Re:Women Are Sort Of More Tentative Than Men, Aren't They?
by ahoyhere on Friday September 04, 2009 @05:18PM
(#805745)
OK, everybody who's More Feminist Than Thou, let's back the truck up.
There is a huge difference between...
1. Observing aggregate facts, or even trends, that say "Population Y doesn't do X much," and commenting on them.
2. Extrapolating from those aggregate facts/trends, and saying to an individual (as opposed to an aggregate population), "You can't / shouldn't / won't / won't be good at x."
There is a big, huge, fat, hairy difference between the two. And #1 is totally blameless, even innocent, and that's what's happening here.
You can be angry that the facts show that more men than women know how to / will change a tire. But you should keep that anger to yourself and certainly you shouldn't blame somebody who points it out. Unless they are saying "And this goes to show, women are useless with cars!" Which the above poster isn't.
There is a huge difference between...
1. Observing aggregate facts, or even trends, that say "Population Y doesn't do X much," and commenting on them.
2. Extrapolating from those aggregate facts/trends, and saying to an individual (as opposed to an aggregate population), "You can't / shouldn't / won't / won't be good at x."
There is a big, huge, fat, hairy difference between the two. And #1 is totally blameless, even innocent, and that's what's happening here.
You can be angry that the facts show that more men than women know how to / will change a tire. But you should keep that anger to yourself and certainly you shouldn't blame somebody who points it out. Unless they are saying "And this goes to show, women are useless with cars!" Which the above poster isn't.