I am going to be unpopular, but I've noticed in my social circle the boys spend more time playing video games, and the girls spend more time reading, playing pretend games, and running around outside.

"Stop telling people to do what they're good at and and instead tell them to do what pays"

Fairly idiotic. People who do something they don't particularly *want* to do are not likely to be very successful, relative to people who do something they are very motivated to do.

And the division of the world into high-paid STEM and low-paid humanities is simplistic. How about lawyers?...lots of high-paid lawyers in the world, many of whom are women. What about business-to-business sales reps, a field which include a lot of women and can be pretty lucrative.

Look at the books most English classes focus on - books for, by, and about women. Pride and Prejudice is a wonderful book, but not to a teenaged boy.

I'll await your stunning tales of how you got rich riding roller coasters David. Telling people to just do what they love (which has been the official message for roughly 40 years) is far more idiotic. Most of the stuff people like doing there is no money in it. Be as motivated or enthusiastic as you like. There is still no money. A few people's passions do align with economically rewarding work. The proper term for those people is lucky.

"books for, by, and about women."

Look at video games. Games mostly by, for, and about men. And then you have all the women complaining that men don't make games they like to play. Guess what happens when you suggest they design some games. I mean if you can't find what you want go make it. They get really mad when you suggest that.

Ben...I'm not telling people to just "do what they love", obviously, one needs to face economic reality. But also, one shouldn't do something they dislike just because of social pressure. And there is huge pressure these days for women to go into STEM. There are plenty of things in the world other than engineering and roller-coaster riding.

I know 2 women who started out in math and software development, and switched into sales and sales management, which they both like and are good at, and have made good livings at. Would the world be a better place if they had been pressured to keep writing code and solving equations?

Ben, there are plenty of books by and about men in the canon: Kidnapped, Ivanhoe, and Kim to name a few. Female English teachers are not assigning them, preferring instead the books they loved as girls.

Plenty of non-canon authors, too. Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Philip K. Dick for example. There are even a few more modern ones, like Robert Parker, Dave Barry, Tim Dorsey, or Robert Crais, that could grab and keep a young man’s attention.

JK Rowling succeeded in grabbing and holding the attention of boys and girls through books that got steadily longer and more complicated as her Harry Potter series continued.

If the idea is to get him into reading, Little Women ain’t gonna do it.

PS - I’m not advocating these authors, just pointing them out.

David if you haven't heard the 'do what you love' message you haven't talked to a school teacher in over 40 years. There is far more pressure that way than there is forcing women into STEM degrees. Gee, you know two whole women. I know hundreds of both genders who made idiotic choices due to bad advice from teachers.

As for the advice given being idiotic, does it mention STEM anywhere in it? Engineering isn't the only job that pays well. Honestly it only pays medium. If you want a high income STEM isn't the way to go.

Conan, I am aware there are lots of good books out there for men. I was just pointing out the same people who push only girl preferred books are also horrified that there are so many video games with the same effect but reversed for the genders. They are female supremacists.

There are games now that women do prefer. The Sims was the first real girl game produced. Barbie Funhouse and such never really sold. They were hamfisted attempts by people who didn't understand their audience to fulfill a demand. The Sims on the other hand was a happy accident. Some guys were just trying something different and accidentally made the Pride and Prejudice of video games. Since then people have figured out how to make games that women prefer in an economically successful format. Today women represent roughly half of the video game market, both by players and by revenues. And you see the same gendered split in games as you do in books. Men play Halo, women play Farmville. That gender preference is just as strong as Ivanhoe vs. Little Women.

> Conan, I am aware

Breakthrough!

Person named first! Punctuation!

"October 5, 2019 8:53 AM"

Damn

Trannys know how to do math?

" books for, by, and about women"

As compared to the drunken closeted authors of stories about alcoholic closet cases?

Asking for a theater friend.

"... boys have a comparative advantage in math because they are much worse than girls at reading... females will say I got A's in history and English and B’s in Science and Math, therefore, I should follow my strengths and specialize in drawing on the same skills as history and English. Boys will say I got B’s in Science and Math and C’s in history and English, therefore, I should follow my strengths and do something involving Science and Math."

This "comparative advantage" explanation for male dominance in math and science may be more satisfying to a lot of progressive feminists because it attributes the male advantage in science and math to the overall superiority of women and girls.

I'm not sure about the closeted bit but finding drunken authors who write about drunks isn't that hard Gog. Fitzgerald and Great Gatsby comes to mind. I know there are lots of others.

Ben, I'll note that "what someone is good at" and "what someone has a passion for" are not the same thing. Plenty of people are passionate about art or music or novel-writing (or at least *say* that they are passionate about these things), but are sadly mediocre at them.

The specific advice I was responding to was: "The authors don't put it quite so bluntly but another approach is to "Stop telling people to do what they're good at and and instead tell them to do what pays!" STEM fields pay more than the humanities so if people were to follow this advice, more women would enter STEM fields."

Again, the above advice is simplistic. Is Law a STEM field, a Humanity, or neither? Do lawyers make more or less than programmers?..depends on what level you're practicing law at versus what level you're practicing programming at.

Now here's a triggering blast from the past for ya -
women assembling pistols so the menfolk can go fight in WWII.

The red sweater at 6:25 is Grandma's answer to third-wave feminism.

A classic blonde, a classic pistol, and early color film. #resist my ass.

Time for the reminder, about harsh truths.

Show me what you can DO. Every bum has dreams.

Guys can get obsessed about "things" including sports and hunting but women not so much. Being obsessed is a good thing in STEM.

It is conveniently overlooked that women dominate STEM if you count the medical field as part of STEM (which it is). Women something like 80% of veterinarians, a majority of pharmacists, almost all nurses and technicians, and a majority now of doctors. Where exactly is the oppression?

School reading lists focus entirely on fiction. An account of world war II? nope. A biography of Daniel Boone or an account of surviving in the wild? nope. A book about baseball? No wonder boys don't read.