I have to say, CAR – I’ve been keeping track of this thread and in my opinion your usually very reasonable positions have taken on a very personal and somewhat contorted flavor. Like you, I am a woman, but unlike you I was raised with a brother and sister and I have a son and daughters. My mom was a science teacher, dad was a lawyer and both my brother and I got degrees in science and law (sister went into advertising and outdid us both). I believe I am raising my kids in a fairly gender neutral way – but boys/men and girls/women are not the same and never will be. There are men in the world who are misogynistic, but there are an equal number of women who appear to hate/dislike men (not a word for those women even though there are a lot of them). People have had bad experiences and tend to globalize. I have been treated badly on various occasions throughout my life for being young, old, female, thin, fat, single, married, high earning, low earning, etc. And for what it’s worth – watch the commercials on TV. In most commercials, if someone ends up looking foolish, it’s almost always a middle aged white man.

People will find a reason to feel superior to you if they want to. Go ahead and let them, and while they’re at it you should be busy getting done what you need to do to make yourself happy.