I don't like Michael Noer - and I've never even met him

Forbes Magazine published an opinion piece by Michael Noer entitled "Don't Marry Career Women." He advises men to steer clear of feminists and working women and educated women, especially those "career girls" with a university-level (or higher)education and make more than $30,000 a year.

Michael Noer uses published findings by social scientists to argue that marriages are more stable when women are less educated and don't work.

"Well, despite the fact that the link between work, women and divorce rates is complex and controversial, much of the reasoning is based on a lot of economic theory and a bit of common sense. In classic economics, a marriage is, at least in part, an exercise in labor specialization. "

Here the cart is leading the horse. The explanations are not drawn from the data. They are draped across the data. The same arguments that we have heard over and over again to justify restricting a women's world to a domestic one. When's the last time you've observed the world to conform to classic economic theory?

It is embarassing and infuritating to have a magazine like Forbes pay someone like Michael Noer to write an opinion piece that blames women for the ills of society, that blames women for high divorce rates, that blames women for infidelity, and blames women for their own unhappiness and the unhappiness of men.

It takes two to tango.

What Mr. Noer glosses over (even while mentioning in passing) in the midst of all of this research is :

"A few other studies, which have focused on employment (as opposed to working hours) have concluded that working outside the home actually increases marital stability, at least when the marriage is a happy one. But even in these studies, wives' employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of "low marital quality." " (my italices)

Which suggests to me that marriages are stable when they are happy. And perhaps a happy marriage in whatever configuration is a rare and precious thing.

The difference between yesterday and today is that women have the option to leave unhappy marriages. They are not forced by economic inequity to stay in unhappy marriages.

That to me is a good thing.

Forbes Magazine and Michael Noer can suck my ass. Sexist Fucktards. Both of them disappoint me.