quote:

ORIGINAL: subtlebutterfly

I'd LOVE it if men would be the ones menstruating but not..me..or other women...ok I don't really care about the rest just not ME

"In your note on my new and happy marital partnership with David Bale, you credit me with the witticism 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.' In fact, Irina Dunn, a distinguished Australian educator, journalist and politician, coined the phrase back in 1970 when she was a student at the University of Sydney. She paraphrased the philosopher who said, 'Man needs God like fish needs a bicycle.' Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa."

"Yes, indeed, I am the one Gloria referred to. I was paraphrasing from a phrase I read in a philosophical text I was reading for my Honours year in English Literature and Language in 1970. It was 'A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle'. My inspiration arose from being involved in the renascent women's movement at the time, and from being a bit if a smart-arse. I scribbled the phrase on the backs of two toilet doors, would you believe, one at Sydney University where I was a student, and the other at Soren's Wine Bar at Woolloomooloo, a seedy suburb in south Sydney. The doors, I have to add, were already favoured graffiti sites.""

quote:

ORIGINAL: LotusSong
Wasn't this another quote attributed to Gloria: "A woman NEEDS a man like a fish needs a bicycle"?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Vendaval

To avoid derailing another thread here any further I present to our readers the oft-quoted and referenced Gloria Steinem satire, "If Men Could Menstruate".  Some of the cultural references are obviously from the 1970's.  An excerpt is below, click on the link at the bottom for the full piece.


"If Men Could Menstruate"

"What would happen, for instance, if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?

The answer is clear- menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy, masculine event:

Boys would mark the onset of menses, that longed for proof of manhood, with religious ritual and stag parties.

Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea to help stamp out monthly discomforts.

Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of commercial brands such as John Wayne Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope Pads, Joe Namath Jock Shields- "For Those Light Bachlor Days," and Robert "Baretta" Blake Maxi-Pads.)

Military men, right wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation") as proof that only men could serve in the Army ("you have to give blood to take blood"), occupy political office ("can women be aggressive without that steadfast cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be priests or ministers ("how could a woman give her blood for our sins?"), or rabbis ("without the monthly loss of impurities, women remain unclean").

Male radicals, left wing politicians, mystics, however, would insist that women are equal, just different, and that any woman could enter their ranks if only she were willing to self-inflict a major wound every month ("you must give blood for the revolution"), recognize the preeminence of menstrual issues, or subordinate her selfness to all men in their Cycle of Enlightenment.

Street guys would brag ("I'm a three pad man") or answer praise from a buddy ("Man, you lookin' good!") by giving fives and saying, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!" "

http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/funny/If-Men-Could-Menstruate.html