No I don't personally know very many men who have gone to jail over child support. My point in my references was the fact that it is the law that men can go to jail for not paying.
So too can women go to jail for not paying child support.
I also pointed out the unfairness of actual laws that are on the books, which I referenced. That is what angers me. That is what I think needs changed. I know it's the law in WV because I'm friends with the family court judge in the county.
I'm not an expert on the law, but I do know most judges and law makers are trying to do what is in the best interest of the children. We don't live in a perfect world but our current system and family law is about 1000 times better than it used to be. We are just at the very beginning of a society that accepts women as fully human and recognizes the needs of children... at the very beginning. After five thousand years it is only in the last few decades that we are seeing a semblance of equality.
No I don't know exact men, except one, who have gone to jail for failure to pay child support, but I do know that it's the law.
As it is for anyone who doesn't pay child support, men or women. The fact is that more men make more money than do women hence they are more numerous but the law is not exclusive to men. I know women who pay child support, men who have sole custody of their children, and every sort of mixture in between. Often there are no really great solutions.
To me that's more telling than if I knew a 100 men in jail for not paying child support. Yes, men who fail to pay child support should be sent to collection agencies. My issue is with the division of direct care responsibilities and the child support amounts ordered in the first place and also how those funds are audited and managed. There is no hyperbole in any of this. It's the truth.
For every case you can come up with I could show you a hundred where the women and children are screwed. It is getting better but in many cases there are no good solutions. Often in divorce everyone is unhappy... especially the children. I think you see a very limited view of what occurs in divorce. Rather than look at a few cases that may support your theories, perhaps you could look at thousands and notice common patterns.
While I admittedly don't have flawless documentation, I don't think I'm exaggerating all that much. Yes, sometimes women get the short end of the stick in relationships with immoral and selfish men, but I think it's more often the other way around.
Again, I think you are looking for the rare bit of evidence to support your already angry view toward women. Few women benefit financially from a divorce. In fact it is the rare exception that a woman would divorce to get money because the reality is in the vast majority of cases her living arrangements become worse. Most women divorce knowing they will become less financially stable.
Let me give you a very common example. A father has been working for a company for twenty years and makes 100,000 dollars a year. The mom stays home, gives up her career to raise their children. The husband runs off with his co-worker. Now, how much money should a woman get in a divorce? She has to BEGIN her career at age 45, working often for minimum wage, and often having to pay for child care. She may get a few hundred dollars a month for her children until they are eighteen, (which may or may not be paid), and a token alimony payment for a few years, then what? The husband OTOH, goes on with his life career, and doesn't look back. He pays a few hundred dollars a month, sees his children every other weekend, get remarried, and life goes on. HIS lifestyle gets better, in terms of finances, while the woman's get considerably worse.
This is the reality for the vast majority of cases in the United States. Are there exceptions, of course. Are there times men get screwed, yes. But lets be real here and look at what is really going on.
Yes I admit that information from a party hurt in a divorce is biased. My contention is that family courts themselves are very secretive, almost like the LDS church on finance, and I think they do this specifically to avoid public scrutiny. To me there is something really backward about such secrecy. The public should have a right to know all the details so that we can vote responsibly and not blindly.
I don't know what this is about. I know of no cases that support this conspiracy idea.
So if we can, let's move on to my question of feminist and masculinist uniting under gender egalitarianism. Do you believe that to be a good thing? As stated by TD I have no problem with what the feminists are asking for. Do you have any problem with what the masculinists are asking for as stated on Wikipedia under "Father's rights."
Gender egalitarianism is a much more enlightened way of life, in my opinion. It is reflective of my beliefs.
As I stated, I think men have gotten the short end of the stick in the past as well, not from the law or religion which has clearly be horrifically degrading and damaging to women, but from society that has produced a very unhealthy image of what is a man. I am happy it is changing.
~dancer~