Tired of what men have to put up with !!!!!

[Daanyeer]

Shark-infested Jelly
Tony Gambrill
Sunday, July 02, 2006


....."A news item emanating from Bogota, Colombia stated that one in 20 crashes are the result of male drivers ogling attractive women rather than paying attention to the road. "


....."The solution? All Colombian men should be given a shot of female hormones? Or should Colombian females be required to wear longer skirts, less make-up and sports bras?"



THAT'S right! I'm getting tired and more than a little irritated at what men have to put up with these days. I agree that the thing "woman's lib" sprang on us heaven knows how many years ago, had been long overdue. Not that burning one's bra enhanced the female form, but it was time for women to become more assertive and their worth to themselves and their men given recognition.

From assertive developed aggressive. After aggressive we got domineering. Years later the result was described as emasculation of the male gender. "Serves them right," said the lesbians. But gradually the pendulum seemed to swing back.

Career women began opting to take a few years off to raise the children alongside the husbands who were now more conscious of the need for them to play more active roles in running the household. Even a few willing 'househusbands' emerged on the scene. And for a while stereotyping men as insensitive and self-centred was on the wane.

But two issues that have come to my attention recently are giving me cause for concern. The first may seem rather minor, but I focus on it for the way in which a male proclivity is held responsible for an essentially female-mating instinct (and in this instance I don't mean mating in the sense of seeking to necessarily get married.)

A news item emanating from Bogota, Colombia stated that one in 20 crashes are the result of male drivers ogling attractive women rather than paying attention to the road. "It's a culture we have of drivers honking the horn at an attractive woman, throwing her some compliment as he drives past, and he's not concentrating on the road," said Francisco Fernandez, director of the road safety fund who directed research into driving habits.

He went further to point out that a similar cause of accidents was advertising billboards in Colombia - of which there were apparently quite a few - featuring scantily clad women. This male tendency is likely to prevail in Jamaica but to date we have no statistical evidence.

Okay, so women whose skirts barely cover their thighs aren't supposed to provoke potential rapists, but most certainly miniskirts are bound to cause car accidents.

The solution? All Colombian men should be given a shot of female hormones? Or should Colombian females be required to wear longer skirts, less make-up and sports bras? Both ridiculous ideas, I agree, but let's take the pressure off the men and realise that lust is at work here.

Incidentally the same research project revealed that the older men were less prone to this ogling activity but get grumpier and are distracted, thus causing accidents by arguing. With their wives, no doubt.

The other issue is divorce, or more precisely, divorce settlements. The cynic on the matter of divorce will agree with Zsa Zsa Gabor, the legendary Hungarian blonde who had her share of everything and who said: "Getting divorced because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do." She too expressed the opinion that, "I am a marvellous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house."

A few years ago, Jamaica had its first palimony case when a longtime partner of the late brewery chairman, Paul Geddes, sued for a share of his fortune on the basis of support and advice she had given him over the years. She lost the case but made her point.

Will Jamaica follow the British trend which is for discarded wives to claim enormous sums in divorce settlements or alimony? In the UK where two in five first marriages and seven in 10 second marriages end in a divorce court, it is looking like marriage should not be recognised as some romantic promise but as a lifestyle contract, according to one newspaper columnist.

Recent divorce cases have rung alarm bells. Colin Montgomerie, a successful English golfer, had to pay his wife £8,000,000. Why was she leaving him? "He was too absorbed in golf," she said. How the hell did she think he earned the money he had to fork out?

You can probably have more sympathy for Mrs. MacFarlane whose husband left her after 18 years of marriage, giving up a promising career and leaving his three children for a younger woman in his law practice. She will get a quarter of a million pounds or a third of his income each year hereafter.

Another case, one Mrs. Miller, got five million pounds when her testosterone-driven husband of three years opted for his mistress. (According to his lawyer she would have received only £2,000,000 if her husband had run her over causing brain damage!)

But men in England are fighting back. And where the wife earns more than the husband, eg, movie star Kate Winslet whose divorce settlement to her ex-hubby was half a million pounds, the shoe is on the other foot.

Well, it could be quite a while before Jamaican men experience a windfall like Kate's. But no doubt the Observer's Novia McDonald-Whyte could name a few.

© Anthony Gambrill 2006