Wyatt:

You know men have been accused of fearing strong and intelligent women. Rush Limbaugh makes his defense, because he has been accused of fearing strong women. His incessant offenses against Hillary Clinton and Janet Reno only made him an attack figure by many women both liberal and conservative. Does our maleness, our masculinity need to be shielded from a strong woman? Do we need to re-evaluate what it means to be men in dealing with such women? Granted, our mother's are powerful forces in our lives and I never felt I became a "femman", (I borrow from Spade) to feel that I would be weak in the eyes of my father, who was an authoritarian in his ways.

I do not buy the intellectual argument from white liberals that black men are weak, because of the predominance of female dominated homes in the black community. If anything, the black women I have known and still do are some of the toughest genders I've know (these are some true lionness). They have to be to survive, and they pass those traits on to their sons and daughters (those who are willing to learn). It has been recorded that the person who was the greatest influence on the development of General George S. Patton was his mother. ~ Roberto

By Wyatt (207.106.60.190) on Friday, May 18, 2001 - 10:55 am:

When tough women rule, men should APPLAUD!!! I want a leader who is principled, unwaverring, uncompromising on values. Margaret Thatcher comes to mind as a brilliant leader, woman or man. Ann Richards, former Governor of Texas also. Phyllis Schafly, Bela Abzug, Gloria Steniem(until recently), The new President and first black and first woman of Brown University--my alma mater--can't recall her name), Barbara Jordan, Condelezza Rice. These are women to be admired whether they are women or men. They are tough, but sensitive to the needs of others.

The women and frankly the people we should steer clear of are the mean, hate

By Anon2000 (207.218.73.127) on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 10:03 pm:

i dunno...some of us women still need you men!*smile* we can't/don't want to do EVERYTHING on our own!!!

By Roberto (64.12.105.151) on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 11:45 am:

At work today, the company secretary and I had a very enlightening conversation about the coming warrior woman. She herself is a fitness guru and works out at a boxing gym. I must say she looks GREAT!!! She said that for her the realization of "the new tough girl will rule" came out of the movies and T.V. she watched back in the seventies. For her it started even earlier with shows like the Westerns, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke
The Avengers, Cagney and Lacey, Aliens 2 and the Terminator series. I told her I saw the handwriting on the wall further back with Star Trek in which some women in the series had strong female roles, before Capt. Kirk seduced them (I know there was still a little sexism there). My favorite show from Star Trek: The Next Generation was when Lt. Riker went to a planet controlled by women and men were the servants. Then again in the eighties this series put women in strong leadership roles. The Voyager series only took the role of the strong woman a step further.

Should men be afraid of this new woman? Here in America many men still think women should be protected. I remember an incident at the gym where this woman was bench pressing a barbell alone, and was having a little difficulty completing the press, a man quickly came to her aid and pulled the bar to its holder. She went ballistic on him, and told him, "I do not need a man to come to my rescue, I hate that". Sad to say the guy uttered under his breath, "never again".

Some black men in particular, may have a difficult time dealing with this new strong woman, since many of them do not have the social skills to deal in a strong interpersonal relationship with highly intelligent and dynamic women. If they have problems dealing with black women on a range of fronts, what will they do with women of other races who are openly competing with them?

White men (the priviledge ones) are beginning to see that their hold is slipping. White women in particular, are in the charge of this new tough woman movement. As white men are beginning to realize the "PowerPuff Girls" and "Xena: Warrior Princesses" are the now, the Cinderellas and Barbies are no more. New rules in dealing with these new women is in order. Women are kicking asses everywhere.

It use to be in the golden days of horror films, the woman would do this in the following order: (1) scream, (2) drop, (3) and the creature would pick her up and carry her (must have had some sexual connotations to it). Now the women stands firm and kicks the hell out of the monsters. Well time to get back to work and deal with a warrior woman, my boss. ~ Roberto