Lots of great stuff, Ann! Thanks for sharing. :)

The hymen, as I understand it, may be there to protect a female fetus during pregnancy. (The nose and the mouth are also protected from amniotic fluid.) It's not a sign of virginity, although they happen to correlate.

Nice shout-out to Jessica in the restaurant article! Reminds me of a complaint about women getting served drinks that are significantly less potent than men, but getting charged the same.

Sadly, men DO tip better than women (ladies, listen up!), so it makes some sense to, as a waitperson, hope that a man pays. Middle-aged people tip the best. Women - if you are tipping badly because the service is lousy, write that directly on the bill and speak to management. That will demonstrate that the tip isn't about YOU, it's about the waiter.

Re: female orgasm: a lot of sexual dyfunction literature focuses on the fact that, with women, sexual dysfunction is a vicious cycle. If you don't get pleasure from encounters, you aren't as excited for physicality; that makes it harder for you to enjoy it the next time. The Chicago study just seems to restate that information in a different, and less-informed, way.

You missed a big part of the female suicide bomber article. When male suicide bombers go to Paradise, they get 72 white raisins: "The meaning of the word hur is also open to interpretation, since it reads as "white raisins" when translated as a Syriac rather than Arabic word."

Yes, raisins. Male suicide bombers are greeted at the gates of Paradise with a snack-pack of Sun-Maid.

I might add that the "white raisins" translation makes a lot more sense since scriptural Islam is pretty big on fidelity.

Keith Olbermann said "A bystander says Britney told reporters she did it because "she didn't want people touching her anymore. You're getting there, sweetheart."

I'm so disappointed in Keith!

I was a server for a lot of years, both in resturants and in casino's. I cocktailed,waited tables, bartended,and worked everywhere from fine dining to the Olive Garden and I am sorry ladies, but as a rule, women tip less! I don't know why this is, maybe bad service causes it or maybe it perpetuates bad service... I'm not sure. I have often recived horible service as a woman, especially when I have my daughter with me. My answer to this is always to stop the server (male or female) and tell them I would tip, but there service is making me think twice and can I please see the manager. Generally if I speak up and am downright rude about it I get much better service. I just think that women could do a little about this discrimination by beining proactive. Tell the server you will tip when they sit you down. Go as far as to say..."I know 15% is outdated and I never tip less than 20%" trust me you will get the same or better service than a man, and you will definitly get passed the check

Friends of mine who speak Arabic tell me it's actually 'white grapes' not 'white raisins.' Also, apparently this could be interpreted as young virgin boys, not girls.

I was a server for a lot of years, both in resturants and in casino's. I cocktailed,waited tables, bartended,and worked everywhere from fine dining to the Olive Garden and I am sorry ladies, but as a rule, women tip less! I don't know why this is, maybe bad service causes it or maybe it perpetuates bad service... I'm not sure. I have often recived horible service as a woman, especially when I have my daughter with me. My answer to this is always to stop the server (male or female) and tell them I would tip, but there service is making me think twice and can I please see the manager. Generally if I speak up and am downright rude about it I get much better service. I just think that women could do a little about this discrimination by beining proactive. Tell the server you will tip when they sit you down. Go as far as to say..."I know 15% is outdated and I never tip less than 20%" trust me you will get the same or better service than a man, and you will definitly get passed the check

First:

"It is not rational for us to think that God has placed a sign to indicate the virginity of women without having a similar sign to indicate the virginity of men,"

Hell's yeah.

Women may not get these particular perks, but religious commentaries argue that paradise will make them beautiful, happy, and without jealousy.

That is really what caught my attention. If this really is the case (instead of white raisins/grapes/young boys) then I find it sad that the patriarchy has to keep women in check even in the afterlife. They have to be loyal to their husbands and instead of getting the same treatment (virgins of their own) they have to still serve men and essentially suck it up. Although apparently Heaven sees fit to neuter (for lack of a better word) the women of their real emotions (jealously) in order for this to work for the men.

Sad, very sad.

Feminist review, I believe the word for virgin young boys is GHELMAN. Heaven is full of lovely young boys, but I believe those are also in the service of men, which is weird considering that homosexuality is a sin.

UltraMagnus, one definitely need sto be “without jealousy� if one is to share a man with a couple thousand other women. The question is will she ever get any dick?

"The question is will she ever get any dick?"

From her husband. And that's ONLY if she's at the top of his list at the moment. Gotta fight the rest of those virgins don't cha know.

sojourner, it depends if you're looking at syriac-influenced arabic or not. that's one of the reasons for the debate, but i'm not an expert. :)

Ugh, who would want to sleep with all those virgins anyway? No offense meant to virgins (my best friend is a virgin!), but virginity is NOT a quality I look for in a lover. I like to sleep with someone who knows what he/she is doing.

White grapes on the other hand... hmm, grapes sound nice. I like grapes.

Grapes, raisins... does it matter? You only have 72 of them for all eternity. If you're going to blow yourself up, you should at least get an entire meal out of it.

Or, better yet, at least a vineyard. That way, you can make wine from the grapes.... >

Pssh, even if the afterlife did exist, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have a body there. Yay raisins.

Oenophile, what do you mean by protecting the nose and mouth from amniotic fluid? The fetus drinks the amniotic fluid! Try reading up a bit before commenting.

I am also a server and I've found that women do tend to tip less than men. I have absolutely no idea why this happens. There are many exceptions and I've gotten good tips from women, but men are much more likely to leave a decent tip.

I try to avoid "sexist service" at all cost, such as treating the man as the host and handing him the check. However, when I do drop the check, I can't help but hope that the man at the table is the one who will pick up the tab.

I don't think that I discriminate in my service either. I want *all* of my customers to have a great experience in my restaurant, regardless of how much of tip I think they might leave. I've been a feminist long before I started waiting tables and was surprised to notice how poorly many women tip.

Actually, cut down the snark. We're both correct.

At early stages of development, the mouth is closed. Also, the vagina is sealed shut by the hymen, which gradually thins as pregnancy progesses:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug97/866064393.An.r.html

Considering that I'm not wrong, your snarkiness is a bit misplaced. Try reading up a bit before trashing someone, will ya?

Fish~
When I go out with my female friends, I feel like i have to browbeat them into leaving a decent tip. Often, the price of my meal doubles as I cough up the extra money - and often for mediocre service.

This rule falls apart when I'm with women who have waited tables. They always leave at least 20%.

Dear Dolce & Gabanna,

You are NOT Caravaggio.

Pull the ad please.

Sincerely,

The Unamused

And how is this for arrogant?: "'We will only withdraw this photo from the Spanish market. They're a bit behind the times,' La Vanguardia newspaper quoted the Milan-based fashion house as saying.

Ugh, who would want to sleep with all those virgins anyway?

Sexually insecure men. After all, virgins don't know that penises come in larger sizes or are capable of staying erect more than a few minutes.

Re: Tipping
I usually tip 20% (or as close as possible to it, rounding up) partly because I know waitstaff put up with a lot of crap, but also because it's easier to work out what 10% is and then double it. (I'm lazy and I hate percentages.) I think people tend to blame waitstaff for things they have no control over, like how long the food takes to cook, which is a stupid reason to shaft them on the tip. In my opinion, if they got your order right and it made it to the table unscathed, they've done their job and deserve a tip.

Re: Keith Olbermann
I can't really bring myself to reject him entirely; he's been saying a lot of things that the rest of the MSM really ought to be saying, but aren't. I'd be happier if someone less sexist was saying it, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. I sure as hell wouldn't advise any self-respecting woman to date him.

I used to wait tables and I feel like everybody should have to for some mandatory short period of time. I have known a couple of cheap women tippers but also a couple of cheap men. I tend to stop eating out with friends who under-tip. If I have to diplomatically mention more than once that a $14 tab does not come out to $16 "after taxes and tip," I'm not going out with that person again. My biggest gripe - people who claim they're "bad at math," as the reason for why they don't leave the right amount. I'm thinking specifically of another woman who worked in the sex industry, who I stopped eating out with. Funny, she was never bad at math when it came to what clients owed HER.

I had a tipping situation come up just Sunday. I took my boyfriend out to lunch. The service was okay. Not attention-getting, but not bad. I had intended to leave a decent tip. Then the waiter brought back the credit card and ticket (which he had picked up from my side of the table) and returned it to my boyfriend. My credit card has an obviously feminine name on it, the card had never been anywhere near my boyfriend. And yet the waiter just assumed that he was paying. I immediately dropped the tip I'd been planning on leaving by half. I'm usually a good tipper, but that's one of my hot-buttons.

Makes me wish that restaurants would calculate the total with 15% and 20% tip on the bottom - I've seen it done once or twice - so that people who are "bad at math" or just kind of guess and don't care (really the issue) would at least know when they are stiffing someone.

Makes me wish that American restaurants paid waiters a living wage.

Yeah, I was going to mention the minimum wage issue, which most people don't know about. (Min. wage for tipped employees is something like $2.63/hour, federally.) If the waiter doesn't make minimum wage with tips, the employer has to make up the difference. My understanding is that some employers do total tips during the week and total hours worked, so that if a waiter is short on one shift but works a night shift and makes it up, the restaurant doesn't have to pay.

California, however, lacks that exception:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_MinimumWage.htm

That's what I always think, Alon.

Kimmy, I've had that happen to me, too, a few times. The worst was this: I went out for dinner with my friend and my boyfriend, and at the end of the meal, I asked for the check. The waiter put it down by my boyfriend. So I took it from him, and then I stuck my debit card in it, and the waiter picked it up from my side. A few minutes later, he came back to tell my boyfriend that they don't take debit, so I pulled out my credit card and handed it to him. When he came back again, he gave the receipt to my boyfriend.

At this point, we were laughing about how this guy had to be in SERIOUS denial, but it definitely took a toll on his tip.

Here's the interesting thing: I'm a brown woman. My best friend is a black woman. My boyfriend is a white man. So was this sexism, racism, or both?

Cheese curds are even better when breaded and deep fried. Anyone who is either living or will ever visit WI has to go to Tom's drive-in in the Fox Valley area or a specific a stand at the State Fair that sells them. It's like a little bit of heaven. But,ouch, my cholesterol!

"the myth that granting teens abortion rights is actually protecting pedophiles."

Right. Because nothing helps a kid recover from being sexually abused like forcing her to bear a child against her will.

I don't know about this whole women as bad tippers thing, mainly becuase all my girlfriends usually try to tip 20% (at least 15% becuase we are in college and poor). Perhaps since waitressing is a primarily female job (I don't know the stats on this one though) males are more likely to tip them well for that fact rather then females who aren't looking at their waitresses as females. I don't know this is just a theory I'm pointing out there. It would be interesting to see if the "attractiveness" of the waitress or waiter changes the amount of tips given. Hmm this is giving me ideas for my thesis paper.

Ugh, who would want to sleep with all those virgins anyway?

Sexually insecure men. After all, virgins don't know that penises come in larger sizes or are capable of staying erect more than a few minutes.

Yep, virgins are not only sexually undesirable but they also have no idea that there are different types of penises and not all men are minute men!

stupid virgins.

I'm with you, Alon. People expect to get serviced and then they're the ones who get to say whether the person serving them makes enough to live on or not? Out of "generosity" or lack thereof? How 'bout if a person doesn't think dining out should include the expense, built in, of being waited on, the fuckers eat at home? That's what I do when I'm too broke to be able to afford 20% tips with my food.

I know Americans have this view of French waiters as being really horrible, but in reality, even in Paris the service is pretty good. It may not be so good if you speak with an American accent, but that's something else...

Liz-

I don't think women *are* bad tippers, I'm certainly not and neither are my friends. But bad tippers are more likely to be female, which is weird.

I think that men are actually more often to give male servers the benefit of the doubt when something goes wrong. If the food's late and the server is male, the kitchen's probably backed up. If the food's late and the server is female, she's scatter-brained and a bad server. I don't mean to say that this is the rule by any means, I just think a lot of men are more forgiving towards male servers.

I would be curious to know how much "attractiveness" factors into it too. I a flirtatious personality would earn much more in tips than attractiveness alone- you know, the Hooter's style of service.

And one more thing- since when did men start paying women more just because their women?

Sexist or not, Olbermann's just a liberal version of Rush Limbaugh. People who listen to him are dittoheads who need to be told what to think.