Found while doing his morning constitutional around the web...
Because the Lost One knows this subject is of particular interest to some of his readers, he's going to link to this article from The Independent Women's Forum and the original article from Scientific American. The articles relate some of the findings done with monkeys that show that certain toys are naturally preferred by certain sexes, (boys like balls, trucks, and other things that can be pushed and pulled, and the girls went for the dolls). The Lost One cannot say he is overly surprised by the studies findings, it has long been his position that exactly because women can do what ever they want, there has to be a reason that so many cultures (read: all of them) have assigned the care giver role to the ladies. Which isn't to say that all women are always going to be good at it, or that they should be relegated to only that type of work. Human beings are so much more then the sum of their parts. Any way, as usual the Lost One is procrastinating doing his homework for the lovely, yet scary Profesora F_________, so back to the salt mines.
posted by Lost in The World at
9:29 AM
5 Comments:
I got distracted by the article on women in war. Presumably no one forced these women into the armed forces and into combat. In a free country - assuming one believes it is - then all citizens should have the right of choice and its concomitant risks. If a man can gain pride in serving his country in this way, why not a woman?
As to differences between men and women. Of course they're there. Ideologues of all stripes (feminist, conservative, muslim, evangelical, militant, and on and on and on) have a terrible time admitting to facts that fly in the face of their ideology, is all. It's a big so what (to this woman).
A man can nurture a child. A woman can fight in a war. Biology may tend us in one direction or another, but we are not automatons predetermined by our biology.
By
Anonymous, at 10:09 AM
But...
women have been assigned as caregivers in all cultures because that's what they want to do? In the absence of any other options whatsoever, how can that be a real choice?
Women are caregivers around the globe because a) they give birth and b) they nourish the child. (In non-industrial cultures, breast milk is a child's only - and perfectly designed - source of nutrition for the first year.)
After the first year, though? The choice should be real, not simply the lack of options.
By
Anonymous, at 10:15 AM
Okay Three points I want to make here,
First, I meant to link only to their analysis of the SA article (because while, as a conservative, I agree with 75% of their stuff, that's not everything). Adding the other stuff wasn't supposed to be part of the deal, but my computer skills are a touch lacking. This is what is known as "my bad" in blogging circles.
Second...Darn got to catch my bus. See you monday (maybe I'll squeeze in a comment over the weekend. Then again maybe not.)
By
Lost in The World, at 1:32 PM
Second,
I agree that Ideologues develop convenient myopia, that's why any blog worth its salt tries to point out facts, both to armor your side and combat theirs. Third, I don't know from other countries, but in this one, women have always had options. Women were in the trenches in the revolution, and in the politics (just read Abigail Adams' letters to her husband [on a separate, yet linked note, is it wrong I'm in love with another man's wife?]), they have been pioneers in fact, as well as in deed (advances in science, journalism, etc.) We are fortunate here in this country to have descended from a long line of Valkyries and Amazons, and I for one, am proud of the role they played in their homes and out of it.
Can you believe it took me a whole weekend to write that? Gotta be more prolific in the future.
By
Anonymous, at 11:18 AM
I didn't realize you were talking only about North American women. Yes, we have choices now. It wasn't so long ago (this is a young country, after all) that women were chattels of their husbands, and had no property rights, and, should a divorce occur, lost not only home, but children as well.
We have differing slants on this one, though I don't think we're that far apart. And we are in complete agreement on the "men and women ARE different" argument. Sur-priiise... not better or worse, just different.
A radio interview I heard recently discussed the "women in hard science and abstract maths" issue. A study was cited which had screened people with higher math capability, and found that men were far more likely to go into pure math and abstract science than women, even when both had the equal talent in this area. Why? The women quoted said it was "boring", not because of the lack of intellectual challenge, (or an excess of it) but because it lacked the human dimension. Most women seek opportunities to interact on a human level; they need it more than men. Men can find greater job satisfaction in jobs that lack this element.
So, even when intellectual capacities are the same, there is *still* a gender difference at play in what women and men choose to do with their abilities! Interesting, no?
Is it okay you're in love with another man's wife? Yes, if it's okay that I've messed around with the odd husband here and there. (me bad.)
Yours love sounds purer than mine, somehow. :-) but that's cuz you're young and sweet. lol
phew. long, long post.
By
Anonymous, at 12:34 PM
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