Month: September 2016

GETTING QUALIFIED FOR LIFE: LICENSING MARRIAGE, SEX AND RAISING CHILDREN

ghubbard2014Leave a comment

I’m a member of an organisation which owns a chainsaw.  But, to operate it, a person needs to do a two day course and get a licence, which has to be renewed through training every six months.  It got me wondering:  why do you need a licence to operate a chainsaw when you don’t need a licence to operate a marriage, to be competent at sex or to raise children? (These are linked, but not necessarily in this order.)  Surely these are much more important issues for individuals and for operating a society than operating a chainsaw?Read More »

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Dear Sonia: Men Talking about ‘Gender Issues’ (aka Violence)

ghubbard2014Leave a comment

So, Sonia, you want men to talk about gender issues (Orchard, ‘I wish men were as interested in discussing gender issues as women are’, Daily Life, 2 Sep 16).  By which you meant, to quote you, ‘Why aren’t men discussing how they’re  feeling?’, eventually, why do men behave ‘appallingly’ and – rather conclusively – that men have ‘a warped perception of what a man is supposed to be’ (a rather biased conclusion when you ask for a discussion!).

OK, I’ll talk.  But first, I don’t think I’m your ‘normal’ man.  I think I’m pretty feminist and egalitarian (setting myself up here…).  I don’t like lots of men’s interests and pursuits (heavy drinking, men only groups, being out with the boys).  But I do have some things about me that I don’t like that are very ‘male’.  I don’t understand these aspects of me and I don’t think you, or women generally, understand them either.Read More »