerates my bad points because he thinks my good points outweigh them. Maybe, just maybe, he finds comfort in my company, my humour, my intelligence, my personality. Me. And maybe, just maybe, he feels that the minor inconvenience of my worse traits is overshadowed by the stuff that makes us happy together and makes our relationship work. None of which has any fucking thing to do with my ability to cook or clean or bear children. Maybe, just maybe, men are not broken versions of women. And maybe all these women that think they are should go and fuck themselves. Or maybe…. just maybe… the reason they don’t see it is because these women are just broken versions of men, unable to see anything but what they want in life. Unable to see anything but themselves. These women are unable to properly love a man because their checklist of ‘perfect man’ consists of only one thing - find a man who does exactly what I want him to.  Oh shit, wait, I think my internalised misogyny just spilled over."

Valentine's Day is coming up.

"It is precisely in a traditional understanding of manly pride and honor that we will find the only sure basis for respect between men and women."

THE CRISIS OF MANLINESS | The Weekly Standard: "The last 30 years have witnessed a prolonged effort at social engineering throughout our public and educational institutions. Its purpose is to eradicate any psychological and emotional differences between men and women, on the grounds that any concept of manliness inevitably leads to arrogance and violence towards women and to rigid hierarchies that exclude the marginalized and powerless. This experiment was meant to reduce violence and tensions between the sexes...

 As the recent book by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead confirmed, absent fathers are one of the strongest predictors of violence among young men in the United States, at least as important as poverty, lack of education, or minority status. The ease with which men of my baby-boomer generation have abdicated our roles as fathers is undoubtedly connected with feminism and the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Boomers were told that we shouldn't be hung up about providing masculine role models for children and should do whatever made us happiest, including escape an unsatisfying marriage. After all, to hold things together for the sake of the children would restrict both men and women to old-fashioned "patriarchal" responsibilities. The results of this hard, bright credo of selfishness are today's under-fathered young men, many of them from broken homes, prone to identify their maleness with aggression because they have no better model to go by...

It seems plain enough that we are missing the boat about manliness; for there are forms of pride and honor that would be good to impart to young males. Indeed, manly honor, and shame at failing to live up to it, are the surest means of promoting respect for women. Equally, manly anger and combativeness can provide energy for a just cause. Horrified as we are by the cult of warrior violence in the Balkans or Rwanda, we may have gone too far toward the opposite extreme in the Western democracies. As Michael Kelly recently observed, "There are fewer and fewer people, and they are older and older people, who accept what every 12-year-old in Bihac knows: that there are some things worth dying and killing for." Abolitionism in the ante-bellum United States, the Allies' defeat of Nazi Germany, and the civil-rights movement of the '60s would never have succeeded without the legitimate expression of anger against injustice. The point is not to eradicate honor and pride from the male character, but to re-channel those energies from the nihilistic violence of Fight Club or the Arkansas schoolyard to some constructive moral purpose.

...the first step toward a sensible debate about manly pride is to rescue the positive tradition of manliness from three decades of stereotyping that conflates masculinity with violence, hegemony, and aggression. We have to recognize that men and women are moral equals, that decent and worthy men have always known this, and that, while men and women share the most important human virtues, vices, and aptitudes, they also have psychological traits that incline them toward some different activities. 

According to the regnant orthodoxy, men and women should have exactly the same kinds of capacities and ambitions. They should be equally interested in becoming tycoons, winning battles, driving tractors, and nurturing children. But this is not reality. In general, men don't want to work in day-care centers or teach kindergarten, and women don't want to be truck drivers or join the military. Moreover, women are far more likely than men to leave successful jobs to devote time to families, and women under 30 are more eager for lasting marriages and numerous children than women of their parents' generation (doubtless yearning for what their parents denied them). 

We should recognize at last that, as long as women are guaranteed an equal opportunity to pursue whatever occupation they want, it does not matter that men and women on the whole still choose different vocations. Remaining injustices should be addressed by procedural liberalism, which has always brought the most solid progress. We should stop trying to reengineer the human soul to prevent boys from being boyish, while encouraging all forms of self-expression in girls. All that 30 years of behavioral conditioning has done is drive maleness underground and distort it by severing it from traditional sources of masculine restraint and civility. The gurus of sensitivity have tried to convince men to become open, fluid, nonhegemonic, and genderless beings who are unafraid to cry. But little boys still want to play war and shoot up the living room with plastic howitzers, and we can't give them all Ritalin. Psychologists have begun to express concern about our educational institutions' readiness to pathologize what once would have been regarded as boyish high spirits -- rough-housing, "hating" girls, locker-room language -- and to treat ordinary immaturity with powerful drugs...

Again, the point is to channel these energies into the development of character. Boys and young men still want to be heroes, and the way to educate them to treat girls and women with respect is to appeal to their heroism, not to try to blot it out. Look at those kids performing daring flips on their skateboards, or sailing on their Rollerblades into the heaviest downtown traffic like warriors contemptuous of danger. They are almost always males. Look at that squeegee kid with his shaved head and horsehair plume, decked out like some road-warrior Achilles. Walk into one of those high-voltage computer emporiums, selling our century's most potent icon for the extension of human mastery over the cosmos. Who are the salesmen? Almost always cocky young men, celebrities-in-waiting in dark suits and moussed hair, hooked on the sheer power of it all...

And what else would one expect, since so many of the families into which they were born ended in divorce? By denying and repressing their natural inclination to manliness, we run the risk of abandoning them to such infantile posturing...

Having failed to find an authority they can respect, someone to guide them from boyish impetuosity to a mature and manly vigor of judgment, they confuse authority with oppression. Still, cast adrift in a world without any limitations, they want there to be a price to pay for their hedonism. Since no one will lead them back to the great ethical and religious traditions that set these limits on the highest intellectual and spiritual level, they pierce their bodies in a crude simulacrum of traditional restraint. And, in that, they reveal not only the wondrous capacity of spirited young people to see through the aridity of the governing orthodoxies but also the potential for an ennobling transformation. It is precisely in a traditional understanding of manly pride and honor that we will find the only sure basis for respect between men and women. 

The best way of convincing young men to treat women with respect is to educate them in the traditional virtues, which make it a disgrace to treat anyone basely, dishonestly, or exploitatively. Moreover, the surest way of raising young men to treat young women as friends rather than as objects for sexual exploitation is to appeal to their natural longing to be honored and esteemed by the young women to whom they are attracted. When our erotic attraction to another is properly directed, it leads us to cultivate the virtues of moderation, honesty, gratitude, and compassion that make us worthy of love in the eyes of the beloved. We try to be virtuous because we want to be worthy of being loved."

Well, that's terrifying.

96% of women are liars, honest - The Scotsman: "Eighty-three per cent owned up to telling "big, life-changing lies", with 13 per cent saying they did so frequently. Half said that if they became pregnant by another man but wanted to stay with their partner, they would lie about the baby’s real father. Forty-two per cent would lie about contraception in order to get pregnant, no matter the wishes of their partner. And an alarming 31 per cent said they would not tell a future partner if they had a sexual disease: this rises to 65 per cent among single women."

Disrupting the narrative.

 Is 'Opting Out' The New American Dream For Working Women? - Forbes: "According to a new partnered survey cosponsored by ForbesWoman and TheBump.com, a growing number of women see staying home to raise children (while a partner provides financial support) to be the ideal circumstances of motherhood.  

Forget the corporate climb; these young mothers have another definition of success: setting work aside to stay home with the kids. For the third year running, ForbesWoman and TheBump.com surveyed 1,000 U.S. women in our joint communities (67% were working outside the home and 33% stayed at home with their children) about their employment decisions post-motherhood, and how their family finances and the economy affected those choices...

At a moment in history when the American conversation seems to be obsessed with bringing attention to women in the workplace (check out “The End of Men,” or Google “gender paygap” for a primer), it seems a remarkable chasm between what we’d like to see (more women in the corporate ranks) and what we’d like for ourselves (getting out of Dodge). But it’s true: according to our survey, 84% of working women told ForbesWoman and TheBump that staying home to raise children is a financial luxury they aspire to. What’s more, more than one in three resent their partner for not earning enough to make that dream a reality."

Brutal, but funny.

Disrupting the narrative is always funny.

LV survey finds stay-at-home mothers are more satisfied than other professions | Daily Mail Online: " stay-at-home mothers are happier than those who go out to work. The survey said that if staying at home with the children were counted as a job, it would rank as having happier workers than any other trade or profession. Only one in seven stay-at-home parents say they are dissatisified with their role, a level of unhappiness that is less than half that found among civil servants or salesmen and women."

If you exclusively won't date the same sex, you're a homophobe. Wait...

Tumblr logic.

Nope, you are crazy.

Very Stark.

Texts From The Avengers:

Just genetics, really.

Redpanels: the political webcomic: