Do you think boys care about conflict diamonds?

interesting points.

i would argue that it is both. in any relationship of two people, the two people always share responsibility of how their relationship is. and in the society - all the members shape and influence the society they make up. so it is both male and females attitudes and behaviors shaping this model - BUT - it was begun by and as such one may say is mostly perpetuated by men.

if men did not want to dominate women and would not assign them a fixed place in society (that of fragile, to be cared for but unable to care for themselves) then women would not assume that position either. if you look at history - there were always women who did not want to be subservient to men and who fought against their assigned role in the society - either by various forms of protests or simply by refusing to fall into conventional "traps" of that time such as marriage and becoming a housewife. BUT those women were always ostracized and marginalized - mostly by men. women were pretty much slaves and any act of 'rebellion' was shunned and ostracized. would you really blame the rest of the slaves who did not rise up? who merely accepted the position assigned to them in their society? probably not, they did it for their lives and to live better than they would have had they rebelled. but some slaves just as some women did rise up. which is why we are where we are now. but the road is very long still, mostly because many women can't shake off so many years of being told who they are and what they ought to do. so we know now that men and women are equal, that they are capable of doing the same things, that a man is able to weep and a woman able to fight, that he can raise kids and she can work, they they can each live independently and both can take care of themselves - but the hundreds of years of the certain model imprinted in our societies, the generational traditions of women cooking and raising kids and men being the breadwinner told and 'taught' to us by our parents, grandparents, etc - take their toll. which is basically why there are women out there - and many of them - who do perpetuate this model of women as fragile and unable to take care for themselves.

and wanting a diamond ring for engagement - doesn't only perpetuate the stereotype of a woman as fragile and ornamental but also a woman as stupid and ignorant, not to mention shallow (but i guess the last one isn't typically only female related)

I have one word for you: potlatch.

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