Feminism

 Maybe ever so slightly cringe but it does make you think. And laugh. 

My sister went through a divorce a number of years ago and complains how she lost her pension. Which, in fact, was his pension. She also complains he never paid her the full amount of alimony and child support she was due. She cannot even conceive of losing more than half of everything, then paying alimony and child support, and on top of that paying 100% of the kids expense. Kids who started off living with me half time then totally with me as soon as they could. 

All Creatures

I read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot when I was a kid as well as the next few books in the series he wrote.  I loved them. I have also watched several of the TV series produced over the years and am currently watching the most recent one from the BBC.  Currently it is on season six. I like it quite a bit but like most long running series they tend to go downhill at some point. 

One of the strangest themes of the current season is just how inept the men are. When Mrs. Hall, the housekeeper is away the three male veterinarians seem unable to cook anything at all, wash a dish, or even thread a needle. Keep in mind all three were or are military officers and veterinary surgeons. A surgeon unable to thread a needle? Seriously? It is a cheap trope which would engender protests if it were the women being portrayed as inept. 

I suppose one could say it is my background which makes me notice such things and that is true. Just like a woman who experiences workplace discrimination might cringe at women being portrayed as horrible drivers. 

White Men = Bad Health

White men should be the ones who live the longest. They are the richest so therefore can afford the best health care, they are over-represented in health studies so therefore the results should apply best to them, and they are highly educated. Yet they die younger than almost every other demographic with the notable exception of black men. 

Conventional wisdom holds that social standing and economic stability tend to manifest as long life, good health and optimal wellbeing. In the U.S., the subpopulation holding the most such power and footing is White men. Therefore, White men should evidence longer lives, better health and superior wellbeing compared with all other subgroups. 

As it turns out, the syllogism isn’t even close to being reflected in reality. 

Why? According to the article maybe because:

1. White male bodies have been the (often unnamed) standard in biomedical research, but this approach fails to consider how gender and other structural factors affect White men’s health.
2. Related to well-being, White Americans report less satisfaction with their number of friends than do Black and Latino Americans.
3. In a nation that has yielded them myriad political, economic and social advantages, it is paradoxical that White men do not experience the best health relative to women and minoritized racial and gender groups. 
4. There is a potential health penalty associated with being in the most socially dominant racialized and gendered group in a nation where structural inequality thrives. 

Or maybe it is because men are stressed out from having to live up to the gendered stereotype of being a "good provider" and over pay when it comes to divorce. The later is no doubt at least part of the reason their suicide rate is so high. 

Selective Service Uses Free Ice Cream Registrations

A few weeks ago I posted about military draft becoming automated soon. One good thing about this is now the government will have less incentive to use our tax dollars to pay for and use commercial mailing lists to notify men they have not registered. Lists such as ones gathered to get free ice cream. Really. This is somewhat humorous -  or disturbing if looked at another way.

A few years after a couple of kids used a made-up name to sign up for a free yearly ice cream cone, they received a Selective Service registration notice for their non-existent friend.

Marriage On The Decline

 From the New York Times in an article on Why Marriage, for So Many, Is Less Appealing Than Ever. 

From Gen Z to Gen X, a pause in the march to the altar, or a decision to skip it altogether, is becoming more common.

The growing number of U.S. singles indicates she’s in good company. As of 2023, the last data available from Pew Research Center, there were about 111 million single adults ages 18 and up in the United States. That was a sizable increase from 70 million in 1990

The reasons, in my view, are mainly due to women not feeling societal pressure to be married and have kids and the inequities of the divorce process. People who have going through a difficult divorce or have seen others go through one, want to avoid being in a similar situation.