Sexism

[Lysis]

Definitely depends on environment, I see it a lot.

Yes, it does, and it might also be that IT people generally have dark humor, and that I live in South Florida, so everyone makes fun of everyone. lol It's not just Spanish, black, white it's Hatians vs blacks vs Columbians vs Cubans vs everyone, etc.

I'm not sexist, but when I see a woman driving I get out of the way.

lol I dunno...see, this just doesn't bother me.

Like it or not there are big differences between the sexes, and people have a tendency to want to categorize things in order to make sense of the world. Of course no stereotypes will be true 100% of the time, but I dont see sexism ever going away.

Some sexist stereotypes that I think are, for the most part, true.

Women are more empathetic than men.

Men are better at making things with their hands.

Women are more patient.

Men are more aggressive.

Men are more competitive.

Men are better drivers than women.

Women have better handwriting.

ect ect ect

I notice all these trends in people based on their gender. However I do my best to not judge anyone that I dont know until I can attempt to make an accurate judgement based on their behavior. It is entirely possible that any given guy will be less aggressive or a worse driver than any given woman. Danika Patrick is definitely a much better driver than 99% of teenage boys for instance.

I think that is the best way to approach stereotypes, because simply denying they exist is blinding yourself to reality.

I really dont get why some people get so offended about stereotypes...... as long as its not done in a condescending way, or a stereotype for negative behavior.

Love this post. We *are* different than our male counterparts, and personally, I like it that way. I like bringing something to the table that the other boys don't. Usually, in the workplace, I'm hired because I *am* softer than my rage-facing counterparts, and contrary to my Lounge persona, I'm super polite in the work place and can speak to users better than the men, who generally talk down to them.

 

[T. Calderone]

I do enjoy the occasional women can't drive jokes, but I'm pretty sure women as a whole statistically are less accident prone than men (atleast in people 16-25, but probably true for other age ranges as well).

I can't read all these posts. But I'm a woman and so frequently we are driving and some dumbass slams on the brakes for no apparent reason. Or pulls into the right lane and comes to a complete stop to text or talk on the phone. Maybe it's because they're from some other country hey we're in south Florida. But I complain to my son, "must be some stupid woman" and it's always is some stupid woman oblivious to road rules. The kid laughs every time because I'm right. Maybe I have an imbalance with testosterone vs. estrogen. No road rage, but truly annoying.

 

[Lysis]

^ I learned in my motorcycle class to watch out for women in SUVs and especially ones on their cell phones. LOL

 

[rangrz]

52% of Americans are female so the probability of driving near a female is quite likely and you should either abandon yput stupid patriarchal machine to charity or get the fuck off the road.

Machines are not patriarchal, male, female, racist, oppressive, or anything else of that sort. Machines are not conscious, they are not thinking. A car can be described perfectly by Newton's Laws of Motion, thermodynamics and redox chemistry. It's nothing more than an inanimate pieces of metal/plastic/glass/etc and as such can not be any more patriarchal than a can opener or a rock.

 

[Foreigner]

Love this post. We *are* different than our male counterparts, and personally, I like it that way. I like bringing something to the table that the other boys don't. Usually, in the workplace, I'm hired because I *am* softer than my rage-facing counterparts, and contrary to my Lounge persona, I'm super polite in the work place and can speak to users better than the men, who generally talk down to them.

This doesn't make sense. There are plenty of rage-filled females out there.

Saying that you are softer just because you have a vagina and men are enraged because they have a penis is blatant sexism, and the fact that you can't see that does a disservice both to men and yourself. Wouldn't it make more sense to judge yourself as an individual with certain characteristics, than chalk it all up to being a woman?

It may even be true that the majority of the men you see around you are angry people, from your personal vantage point. It's why some people think their observed stereotypes might actually be true. Except that they're not. You weren't genetically wired to have a softer personality or be more polite, that's a product of your upbringing, community, society, etc. Even if all women in society act one way and men another, it's all cultural conditioning. Observing a stereotype in motion and then conforming to it out of principle is just reinforcement of a gender role, nothing more.

It's no different than saying black people are born to be career criminals, or white people are smarter than other races. People get offended over that shit all the time, yet this whole "men are from mars and women are from venus" thing persists.

Look at 1950's America, with its white picket fences, homemaker moms and breadwinner dads. That was the social norm. Now look at the modern world. Society is fluid. Anyone can be anything for the most part. It has nothing to do with what's between their legs.

And for the record I'm not offended. I'm merely pointing out a logical fallacy, one that is often repeated.

 

[Pagey]

^I do agree with what Lysis meant, that men tend to have more rage or whatever, however IMO it's not because it's in their nature but because they've been brought up to act out like that much more than women have.
Gender's a construction anyway, but that doesn't mean there aren't noticeable differences between the genders that society has built. It's more culturally acceptable for men to have rage than it is for women. It's more culturally acceptable for women to be emotional than it is for men - so people have built on that and now in many cases, those prejudicial constructions have actually become true. However I think that in our very primal state we're exactly the same except for the obvious sexual differences.

 

[B1tO'RoughJack]

Regarding the thread, I have been working on debunk theories for the "differences" between men and women. Allegedly innate stuff, which is accepted by most of society as the truth, my most recent one regarding evolved navigational skills.

We are mammals, and act like pack animals sometimes, pairs sometimes, and lone creatures sometime - as a pair a male and female dog will hunting differently - the male will stride in a straightish line, whereas the female will slalom through the terrain around him, so they make a good team together.

I am wondering whether you can fit the same logic to navigational skills, considering as a general rule a man will take the quickest and most direct route (the shortest way from A to B is a straight line), whereas a woman generally likes to take the "scenic route".

I personally generally go for more direct, but on occasion like to take teh scenic route if I have the time and the energy needed.

^I do agree with what Lysis meant, that men tend to have more rage or whatever, however IMO it's not because it's in their nature but because they've been brought up to act out like that much more than women have.
Gender's a construction anyway, but that doesn't mean there aren't noticeable differences between the genders that society has built. It's more culturally acceptable for men to have rage than it is for women. It's more culturally acceptable for women to be emotional than it is for men - so people have built on that and now in many cases, those prejudicial constructions have actually become true. However I think that in our very primal state we're exactly the same except for the obvious sexual differences.

I agree to a certain extent that ther eis a seperative social construct BUT we have much more testosterone running through our veins than you lasses so it is naturally part of our physiology.

Great post though

 

[Beachcat]

Yeah, I agree with what Pagey said. I totally think we can biologically evolve in response to social constructs of any given time.

I also like B1tO's theories above, how true sex specific traits are bred so the male and female can complement on another...very interesting.