Again and again we see them, they plop themselves in the center of the conversation and tell us we need to get back to the plantation before all of civilization collapses. We need to man up. We need to marry those sluts and foster our wife's son. We need to, we need to...

I always have the same thought. That sounds like quite a labor you want us to put in. There's very little safety in it and very little return on investment. It's definitely a challenge.

So what are you offering us for wages?

You're placing the weight and total of civilization on our shoulders, surely you're offering something just as valuable in return for this work?

And always--a stunned look at this unexpected question. A pause and a look of dismay flashes across the face. Then they carefully avoid eye contact from that point on and pretend you don't exist or they leave altogether. They never have an answer.

You want men to walk away from the carefully earned freedom we've achieved and the spaces we've made our own and protected from incursions by those who wanted to own our time and space, not share in our hobbies. You want us to pick up the plow and harness ourselves to be disrespected far less than the meanest mule ever was laboring for the benefit of others. All this demand and you can't be bothered to offer us a single incentive for it?

What are your wages? What are you offering me in exchange for my life? For my soul once the inevitable divorce rape happens? Surely you didn't think we'd do what you want to avoid being shamed by you?

Shame has been something given to us without measure since birth. It has no meaning any more. Shame is like a breeze, and just as easily ignored.

No, really? What do you offer us in exchange for our freedom? What do you have for wages? What are our lives worth?