Rush Limbaugh did a satire called "Uglo-American Affirmative Action" that dates all the way back to the 1980's, so envy and resentment of the beautiful is nothing new.

I suspect one reason for feminist objections to your stance is their investment in the have-it-all-at-any-age myth.

This feminist fantasy has induced countless women to delay marriage and family on the grounds that there's lots of time. How so? Because it's a woman's inner beauty that matters. For the professional woman, her smarts and accomplishments give her a special glow of attractiveness that offsets the physical appeal of younger, more fertile women. Or so feminists wish.

Statistics reveal that there is a very large cohort of aging, single, childless women in the making, many of whom will never marry.

Anecdotally, we see the pain in writings like this:

"But now, a growing number of Millennial women are beginning to fret over the unanticipated consequences of prioritizing our careers before love. And I only need to look at my group of friends to see this reality. Again and again, year after year, my successful, gorgeous, and amazing friends remain kiss-less on New Year’s Eve. And on Valentine’s Day. And on the 4th of July... and we can't figure out what is happening."

And the older they get, the worse it gets:

"My interests are not shared. My resources/gifts are not required. Asking folks to set you up always only ends up with piteous looks -- and no set ups. Joining clubs and following my interests always leads me to a group filled to the rafters with other women doing the same dam thing. No men ever. I don't know what happens but there are no available/single/straight men over the age of 50."

I could give a hundred examples. And it bites early. Here's a woman who thinks the problem starts at 30:

http://time.com/3422046/30-is-the-new-50/

Selling the feminist lifeplan to young women absolutely depends on concealing this reality. So when you pull the sheet off of their fraud, they're going to howl.

> Selling the feminist lifeplan to
> young women absolutely depends on
> concealing this reality.

Um... Selling what?

Listen, I sincerely believe that a lot of verbal, moderately bright but essentially naive and socially awkward young women get sucked into idiocies called "feminism" on our nation's campuses. (But that shouldn't make you resent feminism. Every place worth living in is a place where women are allowed to vote, work and fuck as they see fit.)

Those girls were going to lead clumsy, isolated lives anyway. It happens to awkward men as well.

I wish campus feminists weren't state-dependent ninnies, but I wish even more deeply that there weren't so many receptive, daughter-of-divorce teenage goofballs bringing their own special slices of stupidity to Orientation Week every September.

The sales pitch for campus-style feminism is not that persuasive. It doesn't attract anyone who wasn't already inclined to ninnyhood.

Strangely enough, the guy is including stickers you can put on your doll... including acne and freckles and injuries.

The doll is quite cute, I haven't received it yet but I've seen the pics of the final model. They fixed the problem with her eyes, which were a bit crazed-looking before.

My bigger problem is her clothes. They are tasteful, realistic, and classy... exactly what little girls are NOT into. I'm making her a bridal gown right now, it's going to have pink rhinestone hearts glued on with silver glitter fabric paint. The lucky groom will be Ken in a pink suit.

I'll let you know how she is when she arrives.

On the other note... I must have strange social circles because a lot of the older women I know who ended up single/divorced have met lovely guys. I guess I just have a social circle with lots of great old guys in it? I think the ones having a harder time are the ones my age who don't have a family yet but want one. The older ladies have already had their families so that's not an issue, it's pure companionship for them.

A doll with acne? People have fantasies to escape from reality, not to wallow in it. At best, the doll may get acne when the girl wants to play nurse - then a water-soluble pen will do just fine.

Re the millenial women looking belatedly for relationships: The people I've known (guys and girls) who managed to reach 40 without a serious relationship have all become very fixed in their ways. If they were to get a romantic partner, you have the feeling that (for the neat ones) they'd put mats down, so that the carpet wouldn't get soiled, alternatively (for the sloppy ones) they'd never consider moving those dust-collecting piles out of the living room. Either way, what kind of partner is going to put up with that?

Lastly, to the idea of joining activities to look for a partner: this is a good way to go, but only if they actually like some typically male activity. Hint: it ain't dance classes, try martial arts. It ain't art appreciation seminars, but if there's a shooting range nearby, some of the art might make for good target practice.

@Crid: The problem with modern feminism is that it has long since achieved its original goal of equality. Rather than say "ok, all done here", modern feminists are now seeking female superiority. Two drunken teenagers have sex; which gender can be charged with rape? Classroom with a normal spectrum of child behavior; which gender is drugged into compliance?

The problem with modern feminism is that it has long since achieved its original goal of equality. Rather than say "ok, all done here", modern feminists are now seeking female superiority.

Very well-put, a_random_guy.

These ladies should use the same logic they use in their professional endeavors or job search efforts.

- determine WHAT they want,
- evaluate their own STRENGTHS/WEAKNESS areas,
- investigate WHERE they should look based on the likelihood of success, and
- then actively SEEK a mate

But this would require honest evaluation and work (internally and externally).

Easier to read Huff Post and go out w/the girls to whine over drinks.

+1 to a_random_guy and NicoleK

Crid,

You also don't understand the crazy feminist stuff starts in kindergarten. This is not socially awkward people getting a line of bull in college. This is how we raise everyone in K-12. Finding a woman under 30 who can cook is just plain weird. They are all too busy trying to liberate themselves from the patriarchy to dare go near a kitchen. While guys can cook because 'food is good and I get hungry.'

You may think I am kidding or exaggerating and you would be wrong. For today's 20-30 types the kitchen is a man's domain and woe to the woman who enters. After all, she'll just fuck up his knives and pans. It is quite the gender role reversal.

Incidentally my wife can cook. I may debate her meal planning but her chefing skills are quite good. That was a major selling point for me. Not because I need a live in chef (my cooking skills are quite good as well) but because it showed some ability to cut through the bullshit taught in school. I find the constant whining about how oppressed they are while at the same time obviously being the one in charge very unappealing.

"You also don't understand the crazy feminist stuff starts in kindergarten. "

Actually, I that that was his point when he referred to "daughters of divorce". Postmodern feminism began around 1970 and we're now into the third generation of it: girls who have grown up being told that they are superior to boys, that society owes them something, and with male role models carefully excluded from their lives. We're also into our third generation of boys who were drugged in school (by adult women), who were told not to touch or look at girls, and who saw "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them" T-shirts every day.

The PM feminists have inverted things: They keep pushing "reality dolls" because they live their own lives in a state of constant fantasy.

Barbies proportions were originally created so you could sew clothing for her. She is a "fashion" doll.

I saw a Barbie the other day that would have appealed to me. Blondes never did much for me as a kid and neither would this average doll. She looks off to me--not ugly but maybe too realistic.

The Barbie I liked was swarthy, with blue eyes, lined with eyeliner and thick raven hair and lots of bangles. Very pretty.

There are already modest olive toned dark eyes dolls anyways. You can buy a Fulla doll without the Muslim garb. She is cuter.

Let's not forget when the whorish Bratz dolls first came to the market and almost destroyed 50% of all Barbie sales.

All in all little girls have poor taste. Nothing to get concerned about.

I want the Average Barbie (But don’t let Mattel hear us calling her Barbie). I want a doll with dull brown hair that I can give acne and cellulite and moles and tattoos. Basically, I’ll make her look like me, and I think that’s cool. Also creepy, but mostly cool.

But I’m a grown woman. The doll’s assumed demographic is 30 years younger than I and would probably cry if they asked for Barbie for Christmas and instead unwrapped “B-cup Barbie – now with C-section scars!”

What this goes to show is that people who scream for a product for political reasons won't actually show up and BUY it.

Mattel makes Barbie dolls that little girls actually want, and that's why they're profitable. If the feminists have a beef with that, too bad.

-jcr

"They fixed the problem with her eyes"

*Shudder*

The problem with modern feminism is that it has long since achieved its original goal of equality. Rather than say "ok, all done here", modern feminists are now seeking female superiority.

That goal was merely the publicly acceptable one to go forth with. The actual goal was female superiority. So, no, not ok, not all done here.

Basically, I’ll make her look like me, and I think that’s cool. Also creepy, but mostly cool.

As long as it doesn't devolve into a first date like that, it should be ok...

I mean, I get the point of that commercial, but man does it ever give me the willies.

The people I've known (guys and girls) who managed to reach 40 without a serious relationship have all become very fixed in their ways.

I dunno about "fixed in (my) ways" so much as my tolerance for bovine scatology has pretty much reached zero.

When I was younger, I would hold my nose (and tongue) and put up with things I thought silly (or worse) for the sake of the relationship, but I came to the realization that my life was a better place without having to shovel that shit.

Being alone is not the worst thing in life, ladies.

> You also don't understand the crazy
> feminist stuff starts in kindergarten.

Golly.

It's a conspiracy.

Whatever will you do?

Quoted by Lastango: "I don't know what happens but there are no available/single/straight men over the age of 50."

Sure there are - lots of us. But looks matter, and most of us are just as unattractive as most women over 50. I'm really not any more motivated to pursue a relationship with a woman who's as unattractive as I am than women are to pursue a relationship with a man as unattractive as I am.

When they say there are no single, straight, available men over 50 they mean there are no single, straight men over 50 available to them whom they find attractive. There are a few handsome available men over 50, and a few very beautiful available women over 50, and they seem to find each other.

"Statistics reveal that there is a very large cohort of aging, single, childless women in the making, many of whom will never marry."

So what? Had they married, they wouldn't be problem-free, they would merely have a different set of problems. There's certainly no guarantee they would be more content if married. Contentment probably originates within. If you're a restless, dissatisfied single person, chances are you'll be a restless, dissatisfied married person.

I felt a pull in my late 20s. A ticking biological clock, a fear of spinsterhood, whatever, it was a pull that drove me to marry and procreate.

Now I'm close to 50, I've been divorced a few years, and I've discovered perhaps the most important thing about myself I've ever learned: I prefer to live alone.

I don't like Lizzie.

The real issue Lizzie is women who want a family and children but put it off till they can't have it anymore. A lot of people (both men and women) believe they can have kids at any age, because they want to. People who don't want kids and don't have kids are not a problem. More power to them. But people who want to start on kids at 45 are ignorant of biology and their wish probably won't be fulfilled.

Crid,

It is not a conspiracy. That is just how we raise kids these days. You said this started in college. You are off by 12 years.

You guys are very worked up about a doll

Apparently kids are loving the flaws and injuries stickers... Sadistic creatures, little girls

Lizzie, you beat me to it.

Ben, you're forgetting that the childless/childfree population is higher than it ever was in the U.S. (20% of women in their early 40s, right now), and it may well be growing. Of course, we can't be sure how many of those women planned it that way and how many can truthfully say they would happily change 2,000 diapers if they could turn back the clock and have/adopt a child, but if the Bratfree site is any indication, an awful lot of people are STILL having children only because they grew up surrounded by people who, deep down, don't believe that using birth control - or getting sterilized - is truly OK, whether you're married or not. We'd have far fewer abused kids and foster kids (maybe) if that weren't the herd mentality.

And it's hard to imagine that people who want kids and can't afford fertility treatments haven't heard the age and health warnings by now - from their friends, at least. (IIRC, smoking can hurt a man's chances at fatherhood.)

Not to mention that it's never good not to have good marketable skills for when you need them at a moment's notice, which most women under a certain age can't be expected to have.

> You said this started in college.

I said nothing of the kind.

Over and over I'm seeing comments along the lines of "now that female superiority has been achieved". Really? So women now have equal pay? There's no more pay gap? It doesn't tend to be the woman (among a group of siblings), who winds up taking care of the elderly parents? Sure, everyone can name a guy who has taken this on, you might be one of them. But at caregiver sites, the membership is overwhelmingly female. Not only female, but with siblings who did nothing to help. Many of these worn-out women would laugh bitterly at the superiority claim.

And as for the beauty aspect of people finding each other, no surprise there. Even though women still haven't achieved pay equity, there are enough women who are self-supporting. Unattractive men who rely on their finances to supplement what they lack in the physical attractiveness department don't have the power they once enjoyed. Friends and I were talking and we agreed that a man who spends for a top of the line BMW isn't as attractive as a man who took some of that car money, went to Bosley, and drives a more modest vehicle. When you work hard to maintain a healthy, firm body, you're not going to be looking for a well-funded poppin' fresh. When you take children out of the equation, it's a whole different scene.

"The real issue Lizzie is women who want a family and children but put it off till they can't have it anymore. A lot of people (both men and women) believe they can have kids at any age, because they want to. People who don't want kids and don't have kids are not a problem. More power to them. But people who want to start on kids at 45 are ignorant of biology and their wish probably won't be fulfilled."

Again, so what? They didn't get something they wanted. Big deal. Welcome to Planet Earth. If we take the left fork in the road, we will always wonder if we would have been better off taking the right. If we take the right fork, we wonder how things would have turned out had we chosen the left.

"There are only two tragedies in life; one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." Oscar Wilde

So whats the crazy stuff that starts in kindergarten. Give us stories please!!!

Lenona,Im not sure folksDO understand how tricky fertility can be... The majority of my friends who had kids in their 30s had treatments for at least one of them. I know I always thought people could get pregnant till about 40 or so. I know I thought so ( ended up with meds and iui for both mine, had first at33).

Even so, I expected to be married around 25 ended up being 30... Not on purpose, just didn't meet the one till then. So i sympathize with the ones who didn't because that suck... It really does. It really is hard to meet someone

And looks arent everything... A lot of my frumpy friends are happily paired off while many single ones are alone

Lenona,Im not sure folksDO understand how tricky fertility can be... The majority of my friends who had kids in their 30s had treatments for at least one of them. I know I always thought people could get pregnant till about 40 or so. I know I thought so ( ended up with meds and iui for both mine, had first at33).

Even so, I expected to be married around 25 ended up being 30... Not on purpose, just didn't meet the one till then. So i sympathize with the ones who didn't because that suck... It really does. It really is hard to meet someone

And looks arent everything... A lot of my frumpy friends are happily paired off while many single ones are alone

Sorry for the double post

"So whats the crazy stuff that starts in kindergarten. Give us stories please!!!"

My third-grade teacher disliked boys and treated us much more harshly than she treated the girls. It was well-known to the parents and many complaints were made to the school. And this was back in the '60s.

To Nicolek:

All I'm saying is, as a childfree type, I have no reason to look up articles on fertility and aging. And yet, somehow, I keep stumbling on them. So why don't people who WANT kids stumble on them far more often?

Unless, maybe, they aren't that sure they really want kids in the first place? Or maybe only one of the two parties wants them? Or maybe they were only planning on having them to keep up with the Joneses, as it were?

Seems to me that if childLESS couples really wanted kids as much as they say they do, we wouldn't be seeing so many kids - including handicapped babies - languishing in foster care. (Instead, couples spend thousands on infertility treatments, even when they know it might not work.)

Is that doll safe for pugs to chew on?

Meh.

Even my sweet little old pug lady still has SOME teeth. The doll would not need "stickers" for flaws and injuries, which would also be true for Barbie.

"Really? So women now have equal pay? There's no more pay gap?"

I love this line of inquiry, because it gives me the chance to ask, "Gee, if I can find employees who work for less, why would I EVER hire another MAN?"

Why would YOU? Garbage handlers, welders, divers, mechanics. Wow. I can pay a woman LESS for these jobs? The SAME work!? Where ARE these women?

Be honest. Show up for hourly work, STAY AT WORK, and you get paid the same as everybody else. That key phrase is, STAY AT WORK.

I need to dig up the study again, but a couple of years ago someone did a survey of big-city media jobs in America comparing men and women with the same education, job titles, experience, and working hours, and found that the women actually made slightly more (about 5% IIRC). This actually should not be a surprise, since employment-law quotas make women more valuable employees.

My third-grade teacher disliked boys and treated us much more harshly than she treated the girls. It was well-known to the parents and many complaints were made to the school. And this was back in the '60s.

Sometimes teachers are jerks. Hardly seems like like crazy feminist shit.