BZBee, I agree 100%. A pregnancy and an infant represent pure potential, like new love. There is the idea of infinite potential and it's fun to celebrate that. The reality of course is much messier and can be great but takes a lot of concrete work.

I love that you ended with "Not that I'm bitter." ... :-)

I'd like to think that you are just in a weird area. Everyone is supposed to help mothers (or more rarely fathers) who are struggling trying to shop, cross the street, or whatever with children and all the equipment that goes with a young child. It's part of being a decent human being.

As a father of three, I think it's hard to overstate the importance of pregnancy in your life. A mature man's life changes utterly with pregnancy and the world is suddenly about his family as much as him, but for a woman this change can seem like a rebirth as a new person with new responsibilities, a new (or at least…

Thanks, Whatwhating. I didn't let her "female" jibe get to me. She may have been in a bad mood, or a bad relationship. Either way, it was very mild compared to a lot of the insane stuff I run into while having discussions on the internet. The use of men with "female" did seem a little odd when I reread it.

Hi again, Rooo... You are the first woman I've heard say that men are hard to read. I'm not disputing your experience, but I always thought men were pretty straight-forward. Women are too, once you learn to empathize with them and think about what they would want and need in a relationship. I think you probably…

Exactly! Thanks for stating this clearly.

ewadams, BlindProphet is utterly missing the point here. You acknowledge there is a problem and suggest ways to address it. You claim superiority not to boost your ego but to make clear that this is not a case of "Oh those guys are just different and we should tolerate them."

Well written post. Someone with more time and resources needs to organize a group (can be online only) tasked with protecting against trolls and bullies and ideally helping these man-children grow up. I'd definitely like to be part of it and my twin 12 year old boys could serve too. They're already practiced at…

Lindy, you're an awesome writer. You should write a book. I'd buy it. I see on Amazon that you co-wrote one with Dan Savage and The Stranger staff. I put that in my cart ... :-)

Yeah for you! Congratulations! Children are the best thing ever.

I'm happy it worked out for you in the end. It sounds like Facebook was just the trigger for something he already had inside him. I don't use Facebook because it's too insular and most people seem to use it to satisfy their needs for compliments and (shallow) interaction. I use G+ because it allows (even promotes)…

I really want to see Hillary as President. We desperately need a smart and compassionate woman in our highest office and Hillary is a tough cookie and deserves to hold the office. I hope the drugs dissolve the clot and she makes a good recovery.

Thanks, EliseeReclus!

Thanks!

Hi, chani_dib. I hope you are able to outgrow your "social correctness" training. I think you are lucky to be an introvert or nerd because there are lots of guys with those qualities who would be interested in you. You might have to wave an "I'm interested" flag or something or make the first move, since those guys…

Sorry for the female bit, Amanda. I often intermingle terminology and didn't mean to imply that a woman is something to categorize or be studied like an "other".

I love this! I'm not a convention goer, but from what I've read over the past year or so, this video is very sorely needed. It's fantastic that the narrator is so positive and just presents proper behavior as treating girls, Cosplay or not, as fellow human beings. That really is the key here. It's difficult, but worth…

Thanks for responding, wouldadonethesame. Human interaction can be very complicated to those of us not "natural" at it, but it can certainly be learned. I think people skills, including how to talk and otherwise interact with people of the opposite sex, should be taught in school. It would be a hard class, but if done…

:-) Thanks. I see things getting better pretty quickly. I work as a software development lead and the younger guys where I work are generally much more egalitarian than my peers were when I was younger, treating women as their equals and taking part in raising their own young families and helping manage their homes. I…