Yesterday, the New York Times‘ Cahterine Rampell detailed how the current recession has nearly achieved a “bittersweet” parity between the genders in the workforce—-because men are more likely to lose their jobs than women in hard times. Rampell accompanies her analysis with this graph:
Commenters on the Times’ Web site offered celebration, concern, and schoolyard commentary:
“Great …they can pay for dinner, vacation, etc,” wrote one commenter, writing under the name “$“.
“Careful lest people think you not only want gains for women, but losses for men. As long as women are ahead, it’s all good!” snarked another.
And the inevitable: “Is it just a coincidence that the first chart looks like a horizontal phallic symbol?”
Sigh. Of COURSE the “mancession” yields clearly phallic statistical data! If there’s any silver lining to men losing, it’s that they’ll have a lot more time on their hands to uncover all the secret penis line drawings hidden in everyday objects. Too bad only I get paid to do shit like that!