Ranty McRanty-pants

Unfuckingbelieveable.I am currently embroiled in a "discussion" with one of my labmates over whether or not feminism is still necessary.His arguments against:Men *should* be paid more than women because they have to spend more money on women's upkeep. (This argument went from zero to circular in about 2.5 seconds.)People are hesitant to give women jobs or loans (his assertion not mine) and that's OK, because the women might go and have babies and ruin the employer's/lender's investment.Men are the real victims because women are always taking advantage of men's inferior control over their own sex drive.*He* doesn't take women less seriously because they have boobies (which I find hard to believe given the TMI about his love-life that we are all subjected to); ergo, I totally imagined all those times that men intellectually blew me off because my ovaries obviously make me a bimbo.I should just shut up and be happy because women in Saudi Arabia have it so much worse than I do - I should just count my blessings and roll over and take the "very minor" discrimination that occurs here.The dude is a total caricature of misogyny. But - get this - he's totally *on my side* because if he were my employer (over my dead body) he would totes make sure I had equal pay and good maternity leave. "Geez, AA, don't have a shit-fit. If there were still something to fight for I would totally help you out." Nope, he's totally not the problem. [I am confused by this since one of his justifications for lower salaries for women is that they will not be working while on maternity leave.]Here's the best part: he is a member of a racial minority, and when I point out that one can substitute "white" for "men" and "POC" for "women" into his arguments, he concurs that yeah, these attitudes are totally wrong and discriminatory. Dude, I'm just trying to help you see a point here: white people don't get to be the authority on POC's experiences and say that discrimination doesn't happen *ever* just because it doesn't happen to *them*. We agree on this one, yeah? Same holds true for men telling women about just what is and isn't real about their own personal experiences. But he maintains that while racial discrimination is still a very real problem, gender discrimination doesn't exist (I'm totally making it all up!) because he's never been on the receiving end of it. And his white wealthy female buddy is backing him up on all this shit so it *must* be true.So let me recap:I, as a woman, am an expensive housepet.My strongest desire in life is to reproduce, and in so doing, I will not hesitate to screw people out of the career productivity that they are paying me for.All women are whores just out to manipulate men into getting whatever they want.I am clearly delusional and irrational since the gender discrimination I have experienced could not possibly have happened.Women in this country are a bunch of whiny bitches - we should feel totes lucky that we aren't required to cover ourselves completely and solicit the company of a male relative in order to leave the house.No, you're right. There's totally no need for feminism anymore. [/stabs eyes out with a fork]FUCK!! I am so looking forward to leaving this lab. Please help me not to kill anyone during my remaining time here.

Labels: Pants, Ranty Mcranty