Debate Sex and Gender in Society

A somewhat touchy subject that came up in my film studies class today. My prof is a major player in the school's women's centre and the women's studies stuff and all that, so I was expecting her to turn out to be one of those feminists like they always make fun of on TV, but, as she described herself, she is a pro-masculinist feminist. Given descriptions I have heard, it seems I'm turning into a pro-feminist masculinist, whatever that means.

Anyway, what are your opinions on the roles of gender in society? What are the differences between sex and gender?

 

Women have boobs, men don't.

Well, except for men like me and Meatloaf. Now that dude has a rack, seriously.

Anyways...

The way I see it? Asking such a question is silly. Why? Because specific genders don't have specific roles. Duh. It's really as simple as that. *shrugS*

 

I think roles are more blurred nowadays. Look at imagery back in, oh, the fifties. Look at ads or TV shows. Women were the housewives who took care of the children, and men worked and made the dough. That was that. Now, though, there are not such specific roles -- men and women perform the same duties and pretty much one does just as well as the other.

There are still gender inequalities that psychology books and statistics like to point out (i.e. the whole theory that women make less money than men do when they work the same job, as discussed here, etc. Also, the theory of the glass ceiling, where a person rises to a high position in a company and is prevented from going further when others easily do the same, is almost exclusively applied to women -- men are referred to as having a "glass escalator", which allows them to go as far up in position as they wish). I believe that many of them exist, but I also think they are often overblown and made to look worse than they actually are.

 

Id say that all humans are equal...
But didnt you notice something...
as women try to fight for equality they are actually being treated better.....
One thing for instance

car insurance
Men have to pay more just because they happen to be more "wreckless" than women. what a crazy stereo type.

Next thing you know we are gonna have to pay more for our medicine since women have a larger life expectancy then men.

 

Personally, i think they somewhat have the same postition. Women can persue almost any carrier a man can.

But, i still think Men are put in the head of society. Im not sure why though. Women are just as capable as men.

 

I strongly disagree....as you can see in the world like " i dont know" 85 percent of men are actually more physically fit than women. In other words stronger.....im not sexist or anything but dont men get arrested for harrasing a women...but when it comes to a women harrasising a man the people just look at you and laugh. If women wants to be treated more like equals then we have to treat them more harshly. That goes to the feminist of the world. All that im trying to say is that women should stop searching for equality because thats only gonna make it worse for them. They already have it easy as it is.

 

Vicious, your definition of "feminist" is distorted. A feminist is someone who believes that women are entitled to equal rights. That's the most basic definition. Don't picture the bra-burning, man-hating stereotypes you see in movies and cartoons.
Your points are valid, though. I will give you that. I can't afford to drive because of insurance rates, being a white male between the ages of 16 and 21. It's ironic, too, because all the females of the same age group as I are a lot higher risk behind the wheel.
But the bottem line: the way western society is set up, it is still easier for women to be pushed around by men. I'm not saying the opposite doesn't happen; I've been marginalized by women all my life. But still, look at the business world. It is easier for a man to advance than a woman in a career because the corporations are all run by old-fashioned old men who still think like they did when they were younger, back when it was okay to discriminate more. And when a woman does advance to a higher position because she's more qualified than the men she works with, they all either say she's sleeping with the boss or they call her all kinds of names like "power *****" and the like. There was an article in Canadian Business magazine, the cover story, in fact, about a woman who may become the next CEO of GM. If it was just some other old man taking the position, the article would probably not have been printed on the cover because it would have been more common place.
There's a review going on right now here at WLU, trying to find out if the salaries of female professors is fair compared to that of their male counterparts. I find this an odd issue because all my really good professors are women, and it's kind of odd that a superior worker would get paid less than someone else because of a stupid prejudice.
Of course, some critics argue that sexism is apparent in western society unintentionally, and that it's only still there because we've been male-dominated for so long that it's a hard institution to change. In a modern world, however, there's room for both sexes to work side-by-side. Women have been sharing the role in the workplace since the 1920's, so it's not a question of ability. It's a question of equality.
Both sides, however, need to get over stereotypes of each other before any real progress can be made.

 

What has made men hold dominance over their female counterparts? It can be said that males hold dominance as specified by their role in the past. Men played the role of protector/hunter, women played the role of nurturer/gatherer therefore males were molded to be risk takers, physically stronger, not as emotional and women were molded into the caregivers, physically weaker, more emotional, better with language and because of these traits they were given a lower status and the males took precendence because of their traits. The time period also forever affected the future we each hold, in that in those harsh days, physical attributes were held with higher esteem and therefore the males being physically stronger took the power positions, which is still evident to this day. Face it would early man want a female who is weaker physically, less confident, more likely to be affected by emotion, in control of their daily affairs and the future of them? The men held the weapons and so they also held the power, but it is not to say that women were not capable for we are both equally smart, but rather that men simply had the proper traits to succeed as the leaders of the villiage. But now times have changed, even so traditional ways still continue to hold precedence even to this day. Although in this day and age physical strength is not as of such high regards anymore, old traditions about a womens role in society continue to remain even after so long, this will most likely continue as long as their are believers to sustain it.

 

I notice that nowadays men are not allowed to hit women, but when a woman hits a man it's 'assertive.' I know in most cases the man is the one to hit the woman, but I think assaulting anyone is wrong. Just because your a woman it doesn't mean that you shouldn't have to contain your anger also. This may seem insensitive for me to say but, women are held on a pedital.

Another thing, what's all this crap about us having to hold the door open for our date? I seems to me they want to be treated equal, but only for the good stuff. (I don't mean to stereotype, I'm just saying what I think from my experience with women.)

 

Zen-san, you're completely wrong about women being 'allowed' to hit men. In divorce court, if it's the woman being abusive or the woman who cheated, the men will almost undoubtedly get the lion's share of the alimony. Judges aren't sexist; they just want to see the abusive one punished and it just happens to almost always be the man.

And as for holding the door open...It's called being polite. Get over it.

 

You do of course realize that initially women had a higher status due to their religious position and the fact that sperm is cheap, quickly made and very expendable, while eggs are not.

How did women fall? The rise of patriarchal religion, to be blunt.

 

Yes there position descended due to agriculture and class society...regardless my statement holds true.

 

I'm going to be blunt, your statement would be a lot easier to read if you used paragraph breaks.

 

~ slowing pushes temper aside for a moment before it gets the better of me~

Vicious if you'r not a WOMAN don't say WE have it easy.
You don't see men deing pulled into allies and raped like there just some rag to be throw away. If WOMEN all this time hadn't been fighting for there RIGHTS, MEN would have there way and do as they please. with noone caring but other FEMALES. some men are just angry because FEMALES ARE forceing some things to become different.

~ goes back to normal mood~

Anyways.....

i know some girls EQUAL in strength and every thing else with guys.

i also believe that both genders have no spesfic roles.


~ now whers that pepsi i feel slightly annoyed~ whines

 

Equality and chivalry often clash. Being polite to a woman these days is often just as offensive as being rude. Screwy world. There's a big difference between opening a door for someone, and dragging them into an alley and raping them. *shrug*

- Ark