Men Are From Mars…
Equality among the sexes.
There is no such thing. There is not now — and there never will be — total equality. This isn’t about equal voting rights, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity, equal education. There are far too many examples in today’s modern Western society, which is often considered to be the most equal with regard to the sexes, where blatant sexual discrimination or segregation occurs. Equality is not part of the nature of mankind (or womankind, for that matter).
Take weddings, for instance. The modern Western wedding focuses, appropriately, on the bride and groom. Small ceremonies include a Best Man and a Maid of Honor. Webster’s Dictionary defines the Best Man as “a groom’s chief attendant”, and the Maid of Honor as the “chief unmarried woman attendant of the bride”. It is extremely rare to witness a ceremony where either party has gone outside the sexual norm. Larger ceremonies generally increase the number of attendants in the bridal party, adding female attendants to the bride’s side and male attendants to the groom’s. Odd to witness at a ceremony intended to bring two people together for the rest of their lives in supposed equality such a prominent display of sexual segregation, a row of males on one side, dressed in black tuxedos (or God forbid, light blue!), a line of females on the other, all dressed alike in florals, solids, or pastels.
Daily commerce displays a different type of sexual discrimination. Men, when in environments conducive to women, tend to treat women better than they do men. Male jewelry store clerks spend hours, days, weeks helping brides choose the perfect ring and go out of their way to ensure the perception of perfection. Grooms are lucky to get a male clerk’s full-time attention, let alone the same level of service offered to their female counterparts. Conversely, men, when in male-oriented environs, often treat men better than they do women. Picture almost any repair shop, electronics boutique, or construction site.
Sex, itself, designed by nature to bring men and women together, is the most pronounced cause of the chasm between the sexes. It’s a simple economic formula: supply versus demand. As long as there’s a mutual demand for it, whoever controls the supply has the most influential power, and that is most often held by women. Rape and prostitution are notably non-mutual and exceptions; rape is purely a struggle for power and arguably has nothing to do with sex per se, and in prostitution the demand is not for mutual sexual pleasure, but a financial arrangement in order to satisfy only one party’s desire. To obtain a truly equal partnership, the element of sexual power must be removed, but the controlling party is physically and mentally incapable of relinquishing control, and unwilling. I have not yet heard an ardent feminist, while advocating additional female rights, argue in favor of relinquishing sexual power in an effort to truly establish equality. It will never happen.
Sex even causes disparity within the sexes, so much so that volumes of books have been written on the subject. How many times have you heard women criticizing another for having bøøbš that were too big, lips that were too full, a waist that was too tiny, or was just too pretty? Odds are, very often — and it’s never done by those similarly well endowed. It is, at its basest, an attempt to reduce the threat to their own sexual desirability. 
Regarding Sarah Jones, one of the contestants on Survivor IV with admittedly large “flotation devices”, I’ve seen many online criticisms led by women on various forums, including, Kara’s “Ding, Dong! The Bøøbš are gone!”, Melinda’s “[Sarah] has no pretension to be anything but a bimbo. With her teeny-weeny bikini and store-bought bøøbš, she wants to be the Anna Nicole Smith of the Marquesas”, and countless others.
However, one of my best friends, Brenden, who happens to be amply blessed (or cursed, depending on your point of view), even more so now that she is breastfeeding a newborn, is not one of the ones to usually comment about Sarah’s “alterations” — she is secure in her own sexuality, comfortable with her own body, and aware (I believe) of her sexual power, therefore not threatened by Sarah and with no reason to belittle her. In opposition to Sarah’s criticizers, unless he’s gay or on the cusp, you’ll never hear a guy genuinely join in the criticisms; as long as the breasts are natural, the bigger they are, the better. And even artificial ones like Sarah’s are praised, too, to a point.
However, both sexes tend to shy away from the artificially enhanced extremes. Eva Valois’ 71-inch silicone-enhanced bust, fashioned by a designer of aeronautics industry fuselage moulds, held as much as three liters of surgical serum in each breast. Obsessed with her artificial beauty, she changed her name to Lolo Ferrari, was crowned Miss Tits of Europe, and began her singing career with her first single, a Eurodisco hit called “Airbag Generation”.
“My mother told me I was ugly and stupid… She said I was only good for emptying chamber pots. I wanted to be an anesthetist, but you can’t learn with a mother like that. Actually, I’m like my mother. She thinks she’s ugly too. When I was born, it was herself that she saw and she stuck all sorts of negative stuff on me. She did all she could to stop me living. My mother was always very unhappy with my father. My father was this macho guy who was never there and deceived her openly. So she revenged herself on me. She told me I was revolting too, that no one would ever want me. She hit me sometimes with a riding crop. I was frightened and I was ashamed; I wanted to change my face, my body, to transform myself. I wanted to die, really.” — Lolo Ferrari
She survived 22 cosmetic operations by the time of her self-inflicted, premature death at the age of 30 or 38 (reports vary). In the years prior to her death, Lolo (French slang for “tits”) wore a specially engineered bra day and night and could not sleep on her stomach or her back because her grotesquely proportioned bøøbš interfered with her breathing. Rumors spread that she avoided travel by plane for fear that her silicone implants would burst in pressurized cabins. She died March 5, 2000, from an overdose of prescription antidepressants, a victim of self-loathing and manipulation by her husband and manager, Eric Vigne, the ultimate price to pay for submitting to someone else’s sexual power.
Researchers find that “women are more likely than men to believe in technological hazards”, “women who dye their hair red are more likely to cheat on their partners”, “rates of depressive and anxiety disorders are higher for women, while men experience more substance abuse disorders”, “women are more likely than men to develop autoimmune diseases”, etc. There are companies that specialize in helping women-owned small businesses, cancer treatments for women, offer gym services only to women. Emphasizing the sexes’ inequality paves the way for continued inequality and discrimination.
Let’s face it. We already know that men and women are different. Yeah, yeah, Venus, Mars, blah, blah. In a nutshell, man and women are socially and biologically segregated. Despite today’s legal forms of equality, as long as there is social, biological, or mental segregation, or there is a pursuit of sexual, social, or financial power, true equality between the sexes cannot exist.
I cannot help but agree with your mention of segregation and how it promotes inequality. I must admit I feel the same way about similar racial situations as I do about the sexual segregation. Why do we have TV stations that only air programs about their particular race? Is the NAACP really helping promote racial equality? Sure would be nice if we could all agree that people are people are people. That’s the way it is. Why is it so hard for some to swallow?