Seriously, does anyone always tell the truth?

Absolutely the myth has super racist overtones. I think these days, for plenty of people, racism isn't in their minds. But even if it's not their intent/they don't realize it, it's part of the whole package (ha-ha) they're promulgating.

Yep, and yep, and yep!

I've thought about this a lot, too.

He's one of my favorites, too. And while I do think he was sexist, sometimes he was less sexist than many modern authors. So I don't really get the full-on "he's so sexist and misogynist he's unreadable" thing.

Totally.

Never been raped, but was abused growing up. Sometimes I am totally matter of a fact about it like it was just a thing that happened growing up: learned there was no Santa Claus, got abused, got my heart broken for the first time...just one of those coming of age experiences.

I'm sorry, what? Please enlighten me about what happens when a woman has her first period that makes "piv" sex suddenly less "damaging".

In my state the difference is who can, essentially, press charges. If you are at or above the age of consent (the one before 18) you can report statutory rape if there is a sufficient age gap. If you are under it, however, your parents or the state can press charges even if you say it was totally consensual.

<3

Haha—good point.

If I ever get married (which I don't think I will, but for the sake of argument) I'll have to read a book about it beforehand, or I'll be stepping on everyone's toes.

Kids were mean to me when I was kid!

Job titles in our industry can be kind of a clusterfuck, but when I say developer I usually mean "web developer"—which covers a wide range of technical requirements, granted—but includes people who are not and don't need to be computer scientists.

See, that's news to me. We didn't have very many weddings (Southeast US) in my family growing up, but we had a few and I recall there always being a big table covered with gifts.

Yeah, I thought it was traditional to give a gift of some sort of housewares and possibly some cash if you were a family member. I was raised with the idea that giving cash as a gift was rather lazy and that asking someone or telling someone how much a gift was worth was really tacky.

God. Damn.

I'd just rather not be around kids (or your mother).

It's not that society is composed of a majority of people who think just like him, it's that it should. Basically, the majority of sane, rational, and moral people think just like him. There's a difference.

What drives me crazy is that the powers-that-be are usually happy to offload responsibility to the "next generation". The conversation, IMO, goes nowhere when it focuses exclusively on the need to "encourage young girls" and "bring more women into tech."