Good point...I have NO PROBLEM with the "men are dogs" thing, because it exposes the truth about the ones that REALLY ARE DOGS...but it's frustrating to me how the same kinds of criticisms directed toward "dog" women are treated like the most POLITICALLY INCORRECT statements a person can make. Good reference to Andrew Dice Clay, by the way.

"We hear "Men are dogs" "men are scum" all the time. Who in the world would get away with "women are xxx and yyy and zzz"? We all know how far that flew when Andrew Dice Clay tried it."

You've got to be kidding... slurs against women happen on an incredibly frequent basis, even in calm everyday situations.

-If a woman is in a bad mood or isn't as compliant as people around her would like, it's attributed to her PMSing and she's written off as a bitch. A man behaving the same way is merely called "aggressive" or "confident".

-If a woman in a bar doesn't respond happily to a man's attempt to get into her pants, she's called "frigid". If she responds well, she's a slut. If she in fact initiates the situation because she finds him attractive, she's still a slut. Either way, the guy's still a stud.

Hell, let's explore this "slut" thing a bit more: if a woman dresses provocatively, she's a slut. If she sleeps with anyone she's not currently in a long term relationship with, she's a slut. If she's in a long term relationship with someone who likes to swing and she decides to try it with him, she's a slut. If she's successful in a company where men in her department haven't been promoted much, she's obviously sleeping with someone (and therefore a slut).

And if a man did any of those things in the same way, he'd be anything ranging from a hero (if he managed to find a girlfriend who liked swinging) to a go-getter (if he gets promoted).

If you want to hear more slurs against women that are less situational, just turn on the radio or MTV: I dare you to find more than one song in an hour set that doesn't talk about women being bitches, hoes, homewreckers, sluts, etc. And it's not fair using the Disney station to do this, all you'll get there is insipid love songs sung by girls barely into puberty who have no idea what love even is yet. And once you've done that experiment, try to find an equal number of songs sung by women that deride men in the same way.

Not convinced yet? Ok. Turn on the TV, flip around to some syndicated talk shows (think Howard Stern, not Jerry Springer) and watch them for a while. Howard Stern's an obvious example because he's turned deriding women into a career, but take a gander at Rush Limbaugh and even Bill O'Reilly... if you're lucky enough to see them have a woman either as a guest or a topic on the show, you'll see what I mean.

Both sexes get bitter sometimes about the opposite sex, and neither of them should be making blanket statements about how much the other one sucks.

perhaps enough women already concur with the "women are x,y, and z" statements...

"And yes, I'm quite angry at the fact that someone can publish a giant bitter load of tripe like "Are Men Necessary?" but you'd NEVER see a book that asks "Are Women Necessary?" and that gets published. That's a solid example of how two-faced society's attitude about bitterness really is."

No it's not, it's a hypothetical example of how society views men versus women. I suggest you try publishing such a book or article, see how it actually gets received (instead of just assuming you already know), and then come back and join the discussion.

Good luck!