American Bedu points out that while Saudi women can't drive or visit a graveyard, they can own property and businesses. Here's our list of the rights and restrictions for women here in the US of A.

American women can:

— drive
— vote
— run for President
— be really rich (but it helps if you're a Walton)
— join the Navy
— compete in the Olympics (but not in boxing)
— top the New York Times Best Seller List
— become men

American women cannot:

— walk alone at night without fear of being assaulted
— buy birth control pills without a prescription (except Plan B)
— marry another woman (except in Massachusetts and Connecticut)
— be a Navy SEAL
— play professional baseball
— get fat without apologizing for it
— look plain without getting shit for it
— look hot or get drunk without "asking for it"

Now add your own!

What Saudi women can and cannot do [American Bedu]

The "Don'ts": Don't become your boyfriend's therapist; don't get friends to lobby on your behalf; don't withhold sex to teach him a lesson; don't go public with your desire to get hitched; and don't have an emotional breakdown at a wedding. The "Dos": Talk about expectations (duh?); spend time with happily married couples; remove the "barrier" keeping him from proposing (like if he says he can't afford the ring, tell him you don't need one); create some dependency; and, of course, issue an ultimatum. No, really. Uscher-Pines says: "An ultimatum isn't manipulative if you think about it." Um: Bullshit.

The whole fucking thing is manipulative. This part:

"Get him to depend on you a little bit," she says, "and then show him what life is like without this benefit." Cook him a gourmet meal every night and then stop. Pay bills and then stop. Get his car inspected and then stop.

is so insane! Does this make you someone a guy wants to marry? Or an inconsistent bitch? And as for "initiating a major life change," like saying that you want to go to grad school or move to a new city — sure, it's supposed to jolt the guy into realizing how much he cares about you and make him suddenly want to pop the question. But what kind of person are you if you make up some life-changing event you have no intention of following through with, just to get married? (Uscher-Pines claims: "It's just saying, 'This is what I'm going to do. So what are you going to do about it?'")

And here's the ultimate manipulation: Selling women a book that promises to "get" men to marry them. Why can't the woman ask the man to marry her (and ditch him if he doesn't want to tie the knot)? How come one of the things on the "Do" list isn't "realize that having a ring on your finger isn't necessarily something you should be wasting energy on or swindling someone into" ?

Make Your Moove [NY Post]

Do strike a jaunty pose in a striking asymmetrical knockout like indie darlin' Patricia Clarkson.
Don't show so much cleavage, like designer Cynthia Rowley , that no one can talk to you comfortably all evening.
Do make sure you can walk.

Don't wear a skull bracelet over the age of 16, like director Isabel Coixet.
Do avoid Miami Vice-style blazers like Eva Amurri's that dominate your ensemble.
Don't attempt needlessly bulky bubble-hem tunic tops like actress Jurnee Smollett's.
....and never do anything former fashion icon Debbie Harry is doing in this picture.

[Images via Getty, Filmmagic]

You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy. You laughed at his consideration and resented his devotion. You valued the aloof boyfriend more than the attentive "just-a-" friend. Eventually, he took the hint and moved on with his life.

He probably came to realize, one day, that women aren't really attracted to guys who hold doors open; or make dinners just because; or buy you a Christmas gift that you mentioned, in passing, that you really wanted five months ago; or listen when you're upset; or hold you when you cry. He came to realize that, if he wanted a woman like you, he'd have to act more like the boyfriend that you had. He probably cleaned up his look, started making some money, and generally acted like more of an asshole than he ever wanted to be.

Fact is, now, he's probably getting laid, and in a way, your ultimate rejection of him is to thank for that. And I'm sorry that it took the complete absence of "nice guys" in your life for you to realize that you missed them and wanted them. Most women will only have a handful of nice guys stumble into their lives, if that.

So, if you're looking for a nice guy, here's what you do:

1.) Build a time machine.
2.) Go back a few years and pull your head out of your ass.
3.) Take a look at what's right in front of you and grab ahold of it.

I suppose the other possibility is that you STILL don't really want a nice guy, but you feel the social pressure to at least appear to have matured beyond your infantile taste in men. In which case, you might be in luck, because the nice guy you claim to want has, in reality, shed his nice guy mantle and is out there looking to unleash his cynicism and resentment onto someone just like you.

If you were five years younger.

You know, on second thought I'm thinking this particular "Reformed Nice Guy" isn't telling you anything that your average Reformed Nice Guy wouldn't himself volunteer, so you're not too likely to get hurt by him, since he'll be pretty convincing when he tells you he's emotionally unavailable and consumed by his hate for women, although I've never been the type of girl who felt like I could "change" a dude, although if you are that type of girl you should probably learn right now that you're stupid. Don't ever date the "Reformed Nice Guy"! He's "broken." And probably broke.

But you can learn something from his incredible feat of determination and powers of repression: develop some of your own, because dudes are worse than girls.

What Happened To All The Nice Guys? [Craigslist]
Related: Nice Guy [Wikipedia]

[Malibu, CA; June 25. Image via X17]