I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: lord save us from the entertainers. Apparently, entertaining us and getting all sorts of attention isn’t enough. Lately they seem unable to resist telling us who to vote for and what kinds of cars to drive. The latest in this long and ridiculously annoying trend is Sally Field. During her Emmy acceptance speech last month she began by praising mothers and drifted to politics:

If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn’t be any goddamned wars in the first place.

The amusing part is that the Fox censors cut her off in the middle of ‘goddamned.’

The annoying part is she either wasn’t thinking, or seriously believes there would be no wars if women ruled the world. Can she really be so clueless? Oh yea … entertainer. Never mind.

In general, I don’t believe women are as aggressive as men. Women won’t go out of their way to cause conflict the way some men will. On the other hand, mess with a woman’s shit, and her reaction will be comparable to any man’s. Even worse, make trouble with a mother’s child and she’ll fuck you up, whether in an instant of fury, or by inches over time.

I’m no expert on culture or psychology, but I think the cause is social. It’s okay and even expected that men will be aggressive. Society expects women not to show aggression. So when two guys have it out, a punch in the face is an acceptable conclusion. Women don’t do this, but the aggression needs to come out somehow. Men have a distinct societal advantage in this case. Women need more latitude because the only thing worse than expressing aggression is bottling-up aggression.

Of course communication is the best way to resolve conflict, but talk doesn’t always lead to resolution. The sex of those in conflict doesn’t change things, whether Sally admits it or not.