Why Is It Feminist Heresy To Acknowledge The Evidence That There Are Biological Sex Differences?
As a mountain of ev psych research finds, there are differences in male and female psychology that correspond to the differences in our physiology.
But feminist academia -- and many feminists, in general -- are in aggressive denial of these differences, claiming that culture makes us who we are.
The implication: If we just melt all the Barbies, all will be well in the world ("well" meaning that men will be humiliated and forced to do the dishes and women will be corporate presidents).
Well, my dad told me I could do anything boys could do -- but, because my dad is a practical, sensible guy, I think there was a caveat there, "within reason." That's how I always took it. I didn't think I could go work on an oil rig or anything.
This isn't to say I'm weak. I have very strong legs but what I call "T-Rex arms" -- meaning that many 8-year-old girls could kick my ass in any mud-wrestling contest.
Eight-year-old boys? That goes without saying.
Oh, and here's how the 15-year-old boys do. Against the grown-ass women.
US Women's soccer team loses 5-2 to under-15 boys team FC Dallas: https://t.co/MJK8gkxekK
— John Durant (@johndurant) April 9, 2017
@YeyoZa tweeted that link with this perfect wry comment:
Gender is just a social construct https://t.co/sUNnKTyQHu
— Yeyo (@YeyoZa) April 9, 2017
The outcome here may also reflect, among other things, research on sex differences that suggests that boys are natural competitors in a way girls are not.
Boys are comfortable in hierarchies and in contests against one other and in one boy being better than the other in a way girls are not.
Women, on the other hand -- who tend to bond through sharing vulnerabilities not being all "I rule!" -- tend to go all mean girl on any girls who stands out above the rest, as psychologist Joyce Benenson points out in her excellent book on sex differences, Warriors and Worriers.
Wait, you mean that 110-lb woman beating up that 225-lb guy in last night's action movie was faked? I feel so violated.
Conan the Grammarian at April 9, 2017 7:00 AM
Guys invented uniforms and are ok with going to a social function wearing the same black suit as all the other guys. Guys will elect a leader because a group with a leader is stronger.
If the differences were simply social custom, then there should be random differences around the world. Very few of those exist. Men like sports and fighting all over the world.
What kind of movement seeks to convince women that having a family represents failure?
cc at April 9, 2017 7:23 AM
Tell me again about equality between the sexes.
Conan the Grammarian at April 9, 2017 8:06 AM
Their level of play will improve once all of the trans-women supplant them.
Stinky the Clown at April 9, 2017 10:09 AM
And this is why I am in favor of dropping all of the pretenses and (publicly) legalize the use of anabolic steroids in professional sports.
For once Tennis matches would be interesting, specially the part where the second half of the match becomes a Mixed Martial Arts combat.
Sixclaws at April 9, 2017 12:06 PM
What kind of movement seeks to convince women that having a family represents failure?
cc at April 9, 2017 7:23 AM
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None that I know of.
One COULD, however, call it a failure when someone, male or female, does something only to stop the nagging of parents, religious authorities, and misery-loves-company friends - such as having a child. Especially if that person regrets it, sooner or later. (Very few people are going to admit such regret under their real names. Doesn't mean there aren't millions of them.)
In the same vein (sort of) comedian George Burns said, in a May 13, 1983 interview:
"...I told you from the age of 7 to 27, people told me I was a flop. The audience told me to retire when I was 15. But I didn't want to retire. Every elephant looks alike. But every elephant has its own personality. I was an elephant who wanted to find itself in show business. An elephant who'd rather be a failure in an arena he loved than be a successful elephant in another place. Know what I think failure is? If you're a dress salesman and you're good but if you hate selling dresses, that's failure."
lenona at April 9, 2017 4:14 PM
Oh, yes - to build on that last statement, one obviously cannot afford to be a failure as a parent just because one always WANTED to be a parent. So choosing parenthood obviously needs much more cautious consideration than choosing any other career.
And for all the hysterical rumors of women "regretting" the childfree lifestyle once they hit 70 or so, I doubt there are more than a handful of such individuals. Otherwise, they just want the fun without the dirty work. That's not real regret. Whereas if you want children and find, at age 30, that you or your spouse is hopelessly sterile, chances are that person was always sterile anyway, so it's not the same as foolishly waiting until you're 40 to have kids - and at that age, it wouldn't be easy to adopt a kid either.
In other words, no one "forgets" to have children. Either they didn't want them, didn't want to adopt kids, were too poor, or too unpopular to find a good mate.
lenona at April 9, 2017 4:27 PM
lenona: All the feminism textbooks define marriage as oppression of women. This is what is being taught in colleges. They claim that it is only the patriarchy that forces women into marriage against their wishes. Just because you haven't read them doesn't mean that I am wrong. Check out the anti-male, anti-patriarchy signs held during women's marches.
cc at April 10, 2017 7:31 AM
"All"? I REALLY wouldn't bet on it - even if only stated ambiguously. (How many textbooks can you name, percentage-wise, where that idea is stated in so many words? No, the slim booklet of Valerie Solanas doesn't count as a textbook - she was mentally ill and her work was pretty much always considered to be satire.) It would help if you'd name some of those textbooks and which pages to flip to - but again, the percentage of textbooks is what really matters.
Letting girls know they don't HAVE to marry or have children if they don't want to is not the same as hostility toward marriage or parenthood. Also, as I mentioned in another thread, no one accuses priests or nuns of being selfish for not having/wanting children - but that's likely because they're not supposed to have sex. You can't accuse them of being anti-marriage either, even though St. Paul, IIRC, said it's better to stay single and celibate if you can. It's the people who DO have sex and deliberately avoid parenthood who are often condemned as selfish and hostile to "real marriage," even if they marry. It's hardly surprising that feminists would call THAT an oppression of women. (Not to mention that even an unmarried woman who's on the Pill - a method used mainly by those in long-term relationships - will often get labeled a slut, even if she's only had one partner her entire adult life.)
Also, MANY well-known feminists have married (sometimes more than once) and stayed married to their last husbands, at least. Four I can name are Gloria Steinem, Wendy Kaminer, Katha Pollitt, and Susan Faludi. Kate Millett, Susan Estrich and Barbara Ehrenreich were divorced from their last husbands, but that hardly means they were anti-marriage - maybe the HUSBANDS were anti-marriage?
lenona at April 10, 2017 8:40 AM
"Wait, you mean that 110-lb woman beating up that 225-lb guy in last night's action movie was faked? "
No kidding. Lately there is seldom an evening of TV watching that goes by without an example of the dressed-in-yoga-pants petite woman, who simply leaps and kicks the guy (who has about 10" and 120 lbs. on her) in the face. Game over. He doesn't even move. Can't help but wonder how many young girls see that kind of thing, over and over, and get wildly unrealistic ideas about what they can accomplish in hand-to-hand combat with a guy. How many of them find out the truth the hard way?
I was reading a blog post on Acculturated the other night, which linked to Dr. T's stuff, on how some men are emotionally abused by their spouses. One thing that stood out to me was that the author of the Acculturated article had to include a mea culpa simply for addressing the topic, and even then, she got "how-dare-you" responses from some of the commenters.
Cousin Dave at April 10, 2017 11:12 AM
Naomi Wolf was also married for 12 years. Gloria Allred was married twice. Also, staying single one's entire life does not prove hostility toward marriage - I assume Amy isn't hostile toward it.
Oh, and I forgot to say - while it's true that while many gay men and women were somewhat anti-marriage for years, on the ground that it was too "heteronormative" - Dan Savage has written about this - things have obviously changed greatly in that community, given the clear legal benefits of marriage. (Of course, one could argue that in the 1970s and 1980s, gay people being opposed to gay marriage was just a case of sour grapes.)
And, just as importantly, if there are any self-described feminist, heterosexual women who are opposed to gay marriage on the grounds that it's too conformist or what have you, there can't be very many, since I don't know their names.
Btw, Cousin Dave, while I agree it's bad for a girl to be taught she can take on a man twice her size long enough to knock him out - even with martial arts training (and how does one know one's attacker doesn't have the same training?) - movies also don't typically make it clear that a MAN can break his hand simply by hitting someone in the head. Especially the back of the head, I think. Obviously, it's the same for women.
I wonder how many live-action movies show short KIDS knocking out an adult?
lenona at April 10, 2017 11:26 AM
Once I was very saw a femi nut who thought she was armored by social conventions and some half assed martial arts classes. She did not realize that most guys have years of involuntary school yard combat training. She tried to provoke a fight over trivia, I declined the offer,and started to walk out, she attacked, so I put her on the ground and sat on her. So much for physical equality and media propaganda.
Jason Millquine at April 16, 2017 11:48 AM
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