Women Already Rule The World And More On Gender Politics
If you didn’t already know that women rule the world, you’re probably a woman who’s just used to having her way and doesn’t think twice about it. If you’re like the rest of us, you laugh when women say “if Women ruled the world, there’d be no wars!”
Come on, girls: much of your romantic behavior is just designed to see if you can gain control over your man. And in most cases, you do. Don’t act like you don’t already own 99% of the testicles in the world.
They asked men and women questions about their lives (admittedly a poor way of actually determining information - asking people about themselves) and videotaped them as they did it. They used these tapes to discern who was really weearing the pants in the relationship.
Wives were more demanding — asking for changes in the relationship or in their partner—and were more likely to get their way than the husbands.
“It wasn’t just that the women were bringing up issues that weren’t being responded to, but that the men were actually going along with what they said,” Vogel explained. “[Women] were communicating more powerful messages, and men were responding to those messages by agreeing or giving in.”
To see what this looks like in practice, watch any given episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” or “Home Improvement” where Average-Looking Wife gets upset and it immediately becomes the responsibility of Doofus Husband to not only provide rectification, but to learn new insights about himself and change for the better so that he can better understand his wife.
Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s probably these types of marriages that have the best chance of succeeding in the long-run - even if that’s using “didn’t break up and husband didn’t beat wife” as the success barometer.
According to the article, giving your power to women determines whether or not you have a “healthy” relationship:
“There’s been research that suggests that’s a marker of a healthy marriage—that men accept influence from their wives,” Murphy said.
I can’t ignore the sexism there, but since society accepts the fact that women should have the power in the relationship, it becomes an indicator of a “healthy” marriage.
Ugh. Now I understand why people have called me a sexist - when you’re already a socially-conditioned sexist who grew up watching “I made Harriet/Ethyl/Patricia/Mermaid Woman mad again, boy am I a screw-up!” sitcoms in the first place, any actual ideas about gender equality seem skewed and biased.
Problem is, the idea of “gender equality” might just be an unrealistic ideal in the first place.
But for some actual ideas about gender equality, let’s consider the following:
-Today’s modern societies and quality of live allow women to provide for themselves, so the idea of the male provider is becoming an obsolete notion. Of course, objective fact has a slow effect on social norms: this doesn’t stop an entire gender from expecting to be wined and dined on the other gender’s dime. Males: did you know that it’s not technically a law that you have to pay for dinner?
-The Wage Gap: Women and men can never actually earn the exact same amount. However, if women earned MORE then men, the “wage gap” wouldn’t become as big of a problem as it’s currently portrayed to be. We should strive to be close, and nothing more.
-The Slut Gap: Women who sleep around are viewed in as much more evil than men who do the same. There is definitely a double-standard there.
-According to the book “Freedomnomics,” Women’s Suffrage is to blame for bigger government. I’m not sure what this means, but I wanted to throw that in there.
-Men becoming obsolete. It won’t be long before men also become unnecessary to prolonging the existence of our species. There will be couples who will still want to have babies “the natural way,” and women will still find certain men attractive because they’re wired that way, but once women can be synthetically impregnated, men won’t exactly be as sexually “important” as they are now. Whine all you want about wages and sexual harassment, women: at least you don’t have to deal with the future collapse of your whole gender’s reproductive relevance. (Possible bright side: A “Junior”-like biological revolution that allows men to get pregnant, too).
-Evolution has slotted men and women into different roles. That is to say - genders are actually, believe it or not, different. When the President of Harvard came under fire for pointing out that women are typically not as good at math, I was in college taking a “Women in Literature” class. There was a lot of “how could he say this?” and “will he get fired?” but no on e ever thought of the possibility that he was just plain right. So what? It doesn’t mean an individual woman can’t be the top mind in math, it doesn’t *mean* anything, it just is. It can go both ways - most criminals, pedophiles, and serial killers tend to be men (and Democrats). See? That’s way worse than being bad at math.
Additionally, it’s men who are faced with the obligation to take interpersonal risks when courting women. Men must approach, be interesting, physically escalate the relationship, and usually, propose marriage with a $10,000 ring in hand. In addition to that, we protect women from other men, Cheetahs, Lions, and spiders in the bathroom. After all that, we’re still expected to lay down our power at “I Do” and succumb to a lifetime of nagging and criticism. Even the most unattractive of women (who have no suitors) have it only as bad as MOST men. And being a daring, protective, interesting creature is fine. That’s what men SHOULD be. But if you expect ALL of that, AND ADDITIONALLY can’t admit that you’re worse at math, then we have a problem.
-Based on a survey that includes only myself, men have a better sense of direction than women. I will debate this on the BipolarNation forums if you want.
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14 Responses to “Women Already Rule The World And More On Gender Politics”
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August 1st, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Well, maybe if you didn’t leave your wet towels on the bed, or the ingredients to your late-night snack on the counter all night, I wouldn’t have to nag
Then again, nagging NEVER works. Is it because men are like teenagers in that they will do exactly the opposite of what you tell them to?
But I must agree that I run the show at my house because it is my domain. Men can run the show at work; that is their domain. Also, there’s a difference between EQUITY between the genders and being exactly the SAME.
I would LOVE to see you debate the idea that men have a better sense of direction than women. Bring it on.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Ok, woman. Let’s do this. Let’s set some parameters - how do we define “better sense of direction,” and can I include the fact that all of the best navigators in history were men? cough magellan cough
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
Parameters…parameters…with or without explicit directions? Just street names and lefts and rights? Landmarks only? Having someone just explain directions to a place and being able to visualize it, then driving there without any written directions? Staying oriented in the middle of nowhere, or in a place you are completely unfamiliar with? With or without a compass? Barometer only in the middle of Oregon Territory in 1850? You decide. I’ll argue it all.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
Go ahead and include your buddy Magellan. In fact, the more candid your arguments are, the better.
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
The stereotype is that when men are lost, our egos get in the way of admitting we’re wrong and asking for directions, and women being in favor of asking for directions. Know why this is? Because women ask directions all the time - they have good practice because they’re lost all the time. The stereotype isn’t that men get lost and women don’t - it’s just that women are used to asking directions.
Not only that - straight men make the best navigators, meaning that navigation skills are proportional to your manliness.
http://onemansblog.com/2007/06/14/straight-men-make-the-best-navigators/
“Data was taken from over 198,000 people aged 20-65 years (109,612 men and 88,509 women). Men outperformed women on tests such as mentally rotating objects and matching angles, while women outperformed men in verbal dexterity tests, and remembering the locations of objects.”
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
More:
“So while men may be better at map reading, women are better at finding the car keys.”
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
First of all, I have no problem with discrepancies between the genders. They’re obviously there. What I have a problem with is using evolutionary theory to back it up. So maybe we should rewind a bit and discuss that before we tackle the navigation topic. If you don’t mind, of course.
While I admit that no one can disprove evolutionary theory (or evolutionary psychological theory), no one can prove it either. Or even support it scientifically since it’s impossible to test it using the scientific method. (Because, of course, as any scientist knows, you can’t really PROVE anything, just support it with scientific research.) THe only thing evolutionary theory has going for it is that it sounds good and logical. So if you want to cuddle up with your dear evolutionary theory like a thread-bare baby blankie because it helps comfort you to sleep every night, then by all means…
As far as your rationale re. the stereotype of men not asking for directions…I’m actually impressed with it. Did you think of that yourself? But I’m still not convinced that that’s really the case at all. I won’t even use myself as an example, because individual cases can’t support any argument (though I must say I’m good).
Re. your study on spacial visualization and verbal dexterity, I’m not going to argue that that’s false, but that still doesn’t necessarily translate into navigation skills. Also, these studies don’t prove that it’s inherent or evolutionary. THough I am not opposed to believing that there’s an inherent tendency for men to take more of an INTEREST in math, science, etc, and for women to take more of an interest in anything that would be considered interpersonal. Verbal dexterity is an interpersonal skill, and literature almost always focuses on human relationships of some type. I believe that women who excel at math and science do so because they are interested in it and/or because the related field they are going into is social. Most math majors are men, but most math TEACHING majors are women. The math teaching major is just as rigorous, but it involves helping people.
And, if I may refer back to your using Magellan as supporting evidence, women were never ALLOWED to navigate anywhere until maybe 50 years ago.
So, to come full circle, maybe I agree with you more than I originally thought I did. Except for that fundamental difference of why the genders are so different, of course.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
I do have to say that sitcoms make men look bad, and can even give boys the idea that that’s what they are. There’s just too much to discuss on this topic. By the way, are your readers mostly men?
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I just wanted to clarify that when I say “evolutionary theory” I’m not referring to evolution of species from one to another, but to psychological/gender evolution of human beings, like you are. I’m sure you didn’t misunderstand me, but I just realized I wasn’t very clear on that.
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:51 pm
re: “Evolutionary theory”
I mean it more in a biological sense than I think you’re perceiving it. One limitation of this is that it seems to place any perceived natural advantages (like direction) to one gender in the realm of genes instead of a socially-defined advantage, which means it’s less permeable. I’m a big student of it, but I don’t really mean to use it in that sense here.
The need for men to be hunters, though, throughout the whole “homo sapien/ sapien sapien” history, probably DID make us better at sensing direction (even though men weren’t the only ones to provide food; maybe why women are better at finding keys (berries, figs)?).
Still, I won’t deny obvious social influences that make men more likely to pursue careers more adaptable to being navigators.
Also, don’t give evolutionary theory a bad rap. Most people aren’t even clear that “sexual selection” even exists, and place an emphasis on natural selection and genetic mutation.
re: stereotype of men asking directions
Yeah, I came up with that myself, and I also didn’t include that women (especially attractive ones) are probably more likely to have people treat them friendly than men, which is another reason they’re more likely to rely on strangers for directions. Their perception of the world, and I’d say, superior social skills, makes asking for directions a generally more natural idea.
Also, the “sitcom” mentality of the wife having to be right or else the man gets nagged further perpetuates the “pull over and ask for directions, you silly monkey” idea.
re: Magellan
Yeah, I’m aware that women were generally suppressed throughout most of Western (and probably Eastern) history, but it’s still fun to point out how fun White Males like Magellan have been.
Interesting bit: of all the places in ancient history, Spartan women were considered among the best-educated and most economically “free.”
re: Women as teachers/social creatures
Like I said, women are generally just better socially adapted creatures than men, so it makes sense that they’re more likely to teach and share knowledge than stay cooped up like John Nash. But as they say, “those who can’t do, teach.”
August 3rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I knew you’d say “those who can’t do, teach.”
re: evolutionary theory, I knew you meant in a genetic sense (as did I), but I meant to refer to genetic evolution with regards to the way our brains work as men and women. Is that what you meant?
Interesting. I didn’t know that about Spartan women.
I’ll take that.
I’m sure I’ll find something else we can debate about. For now, do you mind if I post your original post (with credit to you) in my own blog?
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Yeah, it was all too easy. If you read my others posts you’ll probably see I have virtually zero respect for the American public education system.
Feel free to use this post on your blog, too.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I, too, have zero respect for the American public education system. But I do think most teachers are trying their best to serve their students. Where are these education posts? I didn’t see it in the list of categories. Maybe it’s because I suck at navigating.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
You can’t help being a woman (as much as you might want to). I don’t have an education category here, as that usually would go under “general news.” Don’t get me started, though.