Sorry -- I have to do this...
yes, women have been historically denied decision making power, although i don't believe it has anything to to with men's 'physical superiority' or because women 'generally aren't any good at it' ...the suppression and oppression of women is, and always has been, a very deliberate action by the church (for many reasons, but this is probably neither the time nor the place for religious discussion!)
anyway, what i'm really here to comment on is the recent posts regarding single mothers. those comments were based on what can only be described as cruel generalisations and blatant stereotyping. aside from the fact that you are describing only a tiny minority of single mums and tarring us all with the same brush in the process, there are three things that really made me furious about those posts.
1) yes, there are single parents who enter into relationships thinking only of themselves - be it for sex, financial security, emotional support or just blinded by love - with little regard for how that relationship will affect their children. but i would be willing to wager that for most single mums, their children's welfare is their absolute top priority. do we somehow care less about our children than our married counterparts do? are we really all that selfish/desperate/victimised/stupid that we would choose the affections of a man or the stability of a marriage over the safety and happiness of our own flesh and blood??? a parent's primary responsibility in life is to protect their children and it is not a job that any of us take lightly, married or not. but even after taking all due care and being very selective about partners, some of us will still find ourselves in relationships that end in disaster, for us and for our children. that's nothing to do with single parents choosing 'bad boys' - it's just the nature of relationships in general. one day you wake up and the man you love, that you chose to be the father of your children, has suddenly become unfaithful or a child abuser or [i]a drunken, violent piece of shit[/i] - and i know, because that's how i became a single mum in the first place!
2) there is a very big difference between a 'bad boy' and a paedophile. sure, mum's new boyfriend may be a bit of a party animal or a womaniser or knock her around a bit. but does that automatically mean that he would consider jumping into bed with her 9 year old daughter??? or, if she is a mother of a teenage girl, then she is likely to be in her mid thirties or older and he is likely to be in a similar age bracket. why on earth would it then stand to reason that this man who is approaching forty would necessarily fantasise about fucking his 15 year old step daughter, just because she lives in the same house and is not biologically related to him? a paedophile might see the teen as a horny young girl, but a real step-father just sees her as his daughter.
3) basically, the entire argument is a cop-out that absolves men of any wrong-doing when it comes to the ridiculous rate of child sexual abuse and [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url] of women. on one hand you are saying that women are not able to make intelligent decisions on their own behalf and on the other, you are saying that single mothers should have known better than to bring 'that sort of man' into their homes and let them get their hands on their daughters. well, guess what...it's men who [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url] those single mothers' daughters. whether the mother should have seen it coming or not, is beside the point. whether it happens more in single parent families than in marital homes, is beside the point. it is men who are [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord125][CodeWord125][/url] their daughters and step-daughters. stop blaming women for letting it happen and start blaming the men for doing it!!!
end of rant. let the flaming begin.