Feminists and Islamic clerics are a common lot. Both of them refuse science, both of them use shaming tactics and violence respectively to end discussion, both of them repress free speech.

It is time we ignore them as brainless trolls.

True to their name, the arguments of these ideologues are flimsy, Superficial and anecdotal. One can argue with a person well-versed in Logic, but not with a feminist immersed in their emotional world.

My frontier-reared, 19th-century-born father treated my mother with absolute respect, decency and fairness. No doubt zealots will see some dire and dark patriarchal oppression of her by dear old dad but it wasn’t there. Individuals work out their relationships in different ways and they had their imperfections as humans. But can the garbage about society’s guilt and the genetic male dominance over women.

Men can be men and women can be women without doing damage to each other. Men do some things better than women. And vice versa. On the dance floor men lead and women follow and both have a lot of fun. I have yet to dance with a woman who didn’t consent to be led — while engaged in that particular activity — and I could do precisely nothing if that consent were withheld. Feminists will nevertheless see this as a disgusting paradigm of male dominance thinking. QE bloody D.

Complaints about the horrendous oppression of women in the US and European society ring false. Where on earth is there a perfect society and the obsessive focus on our imperfections and exceptions draws attention away from the decent and generous civilization we enjoy. Any candidate alternatives are and have been socialist or third world pits.

Women have got it about as good as it can get in the West. Let’s upgrade practices and attitudes without making absurd claims about the rottenness of the whole enterprise.

As for the rest… well, calling your opponents evil and mentally deficient is a common tactic of the Stalinist left.

And yes, I have a nuclear family, thank you.

Well, you’re just wrong. There’s a whole discipline dedicated to studying slaves and the people who actually do the research and examine the lives of slaves and slaveholders…well, none of them would agree that slaves had “Total Sexual Freedom”…again, do any of you know how to get at information, or do all of you function on heresay?

Please, for the love of God, read a book or two. Library cards are free.

Pardon my ignorance; can you give me the medical, clinical or biological definition of what it means to be a boy? And I am assuming this definition applies to all 3 billion boys in the world?

I may not be a Jesuit, but I am a woman and come from a strong Catholic background and yes, the Catholic Church, along with most of Christianity and organized religions, oppress women.

When a woman is not allowed to own her sexuality or her body then she is oppressed, when a woman is regulated to subservient roles then she is oppressed, when a woman (or man) does not recognize these things as oppression then she/he is severely brainwashed.

That’s right, I said it BRAINWASHED. Think people. Think for yourselves. Ask yourself why you believe in something, who is in charge, why they are in charge, who defines what and why. Think, think and then think some more. Try to move beyond what you have always been told as the truth.

And as for you Cousin Dave, are you really that ignorant of the atrocities of Christianity that you simply cannot phantom a comparison to Islam? If that’s the case then you drank the Kool-Aid, sir and it was probably when you were baptized. A simple Google search would suffice, heck maybe even a wiki search…or here’s a thought, and this goes for you, too Mer and Dr. Clouthier, pick up a book and check out what is going on for the other 99% of the world…seriously get some perspective. You will always be speaking from a narrow place unless you educate yourself properly. And it is quite obvious with your posts the limits of your formal education.

Here’s a start, pick-up Gender Trouble, Judith Butler and tell me what you think, I can wait…

As for you, Dr. Clouthier, shame on you. You have enjoyed the luxuries of women’s liberation and…I don’t even know where to start…shame, shame on you.

You are in desperate need of taking a women’s history course, desperate need. I am certain a freshman level course would blow you away.

And I am not sure why, if you really do believe in the sanctity of the nuclear family, then why don’t you have one?

I know you get to decide which messages are posted and I doubt you will post this one but you should know I would say this to your face and Cousin Dave and Mer but censor away, I think that’s what you people are good at, at least I know YOU will read this.

This has a simple answer that has nothing to do with equality, religion, blah blah blah. Anyone who commits rape is a criminal, and should be dealt with accordingly. Rapist/sexual offenders have a 99% repeat offender rate, so castrate the bastards and be done with it. If the Swedes are putting up with this, then shame on them. Sorry, but I don’t think that thier form of government has much to do with an increase or endorsement of rape – they simply need to crack down. The implication here is that socialism caused loose morality, and that the muslims took advantage of this loose morality. A crime is still a crime, even in a sexually pervasive culture (if they really are that pervasive).

This piece sounds like opinion more than anything, and tries to drive home the point that western culture in europe is ashamed of itself. I find this very hard to believe, but if true, then yes, it needs to change. While some of you have heard my opinions regarding emporer Bush and his policies, make no mistake-I am vehemently opposed to radical Islam and it’s hijacking of western culture. Fundamentalism of any kind is a mental disorder. While I believe that going into Iraq was a boneheaded idea, you won’t hear me bash the operation in Afghanistan (where I believe the real issues are). Just my $1.50 (inflation adjusted).

And the fact that you want to excuse the abuses of radical Islam, re “Of course many Muslims are guilty of perpetuating the social inferiority of women, BUT…” tells me everything I need to know about your viewpoint.

I don’t need to ask a Jesuit anything to know these facts. In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, none of the 250+ popes have been women. There has never been a female bishop or cardinal either. When an organization excludes women from its highest levels of power based solely on gender, then that organization is, by definition, engaged in male supremacy. I’m not trying to single out Catholics here, just pointing out that inequality exists in many places outside of Islam.