Thread by @JuliusGoat

A modest proposal: we should actually do this. A constitutional amendment that for 125 years, no man can hold public office. (yes we can do this with white people too)

It's the only fair way forward.

I'll show you.

Let's play basketball, men v. women.

https://twitter.com/JuliusGoat/status/1120877844228399104

Now, this isn’t going to be a usual game of basketball; there’ll be some alterations.

First, men can’t be on the court at all for the first quarter. Women get to inbound after a point and shoot again, all quarter long.

We can cheer them on!

For the second quarter, men can play, but we can only have one player from our team. It's 5 on 1.

That one player isn’t allowed to tie his shoes.

Men have sensitive feet, as is well known. Tight shoes might damage our feet permanently.

The men may struggle to do well in the 2nd.

Women are going to use our struggle as proof we really aren’t suited for sports.

Always pointing at the scoreboard.

Complaining we’re trying too hard as we play.

Suggesting that’s why we have trouble being taken seriously.

The women are going to field players whose whole purpose is to foul us hard.

They will.

The referees, mostly women, almost never seem to see the fouls.

When they do, we only get one shot.

The women wonder, if we didn't want to get fouled, why were we in the paint?

Now the third quarter is starting, and the rules are a bit more fair.

Mostly.

Score from the first half stands.

We can field a whole team if we can get the fans to vote in favor.

And we can tie our shoes.

Our baskets are worth 1.68 points.

Are you OK with this? Does it seem fair? I hope so.

Because the women are going to say this means the game is now totally fair.

Don’t complain you’re way behind on points.

It’s poor sportsmanship to complain about the past.

And don't make this about us vs. you.

Meanwhile it’s really hard getting fans to agree to let us field players.

Women will suggest fans just aren’t ready for a whole team of men.

After all, we should just field the best players no matter who they are.

It’s just sexist otherwise.

NO, the fans don’t have anything against MEN specifically. How divisive to suggest it.

It’s just … something about our demeanor. Our voices.
We just act like we’d do anything to win. So ambitious. Why don’t we smile more? No not that much.

God don’t laugh.

Your voice, ugh.

The women going to look at the scoreboard and ask: why are you blaming US for the score?

It’s not our fault we’ve scored so much more than you.

The rules are fair, after all.

Oh and we just changed the referees again and turns out now you can’t wear shoes at all in this state.

Tell me: do you want to play this game?

Does it seem unfair?

It’s *still* more fair than what we have today in America.

In the real-life scenario, men would have had to help the women score their points in the first quarter.

(and yeah we can still do this exercise w/race)

If a game’s been played unfairly for the first half, you can’t make it fair just by making it equal in the third period and playing on.

You can only make the game fair by recreating the same conditions as the first half, but reversed.

So: No men in public office for 124 years.

Mostly women aren’t asking for what’s fair, by the way. They’re just asking to make it equal in the third quarter.

We really should do that.

Part of that is understanding that our perception's guided by the first half in ways we don't even see, and working to correct that.

In the OP up top, I quoted a thread whose whole point was that if men had to experience even the thought of the structural unfairness women have been forced to endure, they would be psychologically ill-equipped.

The responses from a lot of guys did not prove that theory wrong.

Now, if you are like me, a white dude, perhaps my modest proposal seems unfair to you …

If it does, then imagine living it. How would you react?

I think — I *think* — that’s a tiny taste of what women in this country are dealing with, every day.

Something to think about.