What good are men? (Serious)

[PHILBERT]

Ok ladies and gentlemen, I took up an offer from a female coworker, non lesbian, who asked me, what ARE men good for?

Now, NO sex involved, no reproduction, nothing like that. What good are men in this world? What can we provide for a woman that can not be provided on her own or by children? She gets love from her children, companionship, etc. So what are men good for? No sex involved.

[koma]

Extra paycheck? or maybe a smilie would be better.

Male insights of the world that we all live on and share. Every time that I go out on first dates or meet a new guy, I am amazed with their alternate persecutive - sometimes even flabbergasted.

If men had all the same views as women what fun what that be - the blandness sends a shiver down my spine.

By those same rules, WHAT good are women?

WARNING: Rant to follow

I'm so absolutely shocked by that offer, that I'm wondering if your female co-worker is not some sort of hard-core feminist. I'm not sure that I can quite express the utter revulsion I feel at the notion men are useless. Perhaps this has to do with that fact I am one, or the fact that it has been a long ->*long*<- night of drinking, or that your co-worker is totally (in the words of other profuse posters -Kimpatsu-) floo-floo. To challenge the question of what use are men, is to challenge the whole of evolution and we really can't argue that can we? (Unless you're from Kansas or the deep south) The question is so superfluous that it borders on the point (I think falling over) of inane.

I will fully admit that I would last about 15 minutes without women in my life. I mean that in a totally non-sexual, non-reproductive way. Most of the guys I know are hard-edged, either through extensive substance abuse or through martial arts, either way its hard to get a balanced viewpoint of life interacting solely with either of these two groups. It's through the weekly runs with one woman, or the occasional cup of coffee, sometimes the very presence of -girl-friends helps to keep me sane, coupled with reading and meditation.

I would like to think that women in some way (not the same ways I need them obviously) need men. The opposite sex, I think, provides a valuable perspective on life that would be sorely missed by either side. I think *maybe* you're coworker has been embittered at some point by men. I would like to hear the arguments against men though, sounds interesting....

Sorry for the rant......

Dale Heisler

[joe yang]

What good are men? Hah, ask any kid who is growing up without a father!

I think your feminist friend is right. There isn't much in western scociety that a woman can't do as well as a man.

In fact I envisage a day when society is entirely dominated by women, who perform all of the work, and a men are kept as subservient sex-slaves, whose only duties are to keep themselves fit and pleasure their female rulers. Any transgressions of the rules would be strictly punished by...

Sorry, what were we talking about?

Cheers,

Mike

[Soulend]

Originally posted by joe yang
What good are men? Hah, ask any kid who is growing up without a father!

Bonus: Gaze upon any random object or phenomenon. Chances are a man invented, discovered, or explained it. So, if she doesn't mind walking everywhere she goes and communicating via smoke signal while simultaneously wondering after the purpose of that monstrous ball of pockmarked green cheese and why it doesn't fall from the sky to collide with her flat earth, well, no, I guess men serve no purpose at all.....

[Tripitaka of AA]

Men kill the spiders.
Men reach the jar of pickles down from the top shelf and open it without breaking a nail.
Men get stupidly drunk, to remind women why Venus is a "dry" planet.
Men play football so women can see their kegs(!) in action.

What are men good for..

I can't compare my relationships with men to my relationships with my children because I don't have any children.

Because of my interests in life, I have always been closer to men than women as a general rule.

What I love about men...

1. camaderie- people with the same interests who I can work closely togther with toward a common goal i.e. MA training, giving good health care, hiking, fishing, hunting.
2. conversation
3. laughing
4. giving (and receiving) alot of teasing- many women don't know how to jokingly insult and receive insults and comebacks.
5. silence- women often feel as though they have to make conversation all the time. I feel that when there's nothing left to say, say nothing. I love being in that quiet, warm space with another person where nothing is said, and nothing needs to be said. That is true company.
6. confidence- a way of approaching the world head on and with a physical way of being, like every physical step in this world means something
7. gentleness- I see kindness in women alot, but not true gentleness. gentleness is being a powerful person, but having the sensitivity to modulate it to the situation. It is a gift, and a wonderful thing to experience from your mate.
8. O.K. this one might break the rules a little. WRESTLING! getting on the mat with some sweaty, hairy guy and going for broke to see who gets the mount and who can keep the mount and for how long. plus arm wrestling, leg wrestling, smear the queer (the facination of my adolescent years when I was so shy, but so wanted to tackle those cute boys- regardless of whether they had the ball or not). physical contact!
9. good beer. I love a good pint of dark stout, porter, or ale, preferably microbrew. This is something that most women do not like.

My husband is the best thing that happened to me. Nothing lasts forever. All people are separated sometime by one of the Big D's- Death, Divorce, or Distance, and every day, I really cherish with him because it's a gift. I can't even imagine what my world would be like without him. People who ask such questions as "what good is a man?" obviously never let a good man in close to them. And that makes me pity them greatly. They are missing out on a big part of life.

[Prince Loeffler]

Ahem, Wendy can we like uh..Borrow a cup of your DNA for cloning

Originally posted by wendy ongaro
What are men good for..

I can't compare my relationships with men to my relationships with my children because I don't have any children.

Because of my interests in life, I have always been closer to men than women as a general rule.

What I love about men...

1. camaderie- people with the same interests who I can work closely togther with toward a common goal i.e. MA training, giving good health care, hiking, fishing, hunting.
2. conversation
3. laughing
4. giving (and receiving) alot of teasing- many women don't know how to jokingly insult and receive insults and comebacks.
5. silence- women often feel as though they have to make conversation all the time. I feel that when there's nothing left to say, say nothing. I love being in that quiet, warm space with another person where nothing is said, and nothing needs to be said. That is true company.
6. confidence- a way of approaching the world head on and with a physical way of being, like every physical step in this world means something
7. gentleness- I see kindness in women alot, but not true gentleness. gentleness is being a powerful person, but having the sensitivity to modulate it to the situation. It is a gift, and a wonderful thing to experience from your mate.
8. O.K. this one might break the rules a little. WRESTLING! getting on the mat with some sweaty, hairy guy and going for broke to see who gets the mount and who can keep the mount and for how long. plus arm wrestling, leg wrestling, smear the queer (the facination of my adolescent years when I was so shy, but so wanted to tackle those cute boys- regardless of whether they had the ball or not). physical contact!
9. good beer. I love a good pint of dark stout, porter, or ale, preferably microbrew. This is something that most women do not like.

My husband is the best thing that happened to me. Nothing lasts forever. All people are separated sometime by one of the Big D's- Death, Divorce, or Distance, and every day, I really cherish with him because it's a gift. I can't even imagine what my world would be like without him. People who ask such questions as "what good is a man?" obviously never let a good man in close to them. And that makes me pity them greatly. They are missing out on a big part of life.

Ya know, when I meet someone with the attitude "Men are only good (or no good) for this..." "Women are only good (or no good) for that...", I don't care if it's a guy or a girl...I walk away. It tells me they are scared of relationships with people- especially the opposite sex. unfortunately that fear is going to color their relationship with me, often to my detriment.

There are so many people who are balanced and not afraid to have relationships- why should I waste my time on anyone else?

They do not have to pin their pain, their frustration with their loneliness, and their unhappiness with their relationships on 'the opposite sex.' Hell, I have gay and lesbian friends who pull the same behavior on their own gender. That tells me it has little to do with actual sex and alot to do with insecurity.

These chauvanistic/reverse chauvanistic statements generally tell me more about those who say them and their character then they do about which ever sex they are discussing. And my reaction is generally "Wendy, lets pack up the dog and the rods, leave this loser alone (male or female), and go fishin'." There's too much to life to waste it on gender bashing.

[Hanna B]

Originally posted by Daishi
By those same rules, WHAT good are women?

Ippon.

Women cannot piss against a wall.

Honey, I've been pissing in the woods without a toilet for years. You get me the wall, and I'll show you how high I can go. I have expert aim. I can hit a juice bottle on rolling boat in the Straights of Juan De Fuca during a squall with the utmost ease and never spill a drop.