This may be a rant, but it this seems like the only place for it. I feel that it is socially acceptable to insult men. To make sexist jokes about us that make us seem like idiots, or children. Even worse I feel like if you speak up when these things happen, you look like a jerk. I work at one of the largest companies in the world and there are a lot of women in the upper ranks at my level. I have literally heard things like “Well, you know how MEN think HAHAHAH!” or “You men, all the same!” Its baffling. If the roles were reversed this kind of talk would never be acceptable. Every TV commercial I see tends to depict men as mindless morons and women as semi-super heros. I work in global marketing, so I know most ads are designed to appeal to women, but I wonder if it helps re-enforce this “men are morons” mentality. Its really everywhere. The movies we watch, the ads we see, our sitcoms. Women as these strong, problem solving people, and men as the idiots who are helpless without them. Women give tips on how to train us, on how they control us, in ways that would NEVER be socially acceptable if the roles were reversed. Our laws also support this inequality. I also have recently had a child with a women who is now my ex. She knew I was unhappy and stopped taking her birth control the moment she heard I may take a job out of state. It seems both her and the world are quite content to make jokes about how I should have worn a condom (which I agree…NOW) but her and I had an agreement for birth control, and what she did was deceptive. Yet it seems almost impossible for anyone to place any responsibility on her. Furthermore when I found she was pregnant I moved her in with me from opposite sides of the country. She was emotionally abusive, kicked my dog and nearly punched me. I made it a priority for use to not live together. I offered to let her keep the place and for me to move out, or vice versa. She chose to punish me by moving to a completely different state, where she had no family and only a few distant friends.

Her story… You kicked “us” out. Now my son has been born in another state, where the cost of living is MUCH MUCH cheaper than my state. This state’s laws saw I owe 18% of my PRE TAX income (im taxed at 30%). The burden is also on me to travel there to see my son. She is actually struggling by herself and will still never admit that she should have stayed in the same state as me (she works 100% from home so income wouldn’t be an issue). Instead she hires housekeepers, babysitters, and orders all her groceries from a delivery service and will use this to make a case for more money. I KNOW she does these things out of pure laziness, not necessity. Yet I am responsible, and it seems the world agrees with her. Everyday I see the commercials where men are fools, I hear women talk about the way they “train” their men, and I watch society encourage all of it. I am self made. I have never needed a woman to train me, teach me, or guide me. I have seen 90 countries, lived in 3, and operate at levels with Harvard MBAs while I have a mere AS in Web Design and BA in Music. I do very well, but none of it seems to mean anything without a family. So there’s the paradox. Im too angry at women and at the slanted table to ever let my guard down enough to try to rebuild. At first I tried therapy. I thought “I need to work on how I feel about women” but then I realized that as far as my anger is concerned, there is nothing to work on. Its justified. And 95% of the women I meet and observe are quite content to participate with the odds in their favor. They are fine to make the jokes. Fine to laugh at the commercials. Fine to exchange tips on training men in full open view of listen ears with no comprehension of how insulting it is. How am I possibly not supposed to be angry all the time when I see these things everyday? Am I the only one who sees these things? How have some of you with similar experiences moved on? Sorry for the rant, but this is the first outlet I have found for this.