Oh, I agree. Should I ever have a son (daughter, also - girls rule!), respecting women will be the default setting. I come from a family of strong women, as does my wife.

  I agree that respecting women should be taught from the beginning. I also agree with the general sentiment of this thread that a lot of guys are jerks. No doubt about it.

  But let's be fair, ladies. You're not always perfect either. There are a lot of very nice guys that I've known over the years (myself included) who have suffered terribly at the hands of selfish, mean spirited women as well.

  The problem of bad behavior towards others lies within human nature. It's not exclusive to any particular gender.

I think a lot of guys aren't jerks...they just don't know how to communicate. Lots of problems come from mixed messages and assumptions.

A lot of truth in a first post (Welcome!). I remember from a communications course that on a basic verbal level, men place more emphasis on the literal meaning of words, while women focus more on implied meaning surrounding the words.

Example: "You look fine"

Man hears: "I look acceptable." The end.

Woman hears: "You could look better or worse."

Very crude, unscientific example, I'm sorry. But when you think that males and females can't agree what words mean all the time and then add in body language, context, situationals, cultures, etc. it's no wonder the male/female divide has been the topic of so much debate and ponderance.

haha. this thread is amazing.
you all cheered me up. hehe, thanks.
guys are big dumbys.
at least until they're out of high school.
the teen dating world needs to come to an end.

ha ha. it takes quite a bit after high school for them to grow up...

and for all you nice guys, of course you exist. guys and gals can both be terrible. but we shouldn't get too mad over it.

I remember from a communications course that on a basic verbal level, men place more emphasis on the literal meaning of words, while women focus more on implied meaning surrounding the words.

Example: "You look fine"

Man hears: "I look acceptable." The end.

Woman hears: "You could look better or worse."

Very crude, unscientific example, I'm sorry. But when you think that males and females can't agree what words mean all the time and then add in body language, context, situationals, cultures, etc. it's no wonder the male/female divide has been the topic of so much debate and ponderance.

This reminds me of a country-type song I only heard once but would like to find. It was called "He Said/She Heard" and it was about this sort of (non) communication.

He said, "We need to talk"
She heard, "It's over"
He said, "I need some time to think"
She heard, "I don't love you anymore."
and all like that.

I'm not sure the guys I know (or the one I married) would ever initiate a conversation with the phrase "We need to talk", since at least in Spain that to a man is the knell of doom.... ;)

Haha...yeah I've NEVER heard a man initiate a conversation with hey "we need to talk".  I think usually they act in a way that provokes a woman to say that, and then it goes from there.