Shelby, I think you're right. It's the same crime nomatter what the genders are. Perhaps it's the old concept of if a woman gets raped it's a tragedy, if a man gets raped it's a favor (yes, a judge actually said this once, I can't remember the case). It's bullshit and discredits actual victims who need support.
Child support laws are an extremely innefective attempt to try to fix the older even less effective problem of male abandonment. Women are the ones who get pregnant and have been left "holding the bag" alone, smugly scoffed at by society, despised for being on welfare, had difficulties finding jobs and daycare that leave enough money to survive and adequately raise a child. Without the help of the father, it's a horrible situation. Beaurocrasy does little to help anything, and I personally know of a couple of men who are in situations where they are being required to pay far more than what is needed and not being given adequate visitation rights by the mothers. Yes, it's an ugly role reversal, and I don't know the solution. One thing is clear though, if the "Honour system" was working, we wouldn't have needed the laws.
Unfortunately, (historically, in this country) white men have caused the majority of the problems with racism, sexism, sexual harassment, and the issues for which the activist groups have arisen to protest. This is just history as it occured, there's no way to say it didn't happen like that. Now, I in no way believe that anyone should pay for the sins of their forebearers, but I do believe adjustments need to be made currently to make our country more accomodating to more people. White men are feeling the brunt of this adjustment, and it surely isn't "fair" to the ones living now, just like it hasn't been fair or even humane to the non-whites and non-males throughout our nations' history, and still isn't today in many places. White males have enjoyed a position of entitlement as a ruling class that is currently being challeneged. Sure, they won't like it, why would they? For these same reasons, you must understand that no one else likes being made to feel inferior to you just so you can continue being superior! My ex and I had this argument all the time, that the white man was losing groud. That's true, because they had ALL of it to begin with! Of course, sharing means giving up part of the pie, and I know it's going to feel uncomfortable, but someone (generationally) is going to have to do it. Eventually, people will be born who won't remember the situation we're in, and I look forward to that eagerly.
Yes, the pendulum is swinging, perhaps it seems it has overswung, but look at the numbers before coming to those kinds of conclusions. The individual injustices to men are JUST as horrible as the ones to women, but the ones to women are still by a landslide more plentiful. We still earn less, have NINE times greater chance of having our jobs threatened for not giving sexual favors, are the victims in over 97% of adult rapes (hard to get good statistics on child molestation because of the protection of minor's identities), are the victims of 95% of spousal abuse calls, as reported by police. Minorities still earn less that white women. Until a more acceptable balance is struck, I doubt the reform groups are going anywhere. Good system? NO! But it's all we've got and it beats the hell out of just rolling over.
