Woman was God's second mistake.

Woman was God's second mistake.

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the read more

We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice -- that is, until we have stopped saying "It got lost," and say, "I lost it.".

There can be no defense like elaborate courtesy.

There can be no defense like elaborate courtesy.

It is a mistake that there is no bath that will cure people's manners, but drowning would help.

It is a mistake that there is no bath that will cure people's manners, but drowning would help.

I think every woman is entitled to a middle husband she can forget.

I think every woman is entitled to a middle husband she can forget.

Man forgives women anything save the wit to outwit him.

Man forgives women anything save the wit to outwit him.

In this society, the norm of masculinity is phallic aggression. Male sexuality is, by definition, intensely and rigidly phallic. A read more

In this society, the norm of masculinity is phallic aggression. Male sexuality is, by definition, intensely and rigidly phallic. A man's identity is located in his conception of himself as the possessor of a phallus; a man's worth is located in his pride in phallic identity. The main characteristic of phallic identity is that worth is entirely contingent on the possession of a phallus. Since men have no other criteria for worth, no other notion of identity, those who do not have phalluses are not recognized as fully human.

Given the cultural barriers to intersex conversation, the amazing thing is that we would even expect women and men to read more

Given the cultural barriers to intersex conversation, the amazing thing is that we would even expect women and men to have anything to say to each other for more than ten minutes at a stretch. The barriers are ancient -- perhaps rooted, as some paleontologist may soon discover, in the contrast between the occasional guttural utterances exchanged in male hunting bands and the extended discussions characteristic of female food-gathering groups.

Every mother generally hopes that her daughter will snag a better husband than she managed to do...but she's certain that read more

Every mother generally hopes that her daughter will snag a better husband than she managed to do...but she's certain that her boy will never get as great a wife as his father did.