Marc2b
Posts: 6660
Joined: 8/7/2006 Status: offline
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General Reply: The OP's apparent problems with women's rights aside, this is a form of bigotry and discrimination and one that I am well aware of. A few years ago I would pick up my four year old grand niece from preschool and take her to my sister's (her grandmother's) house. I would get a lot of looks from other people. Sometimes I would take her out to lunch and I actually had people walk up to my niece and ask "are you okay, Honey? Do you need help?" There was, no doubt, a racial element to this... I'm white and my grand niece is black... but it still pissed the hell out of me. The knowledge that as a male you are automatically suspect when around children is something you don't forget. Almost every year I go to Stratford, Ontario for the Shakespeare Festival. Near the Festival Theater there is a playground next to a nice parking lot. Often, my gal pal and I will get there early and then hang loose for a bit, watching the children play, before heading over to the theater. Watching the delight of children as they play is an enjoyable way to kill some time. This one time my gal pal didn't want to hang loose. There was an exhibition of famous costumes from past plays that she wanted to see before the show. She asked if I was coming along. I said yes. Truth be told, I didn't really care to see the costumes exhibit and would have been happy to watch the children play as usual. But of course I didn't. A lone, middle-aged man watching the kids at a playground... yeah... like I'm going to hang around for the outcome of that. It sucks and, frankly, it hurts when society views you negatively for no good reason at all.
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Do you know what the most awesome thing about being an Atheist is? You're not required to hate anybody!
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