I love your quote from Camille Paglia. But my all-time favourite is

If civilisation had been left in the hands of women, we’d all still be living in grass huts!.

Biaaaaiitch!

The very mainstream, respected, english-speaking imam (who bred ornamental chickens as a hobby) explained that the reason women judges can’t sit on a sharia court bench is that their monthly cycle of hormones make their judgement unreliable.

Well he’s advanced y’see. That’s the late 19th century at least he’s gotten thru the Enlightenment. Actually the trouble with the Muslim world is it hasn’t. It’s still in that phase whereby knowledge is canonical not inquisitive.

In contrast to the premenstrual judge I’m thinking of the Naval officer in Cairo whose car was blocked by my mother. My mother was going down a narrow one way street the right way. This dude in full regalia (the shittier the country the gaudier the military) came down the other way in his chauffeur’d limousine. My mother wouldn’t't budge. So this guy goes ballistic, throws a tantrum and gets out the car waving his shoe in the air and jumping up and down! Seriously. He went purple.

Men raised by mothers who’re theologically obliged to treat them like their Lords and Masters are always so in control of their emotions.

My mum won of course. ‘Strine shielas. Tops.

I do like a bit of the old ultra-vi DEM. Onscreen of course. And luvely luvely Ludwig Van as well.

A recent Harvard Bus School newsletter says
(http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5935.html)
“The traditional division of labor between the sexes—women managing the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through links between private realm and public realm negotiations. Women’s negotiations at work are often constrained by agreements in negotiations at home.”

A Euro group-”blog” (mainly of economics professors) has long pointed to general perceptions of domestic labor balance affecting compensation in the workplace (as I’ve discussed here, and here )

So… women might negotiate better job compensation by dropping big hints about how useful their partner is about the home.

But single parenthood, by the same token, decreases compensation for the same work.

Try concentration meditation, it has even been found to help ADHD. It takes some months of practice but it can remarkably improve concentration.

But dividing your attention is very difficult. I’m constantly pulled two ways, and that does make concentration more difficult. I can’t just shut out family, whereas some people seem to be able to do that more easily. I do think that men find it easier to shut things out in general, although I concede that there are men who don’t fit the stereotype, and women who are good at compartmentalising life too.

If you get away from money, its even worse for women — most studies suggest that, overall, in the long run, marriage is a slight positive for males and a slight negative for women (no more 20 beers on Saturday night).

How did I know? Years prior to that I lent her some rather difficult texts. She ploughed through these so easily and I could tell by her conversation that she really knew the material.

Now with a man, if you say, Hey, you’re smart - the likely reply is, “Course I am you moron and much smarter than you.”

Maybe the terrorists are ensuring that they cannot be accused of taking advantage of the “temporary insanity” that some sufferers of extreme PMS…

I lost hope for the future of muslim men about five years ago while watching a fly-on-the-wall doco filmed in one of the big mosques in Northern England. The very mainstream, respected, english-speaking imam (who bred ornamental chickens as a hobby) explained that the reason women judges can’t sit on a sharia court bench is that their monthly cycle of hormones make their judgement unreliable.

Honestly, you work for so many years to become a respected leader of your community and then do something that completely undermines your credibility. I mean, really … ornamental chickens!!!

Nonetheless, sometimes, a little bit of humility and goofiness is an attractive thing, I agree.

What does get really frustrating is if a clever person puts themselves down all the time (which is a little bit different to dumbing down).