"I was convinced everyone else in the universe was having constant sex and I was ... not."

Uh, surely you mean "related" rather than "unrelated"?

"For a more serious look at men dealing with with body image issues, see this piece in the Atlantic about "the Tyranny of Buffness" among gay men"

In my case it's true. Last time I shaved my beard off my friends said I looked incredibly young, my faced looked really round and that I "had no chin". It was horrible and left me feeling like shit. I will never make the mistake of shaving my beard off again. As many women as there are who hate beards I think there…

Mine isn't uncomfortable. Keeping a beard groomed is far less effort than staying clean shaven, and involves less razor-burn. In terms of time expended to maintain a meaningless change in appearance it's being clean-shaven that is far more of a "pointless affectation".

Hey, that treatment sounds pretty good, I wonder what...

So now both genders need to worry about being both slim and muscular in order to be considered attractive. Equality!

Thanks, I'll have a look. And I think you're point about which ones are using social media is well made.

"It's just, knowing about the percentage of strippers who are addicted or are miserable or do come from abusive or impoverished backgrounds... It's such an ethically sordid and exploitative thing in which to participate and perpetuate."

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

"getting pissy"

Well yes, right there in my comment I said "intending to reach orgasm". But so what? The product relies on a woman grinding her body against his erogenous zones in the first place. If the guy starts humping her unsolicited in order to get his money's worth for his spooge-pants then that's a problem, I'll admit. But to…

OK, my only real problem with this product is that it creates an expectation of physical contact. I get the feeling that normally there is no physical contact in a lap dance, but this product is marketed in a way that suggests otherwise to guys. And that's bad. If a woman decides to grind on you entirely of her own…

That's what I don't get. Surely this product only works if the dancer is actually grinding against the dude anyway. I have vague memories of this being described as a "vegas" lapdance. So either this product is helping guys receive stimulation from a woman who is already rubbing on their genitals, or it's marketed to…

I get the feeling that if a stripper is grinding on a guy hard enough for him to orgasm then, lapdance pants or not, it doesn't count as the guy "masturbating on her". I mean, maybe it's unethical for her employer to make her do that to keep her job, maybe it's unethical for poverty and an inadequate welfare state to…

I guess trying to make generalisations about dating/women based on the extreme examples in this thread is pretty futile. I'm also pretty much the opposite of you when it comes to dating and empowerment. I'm 26 and have been on dates with exactly 2 women in my life, both in the last year, neither of which went…

Hah, fair enough.

To be clear, I'm fully aware that the kind of things both I and the OP are talking about are a result of patriarchy, even if in this instance they're being perpetuated by women. I'm a little more reticent to call myself a feminist since the whole Hugo Schwyzer debacle, but I absolutely support it.

Really? You blanked the last name? Is that so we don't know which Million Infiniti Tonmoney you're referring to?

*Thinking deep thoughts about the salvation of mankind*