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Teachers are often unaware of the gender distribution of talk in their classrooms. They usually consider that they give equal amounts of attention to girls and boys, and it is only when they make a tape recording that they realize that boys are dominating the interactions. Dale Spender, an Australian feminist who has been a strong advocate of female rights in this area, noted that teachers who tried to restore the balance by deliberately 'favouring' the girls were astounded to find that despite their efforts they continued to devote more time to the boys in their classrooms. Another study reported that a male science teacher who managed to create an atmosphere in which girls and boys contributed more equally to discussion felt that he was devoting 9o per cent of his attention to the girls. And so did his male pupils. They complained vociferously that the girls were getting too much talking time.Spender is an incisive thinker about these matters, and I recommend her book Man Made Language; a quote from the introduction:
Any exposure of the false nature of male superiority, while not a direct assault on male power, is an indirect attack which undermines it. If and when sufficient members of society no longer give consensus to the myth of male superiority, if and when they no longer act in a manner which acquiesces in that superiority and permits it to go unchallenged, then, rather than being taken for granted, that power will need to be defended or transformed.Of course any talk about "restructuring of our beliefs and values" is going to be met with a barrage of nonsense about PC and reeducation camps and what have you, and it's kind of pointless anyway because we'll be lucky to avoid wiping out the species in the next century, never mind restructuring our beliefs and values, so let's just focus on making MeFi a little more welcoming for women who are bothered by the eternal "I'd hit it" attitude, shall we?
It is because males have had power that they have been in a position to construct the myth of male superiority and to have it accepted; because they have had power they have been able to 'arrange' the evidence so that it can be seen to substantiate the myth. The myth was made a long time ago and for centuries it has been fostered by women and men so that now it is deeply embedded in virtually every aspect of our existence. It is a myth which may be attacked but one which is not easy to eradicate, for all myths still have a hold over us long after they have been intellectually repudiated, and this one, which is fundamental to our social order, is particularly pervasive and particularly hard to dislodge. The fabric of our social organisation has been woven to support and substantiate it and nothing less than a restructuring of our beliefs and values is necessary, if it is to be laid to rest.
But those who spent more time analyzing his sexism than his words would do us all a favour by backing off just a bit.As opposed to those who spent more time insisting that nobody should have said anything at all, this isn't a conversation worth having, and why can't women just toughen up anyway? They could do us all a favour, too...
(1) No matter how accomplished he is, a man is not truly complete as a person unless he has the love of a woman.I do not think that question tests what they think it tests.......
How do you know what the motivation of the door-holder is? Are you psychic? Do you ask everyone who holds a door for you, just so you know when to be weirded out?It depends. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you see someone hanging out by a door ignoring men who come along who jumps to open the door when a woman comes along. Then you can make an educated guess.
Text does not convey nuance or tone very well, and that is why fielding user feedback on what constitutes 'offensive' content in areas with VAST amounts of gray area is a bad idea. This is precisely the type of situation and topic that has a tendency to turn anything resembling a democracy into something very much resembling a lynch mob.In what way does my post not perfectly address the root problem? Geek guy made a faux pas and was lightly spanked for it, then a few dipshits started lobby heavy-duty artillary at him. It starts turning into a lynch mob. That is the problem.
This is a perfect example of the can of worms I was worried we'd opened with the new flag.
[Regarding Geek's "cute" comment] That's sexism, and it's fucking disgusting to see it defended. (And even worse to see it defended by pretending I'm saying something I'm not.)"That is "hypersensitive and with a burning desire to Do The Right Thing ... viewing every message as suspect and making snap judgements on next to no proof" and a bag of crisps to boot.
posted by Falconetti at 1:45 PM on December 5, 2007 [4 favorites has favorites]