Monday, September 29, 2014

Why is feminism not about equality?

Why is feminism not about equality?

First, imagine you get paid to eat a handful of candy from a bowl every month and 90% of those candies are poison.   You may not die from eating a single poisoned candy but it will at least reduce your lifespan by 10%.    Sound good so far?

You aren't allowed to refuse them.    If you don't eat them the government will throw you in jail or execute you.    

Now, imagine your neighbor is getting paid the same amount of money you get, but they don't have to eat any candy.   

Is that equality?

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Why online dating fails

I have used online dating sites and even run one for a while.  It seems everyone has bad experiences.  Why do so many people have bad luck with online dating sites?  The answer is simple.

Male Perspective

On average, for every 50 messages sent there's only one response.  The received responses are almost always from a model with an invitation to view their web cam or another site.  On a rare occasion, a female profile initiates communication which almost always an automated system or baiting.  (Baiting is trying to lure someone to another website with the promise of something.)  

Female Perspective

The ladies are flooded with messages containing penis pictures or one line messages with cheesy pick-up lines.  On average for her, every 50 messages received contains one response from someone reasonable.

Failure

The problem is on three fronts.   First, the site only cares about collecting fees and not making connections between people.  Many sites create fake profiles using pictures of models and change the location information on deleted accounts.   

Second, most good men will leave after a short period due to the lack of any real profiles and the expense of the site.  This leaves only the most aggressive males who have nothing better to do than send out 500 dick pictures and corny one-liners to random profiles per day. 

Third, most good women will leave after a short time due to receiving so many emails from jerks.  This leaves only the females who are there for some commercial interest such as web cams or pushing a different web site.

These three issues create an environment hostile to the normal people who come to the web site.   The business has no incentive to correct the problems while the money continues to roll in.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Ideologues


ideologues: (noun) An adherent of an ideology, especially one who is uncompromising and dogmatic.

I've had discussions on a wide range of topics and the only thing common is humans seem incredibly prone to the mindset of an ideologue.  Unfortunately, this is true in the current age of information where data is available to everyone.  It seems people are satisfied to repeat whatever their social group says and resist anything that contradicts those assertions.  I've lamented on this topic in several posts before. (See: Atheist and Beliefs, A political party)   I just didn't realize how deep this problem goes.

Solar Panel

Most people think that religion is the only dogmatic form of thought, but I've talked with people who became hostile when presented with facts about solar panels.   They couldn't handle that solar panels aren't economically feasible on a massive scale mainly due to a lack of technology for industrial power storage and the availability of the sun varies.  I argued that solar panels aren't the answer to getting off fossil fuels for reasons I've written in two articles. (See: Solar Myths. . .Again, Solar Mecca)  Why should facts be so offensive?    It's fine if you want to waste money putting panels on your home, but don't pretend that they are the solution to the energy problem.

Cannabis

Recently, I was talking with some people about cannabis.  They claimed that it should be legalized due to a wide range of benefits from smoking cannabis like curing cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV.  Sounds too good to be true?  They obviously had never researched the topic because when I asked for the basis of their claim they posted five links to news stories.  The titles appeared to support their claims, but they obviously didn't read the study referenced in the news story.  None of the studies supported their claims.  In this case, several of the links referenced studies that were against their position.  When I pointed this out, they tried to rationalize how I was still wrong.  All they had to do was read their own links.  They should have the courage to admit they wanted it to be legal because they liked getting high.  Honestly, I don't care if it is legal or not.  It wouldn't affect me either way because I wouldn't smoke it regardless of it's legal standing.   What I am against is unsupported claims especially claims that could cause harm to people like cannabis cures cancer and HIV.    There are some benefits in certain cases, but all of those benefits are available in synthetic pill form which makes the legalization of pot irrelevant.

Gun Control

Another common hot topic is that of gun control.  I have posted three separate times on this topic. (See: My opinion on guns, Propaganda on guns in Australia, and Assault Weapons Ban)  There are many books on the subject.   The most well known books are by John Lott titled "More Guns, Less crime" and "The bias against guns".  John Lott's work has been replicated over 25 times in peer reviewed literature.  It has never been refuted despite some unsourced claims by political websites.  I have never encountered a logical or reasoned argument against the private ownership of guns.

In fact, all my discussion on guns go like this:
  1. Owning buckets is legal 
  2. Putting water in your buckets is legal
  3. Sometimes people leave buckets full of water unsecured
  4. Some children drown in these buckets
  5. I support #1 and #2
  6. I hate children
In this example, I would support a ban on owning buckets if someone could show that banning buckets would save lives.    However, their proof goes like this.
  1. Country A has fewer Children downing in buckets than Country B
  2. Country A has low bucket ownership compared to Country B
  3. #1 must be the result of #2
This is a correlation equals causation argument and conflicts with the evidence we have available.  They ignore all the other types of drowning which could be a sign of neglect on the part of the bucket owner or the parent.   They are ignorant of the history of the laws toward buckets in country A.  It's possible they never owned a large amount of buckets or even had the right to do so.

The crime rates have been falling for decades despite gun ownership going up and the increasingly common CCW permits.    This simple look at crime statistics shows that the mere availability of guns doesn't increase crimes.   Otherwise, we should expect more crime as more guns are owned.

Religion

The oldest of dogmas is religion.   I have never written much outside of a few debates because there are many books covering this topic.  The bluntest of these books is "God is not Great" by the late Christopher Hitchens.  I think the strongest argument against Christianity is covered in books by Bart Ehrman which addresses the bible from historical perspective.   Of course, another of my favorite authors on this topic is John W. Loftus.     The best argument I've seen against religion was made by Mr. Loftus as quoted below.

"Let's consider the kind of evidence believers point to for us to believe.  Philosophical arguments don't count as evidence.  They are mostly special pleading since they don't lead to any specific religious sect.  What's left?  There is no empirical evidence since we weren't there to witness the resurrection for ourselves.  There is no first hand eyewitness testimony.  The textual evidence comes from the 4th century.  There is no prophetic evidence of a resurrected Messiah, while all the so-called OT prophecies are either not predictions at all or misapplied by the NT writers. And I'm supposed to accept Christianity? Really? Seriously?  When I say there isn't sufficient evidence to believe I mean just that.  It doesn't matter if the earliest disciples had sufficient evidence to believe.  We don't know that they did.  All we have is the so-called evidence above. The kicker is that the Jews of that day did not believe this so-called evidence, nearly 8 million of them, even though they believed in God, his ability to do miracles, OT prophecy, and were there. So tell me once again why any reasonable person should believe? It simply does not add up."

-John W. Loftus

Feminism

The most controversial topic I have researched by far is that of feminism.  I started from a neutral position and researched the claims made by feminist.  What I found was the worst dogmatic beliefs resistant to the slightest glimmer of light from logic and evidence.  I have never experienced more hatred than when I questioned the feminist position.   Apparently, I am supposed to merely accept it without question even when their ideas are toxic.

Feminist are the most violent ideologues I have every seen.  When Erin Pizzey challenged common (feminist) beliefs about domestic violence she was threatened and her dog was killed.   This violence is still seen today in their protest against any ideas threatening their dogma. 

The conclusion I have come too is feminism only cares about women and female supremacy.  Feminist often quote statistics that ignore men and assert that men are responsible for the women.  I have addressed the feminist narrative in a series of articles starting with What feminist don't want you to know: Introduction.

In the end

Maybe it's just the agenda they are pushing?  The politics they subscribe too?  They already have the answers and look for facts to support it while ignoring anything that doesn't agree.  This is nothing more than confirmation bias.  Now, I understand how creationist can think they are right.  They are no worse than a self proclaimed skeptic who comes to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.

My discussion usually follow the same pattern which is why I stopped trying to reason with these people.  They never provide sources for the basis of the opinion.  When asked, they do a quick Google search for relevant titles.   The links they post are normally news stories to politically leaning sites supporting their conclusion.  (The right is usually to Fox and the Left is to HuffPost) The have titles supporting their assertion, but sometimes the content contradicts their basis.   I end up wasting my time reading their links and pointing out the problems I find.   They are never willing to discuss the issues with their links.  They rationalize their position followed by name calling or switching the burden of proof to me by claiming they are right until I disprove their theory.

What evidence can you provide to someone who denies all evidence?  The answer is you don't.    You will never convince someone with dogmatic beliefs and it is best to simply avoid them.   At most, you may convince someone who is already sitting on the fence from their doubts.  No one can ever be reasoned or debated from a position they hold as absolute truth.  Debates are good to reach people who are undecided and attended the debate to gain additional information.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Solar Myths . . . again

Oklahoma recently made the news with stories like this.   Most of the left leaning news sources have picked up the story and misrepresented the facts around the law, technology, and science.  I have covered the science behind solar panels in detail in this post.    Do we have a massive corporate conspiracy by oil companies that has been hidden from the public for years and would involve both political parties?      The short answer is no.

Solar panels sound good on a bumper sticker but the technology just isn't there.  Everyone always talks about Germany, but their solar panels were installed on over 20 billion Euros of subsidies netting about 3% of their power needs.

There's no way to store
the extra power so individual homes aren't allowed to feed power back to the grid. The perfect solar panel could theoretically convert about 33% of the sun's energy into power. Our best panels do about 18% but that requires perfect angels, clear skies, and being geographically located on the equator. Germany has shut down most of their conventional power plants which means they have to buy their power from their neighbors when there isn't enough sun to fill the demand. This is especially true in the winter when they sun is hidden by clouds for months. This has made their average electric bill the second highest in the EU. They have restarted some of their old plants that use oil to fill the gaps. I guess modern people hate brown outs.

The best case would be to build the solar power plants in the desert where the sun isn't interrupted by weather and transmission lines to carry the power to the consumer. This would exclude the northern United States since the available solar energy decreases as you move north.  You would still have to keep existing plants running because you can't just throw a switch and instantly get power from a conventional power plant when the demand exceeds the available supply. So you would have to build twice the infrastructure and still produce the same amount of green house gases while the consumer pays for it all.

The bottom line is "alternative" energy sources aren't economically feasible due to technology constraints. This is mainly due to the lack of industrial batteries.  Germany is a beacon of failure but no one is willing to research it. Simply throwing money at it makes people feel good but in the end we are still digging the hole at the same speed and just poorer.

In the past, Oklahoma has been like most states paying subsidies (tax breaks) to people who install alternative energy sources. Where this ties into the news story is that if a large number of individuals are feeding power back to grid then they have to make infrastructure changes to handle it because our power system wasn't designed that way.   When more power is generated than used, the power has to be dumped because it can't be stored. (It's actually cheaper to just not feed the power to the grid) The utility companies can't pay for this extra cost out of pocket and they are limited on what they can charge consumers. (The power utilities are regulated in Oklahoma)  This leaves a few possibilities which are to charge everyone more for the electric or more government subsidies.   Either way, everyone pays the extra cost for a few people to feel good about them self. The most viable option is to tax those causing the problem.


The only way we will get off the oil dependency is to pour money into science and R&D.  Unfortunately, science has been subject to budget cuts for years.    In fact, every dollar wasted on installing "alternative" energy source would be better served to be spend on science.    We must develop an economical feasible technology to replace oil.   

Right now, the most promising science to help with global warming is to remove the CO2 from the air by chemical reactions or to collect it from the exhaust of conventional power plants.   So it's possible that solar will never replace oil.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

"Why do people laugh at creationist" Index

Thunderf00t has produced some amazing videos on creationist claims but lacks an index of the topic of each video.    This list will provide a short summary of each video.

  1. Video 1 - Covers the claim about the grand canyon being a result of Noah's flood and water found outside the Earth.   It also includes covers the shape of the Earth's orbit and habitable zone.
  2. Video 2 - This video talks about the creation of new elements from basic atoms and the moon eclipse.
  3. Video 3 - A video debunking Kent Hovind's theory of how Noah's flood was the result of a comet impact.
  4. Video 4 - Number 4 calculates how much water is needed to cover the Earth based on claims made by Kent Hovind.
  5. Video 5 - This debunks the assertion by Kent Hovind and the bible about a canopy of water/ice existing in the sky.
  6. Video 6 -The video addresses the claim by Kent Hovind that clouds can shield against radiation from the sun and the cause of aging.
  7. Video 7 -This explains the basis of evolution and inconsistencies in Kent Hovind's explanation of the lack of large animals in modern times.
  8. Video 8 - This video addresses the claims of creationist regarding the probability of evolution.
  9. Video 9 -A video talking about quote mining used by creationists and the argument by design.
  10. Video 10 - This video addresses the argument by creationist for the fine tuned values of forces of nature like gravity.
  11. Video 11 - Video number 11 debunks generic creationist claims regarding Noah's flood and soul deaths.
  12. Video 12 - In this episode, Kent Hovind confuses basic biological terms and concepts.  The primary focus is on reproduction and inheritance.
  13. Video 13 - In this video, the Discovery Institute demonstrate their ignorance of science by claims of design.    It touches on the court case on intelligent design.
  14. Video 14 - In this episode, creationist's common method of dishonesty by misquoting people. This dishonesty was particularly obvious in the dover vs kitzmiller trial where creationists simply lied in court.
  15. Video 15 - This addresses creationist claims of the Cambrian explosion.
  16. Video 16 - This video addresses some of the claims by creationist venomfangx regarding radioactive decay rates and radiometric dating.
  17. Video 17 - This covers the value of information and the discovery of science.
  18. Video 18 - The video addresses the issue of creationist censoring comments to prevent criticism and false flagging.
  19. Video 19 - This one explains micro evolution versus macro evolution compared to misconceptions by creationist.
  20. Video 20 - This episode addresses a creationist claim about the moon's orbit.
  21. Video 21 - It goes into the religious intolerance of critics and how religion has held us back.  How important free speech is.
  22. Video 22 -This addresses Ben Stein misinformation in his documentary about evolution.
  23. Video 23 -This video concentrates on bad information given by Ben Stein through interviews because of his new movie.
  24. Video 24 - This is a continuation of #23 regarding Ben Stein bad information focusing on his statement that 'science leads to killing people' and claims about the status of the US military.  
  25. Video 25 - In this episode creationists about abiogenesis being impossible and how toxic theism can be to our society.
  26. Video 26 - This focuses on how theism impacts politics through the example of Sarah Palin. 
  27. Video 27 - This goes after the various absurd claims of Venomfangx.
  28. Video 28 - This episode looks at claims by theist that the bible is the most scientifically accurate book.
  29. Video 29 - In this episode the origin of morality is addressed with respect to arguments of Ravi Zacharias
  30. Video 30 - This video follows Casey Luskins creationist claims after Intelligent Design lost in the landmark court case.
  31. Video 31 - This video follows Ray Comfort starting from his fumble with the origin of bananas and addressing some of him claims.
  32. Video 32 - Addressing Kent Hovind and Eric Hovind 'four questions' and attempt to contrast how science views the question with how their particular sect does.
  33. Video 33 -This episode covers conservapedia and the recycled creationist claims it contains with a focus on claims made by Nephilimfree and Shockofgod as being alternative theories to science.    This includes claims on how the moon got the craters.
  34. Video 34 - A deeper look at creationist Nephilimfree claims about Noahs flood which he claims flooded the Earth, caused the craters on the moon, and the comets.  Finally deposited the iridium in the imaginary 'K2' boundary.
  35. Video 35 - This looks into claims that because Newton was a smart Christian that Christianity must be true.
  36. Video 36 -Covering more claims from venomfangx claiming science is in the bible including sea currents, fish of the sea, washing your hands under running water, and the general fallacies of his arguments.
  37. Video 37 -This one unpacks the five points used by William Lane Craig to prove Christianity.
  38. Video 38 -This video details what would happen if the Earth stopped rotating or revolving based on the story of Joshua.   It also addresses biblical morality like the slaughter of children by the commandment of god.
  39. Video 39 -In revisiting Noah's flood, this discusses the volcano theory that explains that the animals on the ark got back via a massive volcano eruption that threw the animals in the general direction of their homeland.
  40. Video 40 - The creationist onceforgivennowfree says the question 'is your brain intelligently designed' is the new atheists nightmare.
  41. Video 41 - A high level overview of the debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye.  This video covers the evolution of dogs and observational science.
  42. Video 42 -  This addresses the end time claims primarily from Ray Comfort.    The evidence of the end times like a lunar eclipse and the existence of the ocean is proof of Noah's flood.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Wage Gap Myth

What feminist don't want you to know

The Myth

The "wage gap" is defined as women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same work.   This has been used by political campaigns [1] as well as by feminist.  The Equal Pay Act was signed into law in 1963 which makes discrimination based on gender illegal.   This claim has been addressed and debunked for the last 30 years.     In 1981 there was a debate between Thomas Sowell and Harriet Pilpel where Mrs. Pilpel claimed that employers discriminated against women and minorities.   In fact, when you control for age and experience blacks and women actually make more than their white coworkers. [2]

Census Data

This claim is based on a correlation equals causation analysis of data contained in a report done the Census Bureau in 2010.  [3]  The source report doesn't make the "wage gap" claim.   It compares the average and median incomes of all men and women without accounting for choices made by the individuals.  This comparison gives us the .77 cent (or 77%) difference between the genders.  It is not possible to determine the cause from the Census Bureau report because the data needed to make such a judgement was not included.   The proponents of the "wage gap" merely assert the cause without providing the evidence that it is true.  In fact, most people who claim the "wage gap" don't link to the source of the figure.  They simply link to a blog or a website making the unsourced claim.

Simply put, the claim is a misrepresentation of the Census Bureau statistics.  The larger implication of the "wage gap" is if everything were equal, then a doctor would earn the same as the janitor that cleans the office.  If janitors were paid the same as doctors then why would anyone bother with the years of school required to be a doctor?   It should be obvious to everyone that such an arrangement is not practical.

AAUW

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) did a study called  "Graduating to a pay gap" initially claims a gap of 82%, but buried in the report (page 20) they claim the gap is 93% after controlling for some of the variables.  [4]   The authors of the AAUW study have asserted the 7 cents was due to discrimination by gender without demonstrating it.   It's impossible for the AAUW study to make such an assessment because it didn't examine male and female workers in the same field.  Their job classifications were too generalized where comparisons are made of male lawyers with that of female librarians.    It's likely that the remaining 7% in their report was do to problems with their methodology.

Reality

A study done by the US Department of Labor in 2009 (CONSAD) showed any gap between genders "may be almost entirely the result of individual choices being made by both male and female workers."  [5]   The CONSAD report showed an unexplained gap of 4.8 to 7 cents.   The report didn't address the remaining 4.8 to 7 cents because they didn't have the necessary data to perform further evaluations.     

A Stanford study shows the wage gap to about 91% (favoring men) [6].    However, the author also notes the 9% could be explain by women typically work less hours at jobs with generous family policies. This means the any gap is explained by choices of the person.

Comparison

The only way to determine if wage discrimination exists is by comparing the genders in the same job with the same experience and work ethic.   If the gap existed then companies would save money by hiring women thus become more competitive.   If that were the case then unemployment rates for men would sky rocket as companies replaced their male workforce with females.

The difference in pay is a result of choices made by the person.   This is explained in detail by authors like Warren Farrell.  [7]   The biggest factor in pay difference is the choice of career and amount of hours worked.    Currently, only about 55% of women (75% men) are employed or participate in the work force. [8]    Women mostly choose careers involving interaction with people.  This is why women avoid careers in the science, engineering, and technology fields (STEM) where a person may spend hours crunching numbers or working with equipment.    The occupation women prefer has not changed significantly over time and is nearly identical to the 1950's.  [9]

Men more often choose careers that are dangerous or physically demanding thus paying more.  Men are the majority of all infrastructure jobs that keep civilization running like electrical engineers, waste operators, power line installers, etc.  [10] 

Equality

It seems more like the "wage gap" proponents are comparing all women against the top 1% of men while ignoring the top 1% of women.  If the goal is to achieve perfect equality then why are proponents only demanding equality in specific jobs such as corporate board rooms and STEM fields?  No one mentions quotas in highly dangerous jobs like mining and logging.  A push for equality would demand pushes for equal pay and quotas in jobs where men are the minority.   Men are often the minority in jobs such as nursing, day care, and teaching.  

A few men occupy the top 1% of our society and most women are found in the middle social classes.   "Wage gap" proponents simply ignore that men occupy most of the bottom of our society too.    Men are 92% of industrial accident deaths.  [11]    Men make up 97% of the military casualties [12] and 80% of all suicides. [13]  Men are given five times longer jail sentences when compared to women who commit the same crime. [14]     Finally, 76% of homeless people are male.  [15]

Topics

"What feminist don't want you to know"
Further Reading

Sources:
  1. http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/equal-pay#top 
  2. http://youtu.be/DUpgoayBPJc
  3. http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf
  4. http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/graduating-to-a-pay-gap-the-earnings-of-women-and-men-one-year-after-college-graduation.pdf 
  5. http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20Final%20Report.pdf
  6. http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/pdf/key_issues/gender_research.pdf
  7.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb_6v-JQ13Q&list=PLeQE9bYJdMi_HU07FmawDYPan9lGHHq3v
  8. http://economics.mit.edu/files/8754 
  9. http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/20lead2009.htm
  10. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0616.pdf 
  11. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0011.pdf
  12. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf 
  13. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6217a1.htm?s_cid=mm6217a1_w#tab1
  14. http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/sentencing
  15. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/who.html

Friday, April 4, 2014

The real difference between men and women

Parody of this article


Let's say a guy named Fred, after spending $200 buying drinks for women at the local bar approaches a woman named Martha and starts a friendly conversation.  He asks her out to a movie expecting another rejection but he is completely surprised that she accepts.  On the date, he pays for everything and she has a good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, the bill is placed next to him and she doesn't even glance at it.  Again they seem to have a good time. They continue to see each other regularly while he works extra overtime to pay for their dates.   He finally has a girlfriend just when his mom was starting to ask if he was gay.

And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Martha, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: "Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?"

And then, there is silence in the car.


Martha begins to ponder if his watch is really a Rollex or cheap imitation.    Obviously, it's a knock-off because he only have a 15% tip to the waitress.   I realize our waitress got the order wrong, but I'm sure she is a single mom supporting her children because of their dead-beat dad.

And Fred is thinking: She sounds upset.  Did I say something wrong? (His heart begins to race)

And Martha is thinking: I'm not sure I want a relationship with a man who can only afford a 3 star restaurant.  Do I really want to continue this level of intimacy with a guy who only drives a base model BMW?    It's probably rental since he didn't order desert.

And Fred is thinking: I'm sure she wants to break up now.   I can see it on her face.   What did I do wrong?   Maybe it the kiss on the cheek yesterday?     I'm probably going to fast for her.   She is out of my league.   I'm such a loser.

And Martha is thinking: I bet he lives in his mom's basement.   He's probably still a virgin.   My friend, Betty, found that cute doctor the same time I got with this creep and he buys her gifts all the time.   After six months, I get some lousy flowers and a cheap restaurant.  Why do I keep ending up with these losers?  I was probably too drunk to realize I gave my number to the janitor.   He probably slipped something in my drink.

And Fred is thinking: Maybe I'm just not giving enough attention?   I never should have gotten off the phone last night.   I had to get up at 4am for work, but I've gone without sleep for several days before.  These 60 hour work weeks are killing me and I fell asleep before I heard how things turned out for her friend with that fat guy.   Maybe she heard me snore?     If I skip the gym tonight then I could spend an extra hour with her.  I bet that's it.  I need to think of a way to make it up to her.
 
And Martha is thinking: I bet my cat has a bigger dick than he does.  Anyway, Bobby called me yesterday so I can dump this creep.

And Fred is thinking: If I pull a double shift tonight and come in on my day off then I should be able to afford a date at that expensive restaurant downtown.  

And Martha is thinking: I'm a fool!   Those are obviously second hand shoes!    I deserve to have a guy who will provide for me and not end up as trailer trash.  I'm a princess waiting for her knight on his white horse!     I guess you have to kiss a few toads. . .

And Fred is thinking: They won't turn the electricity off if I'm only late a couple of days.  I better get more energy drinks.

"Fred," Martha says aloud.

"Yes?" says Fred, startled.

"I had a great time tonight", she says with a thin lipped smile.

"Me too!  I thought you were mad at me" says Fred.

"Mad? No," Martha grins. "I think we are moving a little too fast."

"Did I do something wrong?" says Fred.

"No, it's me.  I'm just not ready for a serious relationship.   I've been hurt to many times in the past." Martha says.

"You know I would never hurt you," Fred says choking back tears.

"I know and you're a really sweet guy," Martha says.

(There is a 15-second pause while Fred, thinking as fast as he can, tries to come up with an idea to save the relationship.)

"I know I haven't been around much," he says. (Martha, deeply moved, touches his hand.)

"Oh Fred, It's not that, " she says. "Seriously, it's me."

"Did you not like the restaurant?  I was thinking we could try that place downtown this Friday." says Fred.

"No, the food was fine," says Martha. "I can't on Friday because I told Betty we would have a girl's night."

"Oh," says Fred.

"We can still be friends, Fred," she says.

"I'd like that," says Fred.

Then he takes her home, and she gets out without glancing back.  She sits on her couch and calls Betty.   She tells her that she finally broke it off with loser because he was really starting to creeping her out.  She ask Betty if the guy she has been seeing has some cute friends.

When Fred gets back to his place, he opens a beer trying to think of where he went wrong tonight.  A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind keeps telling him that he just ruined the first girlfriend he's had in almost a year and now he will probably be a loner for the rest of his life.   He's been working so much and spending all his free time with Martha that he hasn't talked to his friends in months.   He feels so alone and begins to cry.

The next day Martha calls a couple of her other friends, and they will talk about how Fred was a complete loser for six straight hours. In painstaking detail, they analyze how pathetic he is, going over it time and time again.  They will continue to discuss this subject, off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never getting bored with it.

Meanwhile, Fred, working another 12 hour shift quietly wipes the tears from his eyes so that no one notices.    He reminds himself, "Men don't cry", do they?

And that's the difference between men and women.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Poem: The Ghost

I see the pouting lips
now, just a fading memory
A train wreck that rips
through the happy scenery.

A ghost that haunts my blue window.

can't stop the rain
in this dark world
The deep cuts of pain
my mind forever soiled.

A ghost that haunts my blue window.

How do I move on
eye of the ocean
my bright shining sun
time frozen without motion.

Free, I must let you be
but always will wonder
a day, come back to me
till then, soul-mates asunder

The ghost haunts my blue windows.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Rape Culture Myth

What feminist don't want you to know

Rape Culture
 
The subject of rape is one that is difficult to discuss because of the lack of information about male victims and female perpetrators.  On the surface, it appears there are no male victims or female perpetrators.  You have to dig for information.  It's not enough to just look at statistics from the FBI without understanding what the numbers represent.   I've touched on this subject in a previous post but I will expand on it here.  [1]

Theory

One of feminist's favorite theories is "rape culture".  This is the concept that the rape of women (and only women) is allowed and sometimes encouraged/ignored by society.  They publicly demonstrate against it with "slut walks" [2] as well as claims of poor or unsourced statistics.  The "slut walks" are often the result of someone making a comment about how women should dress more moderately.  These comments are often due to religious beliefs but I see no reason cherry pick one stupid religious comment out of many.  What they call "victim blaming" is nothing more than a complaint against religious dogma.

The basic idea shared by the religious and feminist is that only men will rape with little provocation.   The solution to this imaginary problem is where they disagree.    The religious suggest women wear moderate clothing to show less skin because men wouldn't be able to control their urges.  Muslims take it a step farther and often require women wear clothing that covers everything.   Although a burka is extreme, it is still intended to protect women from men.  Many Muslim countries have female only parking close to the building and Saudi Arabia has proposed constructing a woman only city.   All in the name of protecting helpless females from the evils of men who can't control themselves.

Feminist claim these concepts are blaming the woman for the crime, but this is a misrepresentation of the religious position.   Ultimately, both are wrong because attackers look for people who appear vulnerable.  Their "Teach men not to rape" posters should be offensive to anyone with the slightest sense of morality.  This notion is just as absurd as "teach women not to throw babies in dumpsters" or "teach Jews not to cheat".  Should we believe that men (and only men) have an innate desire to rape that must be resisted on a constant basis?  How many women have your brothers and fathers nearly raped today? When they see a beautiful woman do they think of raping her?  I would suspect rape has never entered their minds.  Everyone should be outraged at these feminist for suggesting that men need to be taught not to rape.

Rape is one of the worst crimes. The woman is nearly always believed and the allegation alone can destroy a life even when it's false. Being accused of rape is often enough for vigilante justice and rapist are despised in prison.  49 states (Arizona is the only state that doesn't) even have "rape shield" laws that prevent the accuser's past from being considered as evidence, among other things, even when it's a past littered with false allegations.  An accuser can even report anonymously therefor not be known to the accused and prosecution.  How can you make a legal defense against that?


Look at cases where males are the rape victim if you want to see cases where a victim was blamed for the crime committed against them.  Males who are raped by females are often said to have "wanted it" or "lucky".  In many cases of statutory rape, male victims are often forced to pay child support which has been supported by case law. [3,49]  This has happened in several states including California, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, and Colorado.   Statutory rape is where two people have consented to sex, but one is under the age of legal consent.  The age of consent varies depending on the jurisdiction and is usually referred to as statutory rape.  If one of the participants is unable to give legal consent then the sex is considered a crime by law.  This type of rape is vastly different from someone forcing another to sex against their will.

The age of consent is a common place to find double standards.  Feminist hold up a single case where a female victim (statutory rape) sued to stop a visitation court case. [4]   There's even a meme on social media about it stating "31 states allow a rapist to sue for visitation".   The meme is completely false in the 31 states don't specifically forbid it, but this isn't the same as allowing it.  I'm certain no judge would award custody to a convicted (or even accused) male rapist.  In most places, registered sex offenders aren't allowed near children.  The information feminist left out of the referenced case is the male was ordered to pay child support and sued for visitation so the child support would be dropped.  What is unique about the case is the male was order to pay child support, not restitution for his crime.   Otherwise, there has not been a single case that I could find where a male rapist was awarded visitation.   However, I have already referenced a case above where a female rapist was awarded full custody and child support from her victim.

The only difference between a female and male victim is the courts decided a male consents to sex even though he wasn't legally able too. [3]  Why isn't someone talking about the double standard?  This hypocrisy even applies when an older female rapes (statutory) a younger female.  [5]   Image the headlines if it had been an 18 year old male instead of a pretty lesbian?  Would he have gotten community service?

The FBI's Role

The FBI definition of rape excluded all male victims until 2012. [6]   Obviously, rape has always been a crime regardless of gender.  The importance here is an exclusion in the definition affects how statistics are collected.  The statistics are used to influence public policy and law.  It was updated to include male victims but the new definition requires that a person be penetrated by genital, object, or oral.  This excludes cases where a women raped the man by forcing him to penetrate her.    For example, when a female teacher is convicted of rape of students or when the male was drugged.   Prior to 2012, male victims were recorded as aggravated assault which would exaggerate assaults but deflate rape statistics. [7]  The new definition is an improvement but it will still skew the statistics by excluding a large number of crimes.  I suspect in the future someone will claim that rapes have recently dramatically increased as a result of the change in definition.

The new definition also includes a vague notion where a woman was under the influence of alcohol.    No one is saying that a woman can't be raped while drunk, but it allows women to claim being raped simply because they were drunk.   In feminist dogma, a drunk woman having sex is a victim and a drunk man is a rapist.   A "coyote ugly" moment is not rape simply because a person regrets their choices on the previous night.     This would be like saying women can't be guilty of DUI because she wasn't able to make the choice to drive.   The new definition allows the statistics to under represent male victims and over represent female ones.

College

The definition of rape is getting vague on the college level.    Under the Obama Administration's Russlyn Ali, head of the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, issued a letter on April 4, 2011 to universities under Title IX to force them to consider sexual assault on "preponderance of the evidence".  [8]   Sexual assault is a crime that includes other behaviors besides rape.   Grabbing someone's butt without consent is sexual assault.

This new requirement is enforced by putting federal money on the line if the university refuses to implement the standard.  An accused male in college will be considered guilty on the mere basis of being accused.   While this doesn't translate directly into a criminal conviction, it will end his education and brand him a rapist for life.  These men are being accused of one of the worst crimes without being able to defend themselves.  The letter was voluntary and not all colleges adopted the new rules so congress passed an amendment in the SaVE act to force all universities to enact this new standard of evidence. [9]    This has resulted in colleges expelling male students at record rates for fear of a title IX lawsuit.   Some colleges like Occidental College have been abusing civil rights for some time.  In 2009, they created an anonymous rape reporting system on their website.   The target is called into office and accused of rape.   The identity of the alleged victim is not known to the accused or the persecutor.  Under the new standard of evidence, the accused is guilty.

Look at the case in January 2010 at the University of North Dakota for student Caleb Warner.   He was accused of sexual assault and found guilty by the university.   He was suspended and banned from the school grounds for three years.    The police investigated and refused to charge Caleb, but they charged his accuser with filing a false report.    She fled the area when a warrant was issued for her arrest.    He made several attempts to get the university to reconsider which were all denied.  It was only after a year and a half and the intervention of TheFire.org that his case was reopened.

Military

This feminist idea of rape is now implemented in the US military thanks to the Obama administration.   Now, a man's military career will be ended by no more than the accusation by a woman.   He has no right to defend himself and no due process.    This judgement bypasses the judge and can't be appealed. [10]  This action was taken as a response of a deeply flawed survey. [11]  The survey was a self-selected survey based on self reporting.  This means the data wasn't taken from random participants and there's no way to verify the allegations.  The vague wording of the survey further compromises the data because it asked about "unwanted sexual contact" which doesn't directly translate into the serious crimes of rape or sexual assault.  The data is completely unreliable and the Pentagon used it to extrapolate the sexual assault across all branches.  The survey also reported that nearly everyone (90%) understands the criminal code and how to report offenses. The reporting methods also include anonymous reporting options.  With that in mind, there was only about 3,000 incidents reported in the same time period as the survey.

These ideas discriminate against men and are dangerous.  They are being made into policy and law while no one seems to bat an eye even though these stories were published in the media.


Crime Statistics

What are the actual crime statistics?     According to the FBI's UCR, the rate of rape crimes in 2012 was .27 per 100,000.  Keep in mind, this number only includes female victims because of the definition of rape used by the FBI.  [12]   If you calculate the rate it is roughly 1 in 1,256 women were victims of rape in 2012. [13]  This number is high because the FBI includes reported crimes and not all alleged crimes are true for various reasons.  The number also doesn't mean if you had 1,256 women in a room that one would be a victim of rape.    It means the chance a woman has during her lifetime of being raped is roughly 1 in 1,256 in any given year.

False Allegations

The innocence project and studies have shown that at least 25% of DNA tested cases proved the rape convictions were wrong but the men still serve an average of seven years in prison for the crime.  In addition, another 25% of the test were inconclusive.  [14]   This could mean that up to half of the men with rape convictions in prison are innocent.  There are many legitimate scientific studies that show 50% of rape allegations are false and it maybe as high as 70% [15,16].  Feminist claim only 2% of the rape accusations are false.    The only source for the 2% number is the book "Against Our Will" written by a feminist who thinks all forms of heterosexual sex is rape.  The book gives no source and appears it was completely made up by author.   Despite this fact, it has shown up in legislation like "VAWA" and nearly every speech given by the Obama administration on the topic.

Women are rarely charged when making a false accusation even though filing false police reports is a crime.  Feminist will even argue that punishing false accusers will somehow make real victims reluctant to come forward.  Even accusers in national stories like the Duke lacrosse case were never charged for making the false allegation.   The only person who paid for the false report in the Duke Lacrosse case was the male prosecutor. [17]

Another interesting phenomenon is that of transference.    I am referring to where a patient transfers events in their life onto another person.  The accused are professionally devastated and are guilty until proven innocent.  [18]

When a man is accused of rape their life is usually destroyed and often the victim of vigilante mob justice. [19]    A false allegation is a serious problem and those who abuse the system should be punished.

False Statistics

People often claim that statistics can be found to justify any position in order rationalize their position.    However, facts don't lie but people do.     Most people will blindly accept a bumper sticker bit of information by confirmation bias.  The argument is not just about which numbers are correct because it is easy to determine what is true when you look at the source of the data.

RAINN

Websites like RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest Nation Network) use statistics from the NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey) which are much higher than actual crime rates.  While RAINN performs many other services, I am only going to address their use of statistics.

The NCVS is a phone survey that measures the perception of people and can't be translated to actual crimes.  [20]  The survey has about 1,000 people who self report a crime.   There's no way of knowing if a crime was actually committed in any of these reported incidents.  An interesting fact about the NCVS data is that it shows male victims report the incident to police only 10% of the time (compared to 60% of females).  The data excludes female/male and female/female crimes.  Obviously, this data doesn't accurately represent crimes in the USA.  If anything, it represent the perception people have of crimes in the USA.  RAINN's website uses the NCVS to show a statistic of 1 in 77 which is about 15 times higher than the actual crime rate.

Another common claim originated by RAINN is only 3% of rapist serve any time in jail.  RAINN has never revealed how they calculated this statistic other than stating it was based on the NCVS and FBI statistics.  The FBI nor NCVS have statistics related to conviction rates and the type of comparison makes several assumptions of the data.
  1. All crimes reported to the police are true.  The FBI statistics show alleged crimes reported to police but doesn't track if the accused was found guilty of those crimes.
  2. All crimes not reported to the police are true.  The NCVS statistics show crimes claimed to have occurred by participants in the survey.    As previously noted, the NCVS numbers are much higher than the actual crime rate which indicates most of the alleged crimes are not reported to police.
  3. All criminals in jail are guilty.   The FBI and NCVS do not keep statistics on the guilt or innocence of the accused.
  4. All criminals in jail only committed one crime.   The FBI statistics counts the instances the crime was reported when most likely a single person committed multiple accounts.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics routinely performs analysis on conviction rates (even comparing them to other countries).   In fact, their data shows a conviction rate of about 80% for rape which are much higher than those for murder.  [21]  It's not 100% but keep in mind that the accusation of a crime is not the same as being guilty of that crime.  The high rate of false allegations means that the 80% conviction rate probably includes a lot of innocent people serving time for a crime they didn't commit.

Even though I have been critical of RAINN's representation of statistics, they have publicly come out against feminist claims of "rape culture".  They urge the White House to take meaningful measures to correct the problem.  RAINN's letter can be found on their website here.

Mary Koss

The feminist claim of 1 in 3 female college students are victim of sexual assault is also misleading and over 400 times higher than the actual crime rate.  The claim is rooted in the "Sexual Experience Survey" (SES) developed by Mary Koss in 1982. [22]   The self reported survey is a perception measurement (like the NCVS) of sexual aggression of male offenders on female victims (Notice it's one way?) and can not be directly translated into crimes or trends.   This survey was published in a peer reviewed journal.  [23]   This survey was later picked up by Ms. Magazine and misrepresented as an actual crime rate. [24]   The Koss survey inflated the numbers by included women as rape victims even when 73% didn't consider themselves rape victims. [25]   The survey questions blur the line between consent and "didn't want too".  A person may say they "didn't want to have sex" for various reasons but if they gave consent despite their reservations then they were not raped by any legal definition.  The survey also mentions coercion by drinking/drugs but doesn't specify how much or what.  When alcohol was involved was the person legally drunk or blacked out?   What kind of drugs were used and were they taken willingly?  The Koss survey, like the NCVS, excludes male victims who were not penetrated by another male.   The Koss survey has some major weaknesses and some have been addressed in later papers. [26,27,28]

The results of the Koss survey should be questioned because her findings are far outside of actual crime statistics and other surveys like the NCVS.  In fact, unbiased studies consistently show that sexual assaults on campus are rare. [29]   The Koss results are so much higher that they should be counted as an extraordinary claim, but one has to be willing to look at how the data was collected and analyzed to determine why the results were significantly higher.
 
Who are the rapist?

Feminist and the religious are trying to tell us that men are so terrible that they will rape a woman with little provocation.     Experts like David Lisak, have shown through studies that 90%+ of rapes are committed by serial rapist with an average of six victims before they are caught.  These studies also show that the majority of rape crimes are committed by about 4% of male population and nearly all of them go to jail. [30,31,32]    The sad part is even valid studies rarely address male victims, female perpetrators, or imply that only men lie about crimes.

There have been some research highlighting how under studied female perpetrators are. [33]  An overwhelming 94% of male youth in correctional facilities report being sexually abused by the minority (42%) female staff. [34]   Even if the inmate was willing in some capacity, an inmate can not give legal consent to sex.  The reason for this should be obvious to everyone because first most the victims in this report are under age and the staff have power over them.  An inmate may only give consent to a staff member due to fear that they may retaliate with their power.   Feminist like Adele Mercier, claims the males weren't raped (by the women) because they must have wanted it or he seduced the staff.  [35]

Any female can be a predator and it is common in our schools even though they get less media attention than males. [36]

Who are the victims?

What little information we have comes from independent studies that have largely been ignored.  Studies that look at both genders show that males and females are equal in rape victimization up until the male reaches puberty where females take a slight lead.     They also show that male reporting goes down which could explain the difference in reporting.  Studies show that a majority of male rapist are often repeat offenders who are the victims of rape by females in their childhood.  [37]

A study looking at victims in war, the genders are nearly equal in rape victimization if not more so for men. [38, 39]   The difference for men is there's no assistance available and they are shunned or killed if they come forward especially in countries where homosexuality is illegal.  The number of male rape victims in prison are far higher than the number female victims in society. [40, 41]    A college study showed that 51% of the male students were victims of sexual assaults. [42]  A CDC study, that Mary Koss consulted on, showed victimization rates of males and female is roughly equal and at least 45% of male victims were raped by females.  The CDC report calls male rape "made to penetrate" and tries to rationalize how men can't be raped.  [43]    Another CDC study showed that 16% of males (25% females) were sexually abused before the age of 18 and 40% of the males were victimized by females. [44]

Men are significantly less likely to report being raped. [45]   Even in cases where the sexual abuse was documented by agencies like government social services only 16% of men (64% women) considered themselves to be victims of sexual abuse. [46]

Sex Trafficking

 One of the most over looked areas in sexual crimes is that of sex trafficking.  This is most often shown as a women only crime, but in fact it impacts boys just as much as girls.    For example, a study in 2008 in New York found that most of the sex trafficking victims were male (54%).   There was even a bias in that both male and female victims were more likely to recruit other boys when they participated in recruiting. [47]

Males are rarely identified as prostitutes or rescued despite males being the majority of sex trafficking victims.  They are usually only arrested for petty crimes.  Males aren't seen as possible victims and those that are have little help available to them.    In fact, only 4 of the 25 shelters provided any services to male victims. [48]

Summary

This post is not about claiming who is the bigger victim but merely to show how the world really is.  Rape is simply not a gendered crime as feminist would have us believe and it is committed by men and women against both men and women.  Like most crimes, men are the victim of rape more often than women. [39]   What this information tells us is the claims made by feminist are completely false and we need a gender neutral approach to rape and research.

Topics

"What feminist don't want you to know"

Sources:

I would like to give special thanks to the people at Exposing Feminism for their assistance with the research.
  1.  http://theatheistmerphie.blogspot.com/2012/09/rape-crime-against-men.html
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk
  3. http://www.lawlink.com/research/caselevel3/74059
  4. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mass-mother-toddler-files-federal-suit-deny-visitation-rights-statutory-rapist-article-1.1437486
  5. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kaitlyn-hunt-plead-teen-sex-case-article-1.1475135
  6. http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/attorney-general-eric-holder-announces-revisions-to-the-uniform-crime-reports-definition-of-rape
  7.  http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/violent-crime/forcible-rape
  8.  http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.html
  9. http://beta.congress.gov/bill/112th/house-bill/2016
  10.  http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/12/27/3104851/president-obama-sexual-assault-military/ 
  11.  http://nypost.com/2013/05/31/military-sexual-assaults-bogus-epidemic/ 
  12. http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/State/TrendsInOneVar.cfm
  13.  http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv09.pdf 
  14.  https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/dnaevid.txt
  15.  https://archive.org/details/FalseRapeAllegations
  16.  http://www.falserape.net/falserapeafa.htm
  17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_lacrosse_case
  18. http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume7/j7_1_4.htm
  19. http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2011/03/philadelphia-sanctions-vigilante.html
  20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Crime_Victimization_Survey  
  21. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cnscj.pdf
  22. http://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/ses-sfv.doc
  23. http://www.soci270.carvajal.ca/documents/KossTheScopeofRape.pdf
  24. http://www.womensmediacenter.com/feature/entry/date-rape-revisited
  25.  http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/13/magazine/date-rape-s-other-victim.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
  26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9661726
  27. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10160235
  28. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16399925
  29. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf
  30. http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/montana_state_university/article_6dfc2c92-03a8-11e3-8f7c-0019bb2963f4.html  
  31. Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists by David Lisak and Paul M. Miller, published in Violence and Victims, Vol 17, No. 1, 2002 (Lisak & Miller 2002) 
  32. Reports of Rape Reperpetration by Newly Enlisted Male Navy Personnel by Stephanie K. McWhorter, et al., published in Violence and Victims, Vol, 24, No. 2, 2009
  33. http://www.palgrave-journals.com/cpcs/journal/v14/n3/abs/cpcs20125a.html 
  34. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svjfry09.pdf
  35. http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/professor-adele-mercier-it-wasnt-rape-he-was-asking-for-it-queensjournal/
  36. http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/39783/
  37. http://www.canadiancrc.com/PDFs/The_Invisible_Boy_Report.pdf 
  38.  http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men 
  39. Stemple, Lara (2009). "Male Rape and Human Rights". Hastings Law Journal 3 (60): 605
  40. http://tpj.sagepub.com/content/69/2/39.extract 
  41. http://www.loompanics.com/Articles/RapeInPrison.html
  42. http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/men-13-3-243.pdf
  43. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf
  44. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15894146?dopt=Abstract
  45. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9125368
  46.  https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=166614
  47. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/225083.pdf 
  48. https://d1qkyo3pi1c9bx.cloudfront.net/00028B1B-B0DB-4FCD-A991-219527535DAB/1b1293ef-1524-4f2c-b148-91db11379d11.pdf 
  49. http://law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/1993/67-978-3.html

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Feminist Ideology

What feminist don't want you to know

Ideology

Feminist seem unable to make a logical and reasonable argument for their position and they abuse copyright claims and site flag features to censor ideas online.  Their ad hominem [1] attacks are usually confined to a few words or phrases like rape apologist, misogyny, woman-hater, and sexist.  Usually this is their sole attempt at an argument or a method to end the discussion.   I have yet to find a feminist who can make a fact based argument with logic and reason based on evidence.

Their efforts are not limited to online venues.  Feminist have torn down posters about equality at a construction site in Canada. [2]   The sole issue with the posters was not the message but simply the ideology of feminism was being attacked. 

Feminist protested a conference held by the organization CAFE [3] covering issues facing men today.  [4]   After verbally assaulting several people at the conference, the feminist also blocked the entrance and the police had to be called.      During the lecture, they pulled the fire alarm to force the end of the meeting. [5]  I would urge anyone to look at CAFE's website and find a single sentence that is hateful of anyone.

A lecture [6] by Warren Farrell [7] was violently protested by feminist where he was discussing how men today are in crisis.  [8]    Mr. Farrell has been anti-feminism at times but nothing in his speech or books are anti-woman.  His lectures focus on issues facing men in our society.

After all, belief systems or ideologies like feminism are not allowed to be criticized.  Why would any reasonable person be against a discussion of issue facing men?

Right to Vote

The first claim about feminist working toward equality is usually a bumper sticker statement about a women's right to vote.  This claim is revisionist history because the right to vote for women wasn't done by feminist nor was it about equality.  The story of the right to vote is complicated and can't be explained by a simple statement.   The right to vote was only given to citizens and every state had a different definition of what a citizen was.  Most of the states didn't directly restrict a woman's right to vote and more than half the states allowed women to vote prior to the 19th amendment. [9]   The 19th amendment streamlined voting laws across all the states.  The majority of states coupled the vote with owning property and nothing prevented women from owning property.  Some restrictions were in place where property owned by a woman were under the control of the man if she were married.   When laws like this existed there were balances called covertures in place to protect the woman from abuse of the law by the man. [10]

The right to vote was different for each state and nearly all had some restrictions based on race, wealth, or religion. These laws were more about restricting the right to vote to the rich or the majority.  While the laws restricted a woman's ability to vote, it also prevented most men from voting too.

Many women at the time were against getting the vote because one of the conditions of being a citizen was conscription.  This was obvious by the "white feather campaign" and the suffragettes who helped enforced the male obligation by shaming men into serving the military. [11]  The suffragettes took time out of campaigning for the right to vote by giving a white feather to any male who was not in uniform.   This was to publicly label them a coward.    Children were often targeted by these women as well.  This method was so effective that wounded servicemen were given special silver badges to prevent them from being targeted by the white feather campaign.    This was only done after large numbers of veterans committed suicide after receiving a white feather thinking they cowards for not dying on the battlefield.

The supreme court ruled in 1918 that a citizen had to serve when called as a part of being a citizen.     There were few exceptions and were for religious groups like the Amish, Mennonites, and Quakers.  Men who refused service were sentenced to death or life in prison with hard labor.  The last execution for refusing service took place as late as 1917.    The draft applied to all men on average of 18 or older while most of those men forced to serve in the military did not have the ability to vote just on age alone.   The minimum draft age changed depending on the needs of the military.    However there were plenty of discussions of what the minimum should be.    In 1951 the assistant Secretary of Defense, Mrs Anna Rosenberg, proposed that the age be lowered to 18 from 19 because potential enemies like China draft at 16.  [12]

Most of the suffragettes were talking about rights for the middle class women and often ignored the lower class working women.  The women's suffrage movement didn't have much support among women.  In 1913, polls showed that the majority of women opposed it.  (85%) [13]   This anti-suffrage sentiment among women continued in 1915. [14]   It seems odd that in a span of 4 years public opinion would change from an overwhelming majority opposed to women's suffrage to a slight majority supporting it.     A possible motivation for this change was racism since many of the women leaders in the suffragettes expressed this sentiment:

"You have put the ballot in the hands of your black men, thus making them political superiors of white women. Never before in the history of the world have men made former slaves the political masters of their former mistresses"




Anna Howard Shaw, 1847-1919 (Physician, Methodist minister, president of the National Woman Suffrage Association.)
 
"The enfranchisement of women would insure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained, for upon unquestioned authority it is stated that in every southern State but one there are more educated women than all the illiterate voters, white and black, native and foreign, combined. As you probably know, of all the women in the South who can read and write, ten out of every eleven are white. When it comes to the proportion of property between the races, that of the white outweighs that of the black immeasurably"


Belle Kearney, 1863-1939 (Orator, novelist, Mississippi state senator) 

"What will we and our daughters suffer if these degraded black men are allowed to have the rights that would make them even worse than our Saxon fathers"
 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815-1902 (Social activist, abolitionist, author)
 
"The white men, reinforced by the educated white women, could ‘snow under’ the Negro vote in every State, and the white race would maintain its supremacy without corrupting or intimidating the Negroes"




Laura Clay, 1849-1940 (Founder of Kentucky’s first suffrage group)
 
"Alien illiterates rule our cities today; the saloon is their palace, and the toddy stick their scepter. The colored race multiplies like the locusts of Egypt".



Frances Willard, 1839-1898 (Feminist lecturer, founder of the National Council of Women, anti-child abuse activist)
 
"White supremacy will be strengthened, not weakened, by women's suffrage".



Carrie Chapman Catt, 1859-1947 (Founder of the League of Women Voters) 
 
"I do not want to see a negro man walk to the polls and vote on who should handle my tax money, while I myself cannot vote at all, When there is not enough religion in the pulpit to organize a crusade against sin; nor justice in the court house to promptly punish crime; nor manhood enough in the nation to put a sheltering arm about innocence and virtue—-if it needs lynching to protect woman’s dearest possession from the ravening human beast so then I say lynch, a thousand times a week if necessary".


Rebecca Ann Latimer Felton, 1835-1930 (First woman to serve in the Senate)

In 1919, women were given the vote but never the obligation of service which men weren't allowed to refuse.  Men had to wait another 50 years before the draft was ended in 1970.  Men paid for the right to vote with blood while women got it for having a vagina.  Women are the only group who received the right to vote by asking for it and without bloodshed.  Even in the military today, men over 97% of all war casualties [15] and all men are still required to register for the draft which is now called "selective service".  According to the selective service website, those who don't register by the age of 26 will be disqualified for federal student loans, jobs, and job training.     They could also face five years in jail and/or a fine of $25,000.    Male immigrants who become a citizen before they are 26 are required to register to obtain citizenship.   On top of federal penalties, nearly every state their own penalties including denial of a driver's license.     Women are still completely except from the draft.

For more information on the suffrage I would recommend reading books on the anti-suffrage movement.   One book is titled "No Votes for Women" and it is available on Amazon.

What women want

For about the last 40 years women have been the majority of voters at the polls.  [16]   This majority is why most politicians pander to the women demographic during elections.    The fact is that women are a major influence in elections and they don't want to be drafted.

In an poll in 1957, more females than males thought the draft was needed and only 4% of the females thought women should be drafted compared to 40% of the males.  [17]

The Carter Administration wanted to make the draft gender neutral and in 1980 another poll showed that a majority of women thought the draft was needed but the majority of women also didn't want to be drafted.  This contrast with the majority of men who wanted women to be drafted too.  [18]   These opinions were nearly identical a year later in another poll.  [19]   

A poll in 2013 shows that opinions on the draft remain nearly unchanged today.     In the poll, 59% of men supported females being drafter while a majority of the woman (48%) opposed it. [20]

The majority of men (59%) in 1980 supported the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).   The major opposition to the ERA was the fact it would required women be subject to the draft because exemptions based on gender would be unconstitutional.  The opposition mainly came from conservatives in the southern states.  [21]

In 1981, congresswoman, Clare Boothe Luce, pushed for the draft to be made equal across race and class without any college exceptions because our military should represent all Americans.   Her ideas of being equal excluded women who would remain exempt from the draft.  [22]

The military in the United States has been opening up to females over the last decades and females still only make up 14% of the personell.  [23]   Israel probably has the most integrated military and actively drafts females.   Despite the draft, females only make up 3% of the combat forces and are given exemptions that are not available to their male peers.


Topics

"What feminist don't want you to know"

Sources: (Revision 2)


I would like to give special thanks to the people at Exposing Feminism for their assistance with the research.   The credit for the Suffragettes quotes goes to Kristal Garcia (@KristalDGarcia)
  1. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
  2. http://youtu.be/3Jz63_lGuSE
  3.  http://equalitycanada.com
  4.  http://youtu.be/M2KPeMcYsuc 
  5.  http://youtu.be/AY3dI3tpjrw
  6. http://youtu.be/P6w1S8yrFz4
  7.  http://www.warrenfarrell.org/
  8.  http://youtu.be/iARHCxAMAO0 
  9. http://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw08_12159.html  
  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverture
  11. http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/white-feathers-stories-of-courage-cowardice-and-recruitment-at-the-start-of-the-great-war/ 
  12. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2229&dat=19510204&id=EkVAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7v8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1454,3043993
  13. The Tribune Republican, 11/14/1913; Page 16: http://www.scribd.com/doc/208179458/85-Percent-of-the-Women-in-Tue-US-Either-Opposed-or-Were-Indifferent-to-Womens-Suffrage-1913
  14. San Francisco Chronicle, 10/21/1915, http://www.scribd.com/doc/208352464/Majority-of-Women-on-East-Coast-Opposed-Their-Own-Right-to-Vote-in-1915
  15. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf 
  16. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2012/11/08/exit-polls-the-gender-gap/ 
  17. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19570207&id=WfxXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6PYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7082,1347485 
  18. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19800202&id=U6ROAAAAIBAJ&sjid=z_oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6934,323561
  19. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19810721&id=WKofAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iNYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=906,3278142
  20. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/listen-ladies-uncle-sam-might-want-you-too
  21. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19800131&id=ztJWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c0INAAAAIBAJ&pg=1116,4335416
  22. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19810309&id=94ZQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DhIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6761,1408605
  23. http://www.statisticbrain.com/women-in-the-military-statistics/ 
  24. http://www.idf.il/1086-14000-EN/Dover.aspx