Gramsci scurried for cover. "What now?" he asked timidly.
"Well, JayPee would have us believe that men are mere victims, deprived of agency, in their relationships with women, despite all appearances to the contrary. It's almost as if he's wanting to generate some sympathy for the things!"
Gramsci could see he certainly wasn't getting any from the Cow. "But what makes you so certain he's wrong?" he ventured tentatively.
The Cow rolled her eyeballs dramatically. "Well," she said, "if that was the case, they wouldn't act like such genitalia with such impunity!"
Gramsci dared not ask. He knew he was going to hear, anyway.
"Take the man at the airport, for example. After *yet another* security gauntlet, I was sitting at Gate 27A repacking everything into my laptop bag, when this guy sits down next to me and starts chatting about nothing in particular. Separating my cables was rather more interesting, so I didn't pay terribly much attention. Then he asked me to watch his bags, and scurried off.
"A little later he returned with a woman, holding hands. After sitting down, he proceeded to ignore her, and resumed chatting to me. I resumed ignoring him. She tried to get his attention and finally succeeded, at which point he asked me where I was flying to. I told him, he burst out laughing, and told me his wife had thought they were in the wrong place, and were about to fly to Turkey by mistake.The poor woman started blushing, which gave him more reason to tease her - 'She's blushing now! See how silly she can be!'
"Fortunately boarding started soon after that, and I was among the first seats they called. Thanks to the Butler, I had a wonderful seat - acres of leg room, an aisle seat and best of all, no one next to me.Or next to that one.
"But not for long. The man decided, on seeing the seats free, that they'd rather sit there. His wife, having just settled into her seat, was clearly reluctant, and wanted to be closer to the window. He argued loudly that she'd not see anything - it was an overnight flight - and there was so much more space in the empty seats.
"Just as it looked inevitable, I was saved - some woman appeared in the aisle and asked timidly if she might sit next to me. She'd been seated next to a restless baby, and thought it best for all if she moved. I happily assented, and she sat down - just as the man finally dragged his wife out of her seat and started across.
"He was visibly unhappy to see one of the seats taken, and got really grumpy with his wife, and her eyes were still red and swollen when we got into Cape Town."
"And so on the basis of a single incident..." began Gramsci.
"Gmf!" exploded the Cow. "If JayPee was right, men as a class would be oppressed, and _no_ man would step out of line like that! The woman would have had him under her thumb, and chatting up stray women in airports would not have been on the 'permitted' list. Nor would humiliating her, or bullying her!"
Gramsci chuckled. "But don't you see? That just illustrates JayPee's point! It *looks* as though he's in control - but she got her way in the end, didn't she?"
The Cow felt her blood pressure rocket - if only she had a copy of "Men are from Mars" to thwack him with. But then, that would probably just prove his point...