I never thought I'd say that there's a downside to not being oppressed.

No, I don't want to be stripped of my job, my salary, my degree, my right to vote or any freedoms I enjoy.

I do want to be able to explain to a 9-year-old girl in terms she will understand why I think it's OK for boys to wear shirts that revel in their superiority over girls.

The T-shirts became an issue when my daughter Cornia begged me to buy her mom an "I beat your dad at Mario Kart" shirt as a testament to my poor video game skills.

Ha, ha, ha.

I struck back and suggested we buy her brother a shirt that said "Girls are stupid."

"That's so offensive," Cornia complained. "Why are they so mean? You have to write about it."

In general, I support a boy's right to offend any member of the opposite sex who happens to cross his path. In fact, I'd much rather see a little boy wearing a shirt that mocks girls than one that turns them on.

That's not a conversation I'm willing to have with a 9-year-old, though, so I used the equality argument instead.

The problem is that even smart girls like Cornia sometimes have a hard time seeing the big picture.

Men have made big strides in the past few decades, but women still dominate when it comes to high-level and highly-paid positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Maybe tomorrow's men will be propelled further faster if they obliterate the inferiority complex that apparently persists in some boys, especially when it comes to subjects like math and science. This "girls are stupid" thinking could lead to the obvious conclusion: Boys are smart.

Unfortunately, there was no way for me to bring this home to a girl who lives in a world full of bright and successful men, including her teacher, principal, doctors and even the governor.

Her parents both have male supervisors and so does she. That would be me.

In Cornia's eyes, I'm the primary authority figure. She could be sitting six feet away from her mom and she'll still get up to find me in another room to open a container, help her with her homework or answer a question, except, of course, if it deals with video games.

My second-in-command is her bossy little brother, whose powerful personality forces all of us to bend to his whims and wiles.

So don't try telling Cornia that it's men who need to catch up. In her world, it's the women who are lagging behind.

It's not fair, she says, because everyone knows that girls are smarter than boys.

Uh-huh ... And she wonders why I support a boy's right to put girls in their place.