"Female inmates doing time on Calif. fire lines" makes news, diminshes men

Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2008-07-10 15:14

Article here. I'm just so sick of this bull. It's just plain everywhere. Excerpt:

'Johnson is one of 28 female convicts working the front lines of the nine-day-old wildfire roaring through Los Padres National Forest in Southern California's Santa Barbara County.
...
Wildfire-plagued states such as California and Arizona have long tapped minimum-security prisoners as firefighting labor during the intense summer fire season. Arizona also has a female inmate crew.

It's work that more than a few men would shy from.
...
"Women are more supportive of each other, sort of a buddy system," Alexander said.

"They're more appreciative of small things. They like shampoo, lotion, soap. They were ecstatic the other day because their clothes came back from the laundry with the smell of Downy. Do you think men would notice that?"'

Well, a man who doesn't get clean clothes too often I am sure appreciates the smell of freshly-laundered duds. Maybe the author doesn't know because she never bothered asking him?

And how many men have fought fires, convicts or not, only to be given a quick "thanks" and sent on. Women do it and it's national news. Same thing for military service.

And of course, they do it better. Read the many stories and it's all spelled out for you: They make better cops, soldiers, firefighters, scientists, hell, they are just plain BETTER. All over the news, this crap is everywhere. So if they are so much better at these things, why don't more of them step up and do them? Oh yeah, it's too dangerous for the typical female's tastes and besides, it means working odd hours sometimes. Better to "let the men" do it, as the women get to stay cleaner and out of harm's way.

That's OK. It's not sexism when it favors women.

Barf.

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Comments

> And of course, they do it better.

I think you are exagerrating a bit. The author readily admits that women on that job "are not so fast or strong as men". And it's almost unbelievable that she is not screaming about the very fact of using women in hard labor.

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Single men is the only social group benefited from feminism.

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Submitted by nbdspcl on Thu, 2008-07-10 17:04

It's not just an issue of comparing the firewomen to the firemen. Another point is that for centuries male prisoners have been treated like sh**, and probably been on these firefighting details for at least decades, some probably even dying in the process. But it doesn't make big news until women start doing it. And besides, it was voluntary...oh, now I get it - the penal system, and society in general, are at fault for "allowing them to volunteer" to knowingly place themselves in harms way (like maybe via some light smoke inhalation - the same kind anyone gets driving down a highway and smelling a brush fire in the distance).

-ax

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Submitted by axolotl on Sun, 2008-07-13 04:40