I used to think that the worst side-effect of the feminist movement was male porn. For a time, anyway, it seemed that newly empowered women were looking toward their Penthouse-thumbing male counterparts as their moral example and were rushing out to buy demeaning pictures of men. Yeah! Power through degradation! This trend has either waned or I'm more out of touch. Either way, it doesn't bother me anymore.
Besides, it's been displaced by an even nastier side-effect, something that couldn't have much existed before women were in the workforce: the lazy-assed husband. The guy who realized "Hey, she makes good money. I'm in no rush to get to work this morning" and then parlays that commute into a lifetime of shameless leeching. This is an alarming percentage of the men I know. I call them "bumsbands."
It's hard to pronounce, yeah, but it looks great in print.
What astounds me the most, besides the fact that their wives let them get away with it, is the overdeveloped sense of entitlement that got them here. The bumsband getting a job isn't an option. It's not even on the table. Selling off possessions, cutting spending, borrowing money, pulling the kid out of school, pulling the wife out of school, making her get a second job...these things are all decidedly on the table. Witness this conversation from a week ago:
"Is she still working at the post office nights?"
"Yeah. They pay good."
"How about you? You looking for work?"
"Nah. Someone's got to watch the kid."
"Where is the kid, anyway?"
"At her grandmother's."
How they go to bed feeling like a worthwhile human being—indeed, like a man—escapes me. And yeah, I'm holding them to a standard that's pretty traditional: able-bodied men either parent or work. Get off your asses, report to the nearest counter, and turn in your penises.