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I couldn't find Jan Eliot's email address on the uComics site, but did find it after a Google search. It is Jan@stonesoupcartoons.com
Note: I intend to email her myself, but would urge you all to make your points (e.g. about the wage gap myth) in a civil manner. I say this because I once posted a Heart of the City cartoon by Mark Tatulli on MIO in which "Heart" punches her friend Dean. While I tried to be polite to Mark, one other person called him "less than a man" in his email. Needless to say, this didn't help our cause.
Steve
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Dear Jan,
I have enjoyed your comic strip, and look forward to the various adventures of Val, Holly, Alix and so on. The recent episode where Alix “helped” Holly with her Tom Sawyer assignment was just too funny.
However, I am concerned with the episode of Stone Soup that appeared on 9/24 and 9/25. On these two days Val’s daughter Alix announced that she wanted to grow up to be a man, because “it’s a man’s world” and she’ll earn more money as a man.
As a men's advocate, I would like to bring to your attention some of the issues where men are at a disadvantage. These are:
Divorce and Custody: With roughly 50% of marriages ending in divorce, and most child custody decisions going in favor of mothers, many men find themselves deprived of their children while making large support payments to an ex-wife that may be turning their children against them. In some cases, this has led fathers to become bankrupt, homeless, and even commit suicide. Meanwhile, children from fatherless homes are more likely to abuse drugs, become pregnant, commit crimes, go to jail, and drop out of school. Children benefit most when both parents are equally involved in their lives, and public policy should reflect this.
Men's Health and Safety: Men in the United States have an overall mortality rate that is 1.5 times higher than that of women. Men represent some 94% of occupational deaths. Men also commit suicide at 4 times the rate of women. As a result, men have a life expectancy that is approximately 6 years less than women (the disparity is greatest for Black and Native American men). In spite of this difference, there is no Office of Men's Health in the federal government to complement the existing Office of Women's Health.
Domestic Violence against Men: Most media reports deal with domestic violence from the "women as victims" point of view. According to a recent CDC survey, some 36% of people severely assaulted by their intimate partners were men. Some studies suggest that women commit about 50% of domestic violence (although they are somewhat more likely to be injured and to report those injuries). In spite of this, there is only one DV shelter for men in the United States, while there are thousands for women. Surely it would help if men had more places to go as well.
Education: Contrary to feminist assertions, it appears that boys are being shortchanged in schools today. While boys may have a slight advantage in math in science, they lag far behind girls in reading and writing. Boys are also several times more likely to be disciplined, suspended or expelled, and are less likely than girls to graduate high school or go to college (only 43% of college students are male, and this drops to 33% for black college students).
Of course, this is just a brief overview of men's issues, but it suggests that men and boys are hardly the privileged gender that they are made out to be. In today’s world, 15-year-old Andy might be reading and writing at about the same level as 13-year-old Holly, while Alix and Holly may be more likely to go to college than Andy or Max.
I would also point out that the so called “wage gap” between men and women is mostly a myth. The “women earn 75% of what men earn” statement was derived by dividing women’s average salary by men’s, and fails to take into account the fact that men work longer hours, have more work experience, and work at more hazardous jobs than do women (particularly in married couples). Never-married single men and women earn roughly the same salaries.
For a good article on the myth of the “wage gap” please go to:
http://www.glennsacks.com/is_pay_a.htm
Also, I would add that most men's advocates aren't interested in pushing women into subservience, but in seeing their issues addressed as well. This is an essential part of gender equality.
Our perspectives tend to be colored by our personal experiences, and I appreciate that you have been a single mother of two children. However, there are also many men in society that have been divorced by their wives and denied access to their children, while paying child support for the privilege.
This email wasn’t intended to antagonize you, as I merely wanted to point out that men’s issues are as valid as women’s issues and that particular episode touched a nerve with me. Otherwise, you have an excellent comic strip and I look forward to future episodes.
Sincerely,
Steve Van Valkenburg
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by Anonymous User on Saturday September 27, @09:12PM EST (#3)
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Good summary of mens issues. I wonder does the so-called "wage gap" take into account
1. those men who have no income (great majority of homeless are male)
2. the fact that married men and unmarried fathers dont actually own their own income. Their wives/partners actually have more control over the man's wage than he does (thanks to the family courts).
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by Anonymous User on Sunday September 28, @12:02PM EST (#5)
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I also hope that what billionaires earn isn't included in any calculations. They are very abnormal and do not reflect what the average male earns.
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by Anonymous User on Sunday September 28, @02:21PM EST (#7)
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2. the fact that married men and unmarried fathers dont actually own their own income. Their wives/partners actually have more control over the man's wage than he does (thanks to the family courts).
Very true. Moreover, as marketers are well aware, women also spend more money then men. Put differently, women spend relatively more of what men earn than men spend of what women earn. To address this gender inequity, the government needs to come up with a way to encourage men to spend more and to earn less. Perhaps a material bonus (sports equipment, power tools, gadgets, etc.) sent to every man who manages to marry a women who earns more than him and who documents success in spending more than her?
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I think you are taking this a little too seriously. Sending her a mini-novel about how men are disadvantaged is not likely to win her over as a concise paragraph about how it isn't a "man's world."
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The response was completely appropriate. It informed and provided sufficient detail to encourage a shift in the comic/writer's perceptions, and to counter the silly "it's a man's world" bullshit.
Details matter. Statistics matter. In-depth reasoning matters.
"Buzzword only" persuasion is not going to advance the men's movement... because we have to interrogate and refute the simple-minded fembot "truisms" that have become the accepted pop-wisdom of our currently anti-male culture.
Changing minds that have been unconsciously indoctrinated by radical feminist dogma requires "deprogramming" via facts, objective scrutiny, and ruthless attention to the truth over feminist deception.
Arguments against fascism are complicated... you have to be willing to muster the attention span to win the fight!
"It's a terrible thing ... living in fear."
- Roy: hunted replicant, Blade Runner
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