@Sam:
But in reality, since a frum man will presumably not go against Halacha, he is just as tied down as a woman is.
To use a completely irrelevant example, if someone wants to go to an NFL playoff game but can’t because it’s Shabbos, he is no more prevented from doing so than one who can’t go to a game in Week 5 because it’s Sukkos – even though one is a ???? ???? and one is “only” a ???, someone who follows Halacha will not do either, and is thus at just as much of a “disadvantage”.