AkAngel, I don't think "equal" is the same as "identical." Four quarters don't look or act the same as a dollar bill. You can't put the dollar bill in a parking meter, for example, or jingle it in your pocket. Nor could you use the quarters, say, as a straight edge when you're reading a chart. They're different, but they have the same buying power. I think of men and women like that. We are not the same, but we are equal.

My hubby unashamedly thinks of one profession he'd rather see a man in, than a woman. Firefighting. He himself is a big man, and he says if he were seriously injured and trapped in a burning building, he'd feel safer thinking the person coming to his rescue is physically capable of carrying him if necessary. Of course this rule doesn't apply 100%. Some women are bigger and stronger than some men. For this reason, I'd hate to see a blanket rule that says, "Women shouldn't be firefighters, because they're not as big and strong as men." I'd also hate to see a blanket rule that says, conversely, "Men shouldn't be elementary school teachers, because they're not as good with small children as women are." Not true in every case. To use your accounting example, I for one don't think I'm as good with detail and multitasking as my husband is. That's why he handles the finances in our household. Not because he's the man, but because he's better at it.

And you're right about the commercials designed to make men look like buffoons. Have you seen the one for the home improvement store, where the husband keeps trying to say they're finished with all their projects? Wife just looks at him, and he caves in like a card house, then buys more stuff for another project. In the end, the daughter (dressed identical to her mother) is also controlling her father with just a look. That particular commercial gets on my nerves. (I tried to find it online, but couldn't. Maybe that's a good thing.)

Now, about the reaction to the joke at the other site, I'm not quite sure I get you. Could you please explain it again? We were not condemning the joke. We joked back in the same spirit, and for *that* we were called "angry b...ches." I don't understand that at all. Unless, maybe the "angry b...ches" line was also meant to be a joke? In which case, I don't find it very funny. Nor do I find jokes funny when they put down men.

Thunder, I would think it rude of *anyone* to let the door swing back in your face. Whoever gets there first should hold the door open for the next one. That's how I see it.

Edited to sum it up in the same way I taught my daughters about gender AND racial equality.

You don't have to bash men in order to affirm women, or vice versa.
You don't have to hate white in order to love color, or vice versa.

And I still stand by that.