Happy International Men's Day!

Carry

I don't even "celebrate" international women's day or mothers day or fathers day or chocolate day (that I might celebrate daily though...)

However, I never knew that there is a men's day so I'm open for all new celebrations and will do my bit by saluting all the wonderful men in my life, starting with my late quirky dad and going through all the partners, lovers, friends, colleagues who made me happy or angry but generally feeling alive, and who undoubtly enriched my life.

Men as such can be sweet and are quite useful. More often than not I prefer the company of men because they are more interesting to argue/discuss with about topics that go beyond the more personal issues.

What I dislike is the patriarchal society and mindset or anyone (females too) who dares to tell me how to live my life or how to behave.

Bit early to raise a glass but I raise my cup of coffee to all the men who make an effort to be human and humane.

Gimme A Pound

ligerdub wrote: »

International Men's Day is the biggest Trojan horse going. It's branded as if it's the male equivalent of international women's day.....but oh no, it's different.

Watch the sentiment on social media for the 2 days and see how they differ.

IWD: wall to wall posts on twitter (par for the course) but more importantly it's crept its way into workplaces and sites like LinkedIn. Women's only lunches in corporate settings, companies promoting their high level women etc. Attention is given to junk studies on gender pay and other ignorant to logic statements.

IMD: barely covered. When it is covered it'll be something like "let's celebrate the men fighting for gender equality". I think we all know what that comment means. Men can be celebrated, but only the feminist approved ones. The focus will be on how men can "be better" or how their maleness is a problem for society and it needs to be toned down. Serious issues about men will be turned around and blamed on men. Men more likely to homeless, commit suicide, be the victims of violence? Well, it's clear what the answer is, you're being a man wrong, you need to be more like women, masculinity is bad. BOOOOO!

The vast majority of men don't care about IMD and are unlikely to care about IWD either save for the fact that it's good for optics. Both days are thinly veiled, largely feminist orientated social activist days.

No thanks!

I agree. Even though I'll call out genuinely anti women shyte (just as I would call out anti men shyte) I cannot stand feminism today. I think feminists of old would be appalled by the victimhood.

I do think recognition of the plight of both in the developing world deserves highlighting though. But this gets hijacked by western feminists pretending they have it nearly as bad. To be fair, if there weren't a men's day there would be unhappiness expressed. I think it's better that there is one, but I think men need to reclaim it to highlight the issues men face. I agree they'll get shouted down by radfems but complaining about things and not being proactive doesn't help either.

OldGoat

Bjorn Scarce Sorrow wrote: »

Happy birthday OEJ!

I love how hilarious the men I know are, and how they are always so helpful and kind and thoughtful and generous, and the great conversations i can have with them... and how they all have a bit of a kid streak - still lose their minds over Star Wars.

Real men do Star Trek.

Gimme A Pound

I love how men can cheer you up with one dry comment no matter how down you're feeling.

And how when they say it'll all be ok it really feels like it will be.

Mckenna Billions Tart wrote: »

Almost 9 out of 10 Irish primary teachers are women, meaning that many boys have no male role models in the classroom.

A recent study by Professor Dympna Devine, head of the school of education at University College Dublin, finds clear gender stereotyping among this almost entirely female teaching staff in how they spoke about boys and girls. Girls in school are seen as calm, mature and focused, while boys are regarded as boisterous and disruptive.

No surprise then that boys significantly underperform girls at all levels of education, with higher grades and lower failure rates in almost every Leaving Cert subject.

Fewer than half of Irish men aged 25 to 34 have third-level qualifications, compared with three out of five women in the same age group.

Just 41 percent of students in Trinity College, the country's top-ranked university, are male.

Just 42 percent of new entrants to medical school are male.

Men account for almost 80 percent of the suicides recorded in Ireland.

About 96 percent of the prisoners incarcerated in Ireland are male.

I wonder will any of these statistics be highlighted on International Men's Day, or will it all just get brushed under the carpet as usual?

Well you're highlighting it - and that's what men should keep doing I think, instead of complaining about it not being highlighted.

PlaneSpeeking

Bjorn Scarce Sorrow wrote: »

Can you ever let it go? I don't believe half your anecdotes - because I don't know any women who behave in such a manner. You have a bizarre obsession with complaining about women (despite being one - yet somehow you're miraculously exempt) - you're relentless. What's at the root of this obsession?

The important factor in the above is that your friends spotted testicular changes and one actually had cancer but got the treatment on time... yet you still had to throw in your dig.

I don't know what makes me more sad - that you think someone would make up a story about a friend having cancer to make a point to randomers on the internet or that once again someone can attack a poster they disagree with and once again get away with it.

What I wrote was sadly 100% true - he tried to get a campaign going, especially for the younger lads and it died on it's arse. Yet the same year everyone had to wear pink for breast cancer with a fiver "fine" for not doing so.

To answer your question/dig - I have no idea really why I have a more of an affinity/kinship to men. I genuinely don't know - I grew up around them more; I was never "girlie"; when I was bullied it was all girls doing it because I wasn't like them; my mother was similarly tomboyish and passed when I was 22 - who knows ? Does it matter ? We're all unique - must we follow a hive mind ?

I don't think the experiences of women I have are unique, perhaps I'm just not afraid to piss off the rest of the sisterhood by speaking out against the herd.

Have a great day all.

Cordell

I came here to see snowflake men moaning about stuff, was not disappointing. And the day is still young.
I'm also doing Movember, no yeah, absolutely no equivalent for the pink band for us.
I got something from my kids on father's day, so yeah, we are so ignored I'm going to throw out a tantrum.

Man up, ffs.

biko

I actually got a cupcake




Sure, every day is biko day

suicide_circus

not too interested in IMD.

men are "under represented" in primary school teaching roles for the same reason they are "over represented" in prison populations - that is, directly proportionally to their disinterest in teaching young children and to their propensity to commit crimes.

here's a radical idea: it's ok that men and woman don't do the same things. it's ok that the genders are imbalanced across a range of pursuits and interests.

our society is so freaking amazing that we worry about irrelevant things.

Hector Savage

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

Then why would on the one day that men can be at the forefront is one of the key events "Stopping men's violence against women and girls" ?

That's judgemental and sadly typical.

I wouldn't expect anything else from the Irish Times - remember this is a paper that said the Police doing their job about organised crime and begging was "racist" - despicable organisation.

Grayson

Shenshen wrote: »

Let us know how you celebrate it?

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

I imagine it will be largely mocked by people on here disregarding the fact that men are more likely to be homeless, victims of violence, victims of suicide, victims of murder and both discriminated against in matrimonial and family matters; and serve harsher sentences than women for the same offences.

Interesting to note this:



The first two events are basically men being blamed for violence against women. Couldn't leave the feminist agenda for one day eh ?

Guys, remember you're not what the media say you are - you're partners, husbands, fathers, sons, friends, lovers, workers - and not the enemy.

Planespeeking is going to celebrate by bitching.

PlaneSpeeking

Hector Savage wrote: »

I wouldn't expect anything else from the Irish Times - remember this is a paper that said the Police doing their job about organised crime and begging was "racist" - despicable organisation.

Sad but true that.

Mr. CooL ICE

Mod: PlaneSpeeking, don't post in this thread again

Grayson

The only thing I don't like about movember is my boss. Every year he tries to get everyone to grow a moustache. If I grew one it would look manky. Really manky. I'd look like a scoobie or a serial killer

suicide_circus

Grayson wrote: »

The only thing I don't like about movember is my boss. Every year he tries to get everyone to grow a moustache. If I grew one it would look manky. Really manky. I'd look like a scoobie or a serial killer

Blitzkrieger

I can see a bit of inequality here; there seems to be many (far too loose a term) 'women's issues' being addressed in society. The 'women only' roles being created for example, is surely replacing (possible) sexism with another form of (possible) sexism. The "(possible)" being included because men or women could be the best people for the respective roles. I'll do more ranting below, but hopefully it'll be a good thing in the long term to have an International Men's Day.

I think it's a travesty that it doesn't occur on a Wednesday though....



Right, more ranting - some points have been covered already, including how some people like to cherry pick the issues they strive for 'equality' on, so I'll stick to a personal example. I used to work for a multinational that would go nuts for IWD. They'd have a week of events around it, including many talks organised by the Women's Liberation Front. Sorry, Women's Leadership Forum. Most of these were networking events and talks on how to further your career. Why were these being offered to women only? And the worst thing; these talks always had free coffee and doughnuts. Where were my doughnuts?

Actually the real worst thing, apart from some employees being bribed to attend beneficial talks that were not available to others, were some of the presentations were hair and beauty tips! Hair and beauty tips! On company time!

IMD passed without notice last year.

Gimme A Pound

Oh I love how men don't feel the cold easily! I'm the same and think some of my fellow women need to htfu!

And I love that world toilet day is the same date as men's day!

Cordell

Grayson wrote: »

The only thing I don't like about movember is my boss. Every year he tries to get everyone to grow a moustache. If I grew one it would look manky. Really manky. I'd look like a scoobie or a serial killer

I get you, I'm the same, but any kind of facial hair will do.
I actually consider keeping my movember beard, I mean, I was raising it since it was this little

Deebles McBeebles

Bjorn Scarce Sorrow wrote: »

And I love that world toilet day is the same date as men's day!

And we're both accustomed to taking sh*te

suicide_circus

Bjorn Scarce Sorrow wrote: »

Oh I love how men don't feel the cold easily! I'm the same and think some of my fellow women need to htfu!

And I love that world toilet day is the same date as men's day!

women feel cold more because when it's cold their bodies redirect warm blood from the extremities to the womb. analogous to how women are treated in the world but the driver is biology not malice.

Grayson

Cordell wrote: »

I get you, I'm the same, but any kind of facial hair will do.
I actually consider keeping my movember beard, I mean, I was raising it since it was this little

I grow an amazing beard. take 10 days to grow a beard most guys would be proud of.

Incidentally, I saw something in the last week about facial hair. Apparently a majority of women prefer facial hair. Not sure how they feel about moustaches though

Gimme A Pound

suicide_circus wrote: »

women feel cold more because when it's cold their bodies redirect warm blood from the extremities to the womb.

Erra they need to put on a ****ing jumper!

suicide_circus

Bjorn Scarce Sorrow wrote: »

Erra they need to put on a ****ing jumper!

oh I tried telling her that, didn't go down well

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

suicide_circus wrote: »

men are "under represented" in primary school teaching roles for the same reason they are "over represented" in prison populations - that is, directly proportionally to their disinterest in teaching young children and to their propensity to commit crimes.

That's not the full story, alas.

Men are treated far more harshly than women under the criminal justice system. Statistics from the UK show that men are almost twice as likely to be put into immediate custody for an indictable offence. For vehicle-related theft and assault, male first offenders are almost three times as likely to be sent to prison as female first offenders.

Catwalk model Sophia Brogan-Higgins smashed a glass into the forehead of a female security guard in a nightclub, leaving a two-inch gash, and then kicked and slapped a policewoman called to the scene. Oxford student Lavinia Woodward stabbed her ex-boyfriend in the leg with a breadknife and threw a laptop at his head. Both women got off with suspended sentences. Had these offences been committed by men, you can guess what would have happened.

Never underestimate what you can get away with if you are young, pretty, and female.

Deebles McBeebles

suicide_circus wrote: »

women feel cold more because when it's cold their bodies redirect warm blood from the extremities to the womb. analogous to how women are treated in the world but the driver is biology not malice.

I did not know that! You would think evolution would have meant it would only happen when there's a need and not just all the time.

Adding womb jumpers to my Dragon's Den list.

suicide_circus

^^^^ oh absolutely but those cases don't disprove the rule. men are in prison more because they are ON AVERAGE more aggressive, violent, risk-taking and are over represented at the lower (and higher) end of the IQ scale.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

suicide_circus wrote: »

^^^^ oh absolutely but those cases don't disprove the rule. men are in prison more because they are ON AVERAGE more aggressive, violent, risk-taking and are over represented at the lower (and higher) end of the IQ scale.

Correct, men commit more crimes. But incarceration statistics are skewed further by the fact that women are treated more leniently than men by the courts even when they commit the same crime. A woman is less likely to go to prison, and even if she does, she will generally receive a shorter sentence.

There are around 4,000 men incarcerated in Ireland but only around 140 women.

Hector Savage

On a more positive note tomorrow is International Childrens day and also my oldest boys birthday

Grayson

Mckenna Billions Tart wrote: »

That's not the full story, alas.

Men are treated far more harshly than women under the criminal justice system. Statistics from the UK show that men are almost twice as likely to be put into immediate custody for an indictable offence. For vehicle-related theft and assault, male first offenders are almost three times as likely to be sent to prison as female first offenders.

Catwalk model Sophia Brogan-Higgins smashed a glass into the forehead of a female security guard in a nightclub, leaving a two-inch gash, and then kicked and slapped a policewoman called to the scene. Oxford student Lavinia Woodward stabbed her ex-boyfriend in the leg with a breadknife and threw a laptop at his head. Both women got off with suspended sentences. Had these offences been committed by men, you can guess what would have happened.

Never underestimate what you can get away with if you are young, pretty, and female.

And statistically women serve more time for murders.

Bias flows both ways. And it can be from both genders. Remember most judges are men.

(although due to the small number of murders that women commit it does affect men more).

joe40

suicide_circus wrote: »

^^^^ oh absolutely but those cases don't disprove the rule. men are in prison more because they are ON AVERAGE more aggressive, violent, risk-taking and are over represented at the lower (and higher) end of the IQ scale.

The way I see is that the vast majority of people (male and female) in our society are non violent, and law abiding.

A small percentage are not and an even smaller percentage are capable of extreme violence. Of this cohort of our population, I'm guessing less than 1%, the vast majority are Men.

I do hate blanket terms like "Men" when talking about a particular behaviour as if all men are homogenous, and like minded. Among the male population 50% of the human race there is massive variation. (As there is among women)

Cleopatra_

Happy Men's Day! Great bunch of lads.