Reply #126: There are a lot of gouges we can avoid, but there are plenty that are much more difficult

[BlancheSplanchnik]

to watch out for. Many of the discriminations I've experienced at work, I sought help but was given wrong information or sabotaged and had no recourse later.

As for other issues mentioned here--

I'd have to get 20 years of auto mechanics experience. Machine shop, too. Hardware and fix-it experience. Furnace and electrical experience. Plumbing. All of this, just to KNOW whether a hired person was gouging me or not...people I have to hire because I don't have the fix-it knowledge, nor the physical strength to wield many tools.

Some men here are stating points of view that sound wise, but are at the same time extremely myopic and show a clear hostility to women's experiences.

Simplistically polarized "answers" to very complex issues that women face every day, in the market place, at work, as citizens, as social beings offered in the spirit of a slap in the face, but masquerading as "hard-hitting" advice.

Fortunately, more people are becoming aware all the time. Even here, I see fewer chick-bashers than in the past.