The Attraction Of Sexist Men

Do women find sexist men attractive? According to this article in Psychology Today, yes.

research suggests that women do in fact find sexist men attractive.

Although I am often sceptical of social science research, this does seem correct to me. I have seen it quite a bit. And how else do you explain Trump's support among women?  

As the article states a lot of research suggests the reason has an evolutionary basis.

They suggest that female interest in sexist men, specifically men who display “benevolent sexism,” may be seen by women as being more an interest in men investing resources in a woman.

Despite aspects of benevolent sexism appearing chivalrous and romantic, previous research has found that women who endorse these beliefs often demonstrate approval of restrictions on women’s freedoms, independence, and autonomy, and may impact women’s support for gender egalitarianism.

Being a good guy is hard. 

Women Talking Like Men Used Too

I've recently noticed women talking a lot like the stereotypical 1950s sexist male. Just in reverse.

On one example a friend of mine stated she was going to two physical therapists. When asked, "Why two?" she replied that for one Medicare paid for it and, more importantly, both were really cute young guys. Imagine if a man stated the same about going to two cute female physical therapists.

On another occasion, a woman  I know in her early 60 went on a kayak tour and, because she did not have a partner, was placed in a kayak with one of the guides. She spent a considerable amount of time telling a group of us, of which I was the only male, how wonderful it was because he was built! 

In both of the examples above, the women are educated and had good careers. Both are also very much feminists and quick to point out sexism in society. At least sexism on the part of males. 

I would feel uncomfortable talking like my friends did even to a bunch of men so it seems really strange to me to hear women talk that way. I wonder if they ever realize they are behaving just like the men they so often criticize?

Just A Reprimand?

The reality of our legal system is often surreal. 

In 1990, S.C. Rep. “Tee” Ferguson took a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, while Ferguson ran for an open judicial seat in South Carolina. A month later, Ferguson was elected without opposition.

He then took another bribe and then was sworn in as a judge. 

Later, after his conviction for corruption as well as pleading guilty to to three counts of possessing cocaine, he was sentenced to prison. 

More than a year after that the state Supreme Court issued a public reprimand. 

A public reprimand. He wasn't even disbarred. 

U.S. Attorney John Barton said of Ferguson: “How such a corrupt drug abuser got elected to the Legislature to begin with is beyond my comprehension. And then to have risen in the esteem of his peers to the point where he got elected to circuit court judge speaks sadly many volumes about the way government was conducted in South Carolina.”

Barton also said he had evidence that Ferguson intended to take bribes as a judge.

Again, the legal system determined his crimes only meritted a reprimand. What is wrong with our legal system? 

Music/Movie Piracy And Gaming

In Indonesia at least, women pirate more music and movies than men. Which is interesting just because it  is counter to gender expectations. 

"women are more likely to pirate than men in Indonesia. This is true for all content categories, except for software,"

This is similar to the fact that women make up about half, or a bit more than half if you include mobile, of computer gamers. I suspect many if not most assume the opposite. 

Attorney Bills

Extending last weeks discussion - Do lawyers pad their bills? Many do. 

"Fraudulent billing is a common practice in many large law firms."

I suspect the most common way is by overstating their work. In the linked article, when a small educational foundation called up a law firm with a simple question they were billed $885 for a one minute phone call. $85 for the call and close to $800 for research. Research which was never done. 

Another commonly used fraudulent billing technique is to bill two clients, or more, for the same work. When lawyers use forms they put together they often charge every client who uses the form for the work in creating it. Many, maybe most, lawyers do not even believe this is wrong even though the ABA does. 

My lawyers clearly overfilled me on a regular basis. I tried very hard to get them to detail the work they did but never got anywhere.  

An older but still relevant paper highlighting 16 egregious cases of fraud was done by Catholic University of America.

There is profound corruption on many levels within the justice system. Fraudulent billing is how many lawyers begin their career in crime.  

The Billing Abuses of Lawyers

The Billing Abuses of Lawyers is a bit dated but just as relevant to today as when it was published. 

Some highlights:

Despite these extreme cases, lawyers -- with the notable exception of the high-visibility Hubbell, whose prosecution stemmed from the Whitewater investigation -- are rarely punished for billing abuses. Raleigh bankruptcy attorney Mark Kirby was indicted in federal court on 16 counts of billing fraud. Among other offenses, he billed 90 hours in one day. Between June 1990 and July 1991, Kirby billed a total of 13,000 hours, even though that 13-month period, calculated at 24 hours a day seven days a week, was only 9,500 hours long. Yet Kirby's trial resulted in a hung jury. His defense: everybody does it.

In 1991, Cumberland (Ala.) law professor William Ross surveyed 280 lawyers in private practice and 80 who worked in-house for companies. The results were shocking. Seven out of eight practicing lawyers said that it was ethical to bill a client for "recycled" work originally done for another client. Half said they had billed two different clients for work performed during the same time period, such as dictating a memo for one client while traveling for another.

Just as shocking were what lawyers concluded about their colleagues' billing practices: 55% said that lawyers occasionally or frequently "pad" their hours; 64% said they were personally aware of lawyers who had padded their bills. The in-house lawyers surveyed were even more clear: over 80% felt that the billable hour influenced how much time the outside lawyers they hired spent on a case, and 74% felt that the billable hour significantly decreased lawyers' incentives to work efficiently.

The reality is lawyers can make a lot of money for doing little work. Worse if such lawyers become judges, they feel it is their right to work far less than what they are paid for. 

As they say, money corrupts. 

Robert Tanguay (again)

Robert Tanguay, who I wrote about last week, has also published online some interesting and potentially helpful information for those involved with family court. 

In addition, there is a video of him appearing (apparently) in court: