Men and Women are both from Earth... Deal with it.

Today I'm going to venture away from politics and talk about something that's a little closer to home. Recently, primarily on Facebook but in other places as well, the concept of all males being complete jerks, while all females are hardworking, loyal, perfect angels. Commercials on television showing how hard Today's Mom works to maintain the house, her job, the family, while nothing is shown of any man in her life. Postings on Facebook complain about boys (and men) being abusive or just acting like little children. While I can't and won't deny there is SOME truth to this, the concept is far from complete fact.

I know many women who sit around and yell at the man in their lives, ordering him around and degrading him while he works, does handyman jobs around the house, deals with the children, etc. I hear stories of girls in school who will walk up to a boy and hit him, and then say "You can't hit me back. I'm a girl." I've even known adult women who do this. I don't know how many status updates on Facebook I've seen from women complaining of being treated like eye candy and how men are only interested in their appearance, and then post a photo of some hunky beefcake with comments of lust accompanying them. I'm sure most of you have seen the jokes passed around about how men are only interested in two things: Sex and Beer. The Rules of Women, basically telling men to simply bow down and do whatever the woman says no matter what he wants, thinks or feels. I know most of this is at least partially intended as humor, but there's far too much "Uh huh" and "You know it!" heard in the background.

I lost track of how many women I've heard complaining that they want a man who is caring and loving, supportive, romantic, all those things they read about in books and see in movies. Unfortunately, when a man just like that shows up, he's treated as a friend while the woman is off with the beefy bohunk who looks good but doesn't care about her. In fact, I know one woman who claims to love a certain man, but ignores him for months, runs off to marry or live with other men, and only comes running back to this one man when some other woman shows any interest in him at all. She comments frequently about how much she loves whomever she's living with at the time, and about flirting with this guy and that guy, yet maintains that it's really this one particular man that she otherwise ignores that she loves. Yes, I also know men who do this same thing. However, that's according to the stereotype that men are cast in, while we are told women wouldn't do such a thing.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I do not believe one gender as a whole is superior to the other. Men have their good points and bad points, as do women. As individuals, though, there are plenty of sub-par persons and above-par persons to make any point you want. There are men who do almost all of the housework, home repair, child care, and work outside the home. There are also men who do nothing around the house except make it dirtier, leaving all the work to the woman. There are also women who act in both of those manners.

Now, women are complaining they want to be treated equally. I'm fine with that. I have no trouble with that at all. However, if you want to be treated as an equal, you have to act as an equal. You don't want a man hitting you, don't hit a man. You want a man to hold a door open for you, try holding a door for a man. You want him to put the toilet seat down, put the lid down too so you're both inconvenienced. You want equal pay, do equal work. It's really just that simple. If you want to be equal, BE EQUAL. I'm more than happy to treat you as an equal, but if I put my arm around your shoulder just like I would anyone else, don't go crying harassment. If I'm your boss and tell you to do a job you don't want to do, that's fine. I can get another employee. I'm not going to let you not do your work simply because you're a woman. I don't even care if you don't wear make-up or fix your hair or shave your legs or wear the lacy thongs. It doesn't matter to me. However, if I have to shave my beard, you have to shave yours. Equal treatment means doing the same thing. You can fix yourself up any way you want to, but don't expect me to let you off easy because you did it. You're doing it for your own benefit, not mine.