off-off-topic: I had to look up Morgellons. Thanks be to Wikipedia. Also, Formication

My reaction? That you could easily write an article about men just like this. For instance:

I swear no man watches "Grey's Anatomy" unless his girlfriend forces him to. No man bakes cookies for his dog. No man feels blue and takes off work to spend the day in bed with a copy of "The Friday Night Knitting Club." No man contracts nebulous diseases whose existence is disputed by many if not all doctors, such as Morgellons (where you feel bugs crawling around under your skin). At least no man I know.

becomes

I swear no woman watches drag racing unless her boyfriend forces her to. No woman spends hours polishing her car. No woman joins up with her friends at a sporting match to beat up the opposition supporters. No woman waits until she is dying of cancer before she sees the doctor because she might have to have a rectal examination.

I don't believe most men are like that either - both paragraphs are silly stereotypes. As for women being 'dumber' because they have more car accidents due to lesser spatial skills, this can also be turned around to say men have more physical fights because their language skills are not as good as women's are. It may be true, but it doesn't indicate less intelligence (and neither does brain size, otherwise all men would be smarter than all women!).

All in all, I think it is just another opinion piece designed to polarise people and cater to prejudice. We have so-called 'current affairs' shows here that are of the same ilk, as well as many such columns in the weekend newspapers.

Martin, I enjoyed the article because, as you say, it was written by a woman and it was funny and Allen is probably only filling her so-many word Sunday column. I too hate females that scream at pop stars. As for becoming hysterical in the presence of a politician . . . what are these women ON?
Re Hillary Clinton, of course, coming from the UK I have absolutely no comment to make, but I did listen to P J O'Rourke on the BBC's 'Today' radio prog. this morning and to much male mirth he claims that the Dems would rather elect Margaret Thatcher than HC because men think of her as their 4th grade teacher, their first or ex wife, the bossy woman who runs the local school/charity events.
Just another set of stereotypes?

Here is a link that might be useful: P J O'Rouke radio interview go to 'Listen Again

I didn't find it funny or particularly thoughtful-a retread of tired stereotypes, easily reversed, as Kath demonstrated. I, too, am watching the "Obama Phenoma" with amazement-but then, I was around when Jack Kennedy ran and saw the same thing-charisma is a powerful tool. Hilary, on the other hand, has probably as much if not more of what it would take to do the job, but no charisma at all. Living in Pennsylvania, the next battleground, we're about to see it all up close and personal-like.
O'Rourke is probably right. Although Maggie Thatcher reminded most American men of a scary nanny who insisted on very early toilet training and believed in spanking.

This is not new territory for Allen-she was one of the only major news writers to defend the President of Harvard University when he made a "female gender-demeaning" public statement. Just about every other commentator gleefully served him up on toast.

Here is a link that might be useful: Allen defends Harvard President

"Wouldn't it be preferable, rather than pretending that the sexes are identical and interchangeable and blaming society for women's problems, to talk openly about men's and women's strengths and weaknesses (as groups, not as exceptional individuals) and explore rationally the reasons relatively few women seek scientific careers? "

Hmmmm. I see what you mean, Cece. The assertion that "men" and "women" have strengths and weaknesses - well, it's the reason why rubbish like Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus sell so well. But as pointed out in The Myth of Mars and Venus by Deborah Cameron, the differences overall between men and women is so small compared to the differences within men or women, that it's totally futile to discuss them "as a group" - EXCEPT, of course, as in the way that the different groups are treated in society.

The bit about driving in the original article is actually truly stupid. The suggestion that women have more accidents than men makes them worse drivers does not hold up - the accidents men have are THREE times more likely (by her own admission) to cause fatal accidents. I know who the insurance companies consider to be safer drivers - women's insurance premiers are cheaper than mens. (There is also the point that as a group, men drive more than women - on the grounds that practice makes perfect, you'd expect them to be better drivers overall.)

Well, women aren't generically stupider than men. But there is clearly one woman who is doing her best to live down to the stereotype.

At first, I thought perhaps she was referring to my own husband, who eats standing up at the stove (out of the cooking pot, no less) and loves to close all the blinds to relax in a cave. Mine, however, has no qualms about doing it in front of me.

Overall, a dumb essay and, as Vee points out, probably a space-filler. It gets nasty when implying that hysterical women get diseases like Morgellons. I know it is supposed to be funny but it fell flat.

The last part sounds like she advocates going back to the Victorian age. Not me!

And who bothers to count their shoes?

I think this is one of those sure-to-offend, faux-opinion pieces designed to drum up outrage, encourage letters to the editor, and increase newspaper sales / website hits. She strikes me as a ninny.

At first I thought Allen's piece was tongue in cheek or representative of the cynical humor that seems all the vogue nowadays -- most of which I just don't get and usually shrug off. I supposed her point was she finds the majority of women (American women anyway) and their behavior embarrassingly silly. That's her opinion and she's entitled to write it and have it published, which The Post obviously did. If she didn't intend to stir the pot, I would be greatly surprised.

It is my observation that both genders are populated by morons and idiots. However, being a politician increases your chances of being both.

"Wouldn't it be preferable, rather than pretending that the sexes are identical and interchangeable
and blaming society for women's problems, to talk openly about men's and women's strengths and
weaknesses (as groups, not as exceptional individuals) and explore rationally the reasons relatively
few women seek scientific careers? "

for the same reasons why most of the big cooks are men, I guess.

HavenÂt you thought that beforeÂ68 kids were raised in different ways , if one kid was a girl parents
usually gave her dolls and used to teach them to behave in one way rather than another, and boys used
to be taught to be brave enterprising and so on?
In Italy, e.g. , in the hospitals, femal doctors are outnumbering male doctors.
Of course men and women are different, (and IÂm glad we are)

"And who bothers to count their shoes?" Men do! I am willing to bet that 3/4 of the men in any room know how many pairs they have and the same percentage of women do not! And yes most women will have more pairs than most men. But who cares?

If this was to be humorous then the funny analogies should have been used for both sexes. There are differences but they don't really mean much on a daily basis of dealing with people. (Now YOUR husband, wife, son daughter is different.)

This is my husband's favorite internet joke. I actually wish I had never sent it to him because he cites "GUY RULE" to me ALL the time! LOL

GUY RULES

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down - finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.)We always hear "the rules" From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note.. these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something Rr tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in 16 colors, like Windows. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere,...

Wouldn't it be preferable, rather than pretending that the sexes are ...

for the same reasons why most of the great cooks are men, I guess.
HavenÂt you thought that beforeÂ...
sorry Martin I think I misunderstood what you posted, because I hadnÂt read the article linked by Cece
and I didnÂt see your inverted commas, so I thought it was "flour of your bag" as we say. And I wrote
out of instict . (May be IÂve been a little harsh)
I apologise

grelobe