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Forums - Politics - 97 Advantages of being female

You forgot the biggest one - the feminist movement isn't a threat to you.



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Shadow1980 said:
pokoko said:

And there is the problem.  That list is awful but there are many legitimate issues of inequality towards men and boys that should be recognized and discussed but are instead shoved aside because of the "uh but men had it better for a long time" attitudes.  It's sad and ridiculous and it's making things worse rather than better but still we get the same old excuses.  Boys are doing worse in English than girls in Math?  Who cares about the damage to society now because men had it better in the past.  A 17 year old boy gets a much harsher penalty than a 17 year old girl for the same crime?  He should be thankful for the the chance to be treated unfairly.

Rather than deal with all the problems, why is it that we're just supposed to deal with some of them and call it even?  I will never, ever understand that mentality.

There are some instances of gender disparities negatively affecting men more so than women, and they do deserve attention regardless of the fact that males utterly dominated Western society until very recently. Men do tend to get longer/harsher sentences than women for the same crime, and that's not right. But is that part of a systemic and proactive anti-male bias in the justice system, or is there something else more prosaic at work? A commenter on an article about this subject had this to say:

While this is a reality, I fear that many people are going to project their own biases into why this disparity is occurring. It's not because the court system favors women, puts them on a pedestal, views men negatively, or anything like that. It's because women are still viewed as a product of their environment, rather than individuals who can act upon their own motivations. In the legal system, cases for men are constructed based on the assumption that they have personal motivations, and that they commit crimes as a means to fulfill those motives. Women, on the other hand, have their cases prepared with the assumption that "something went wrong" or they "didn't have a proper support system."

In this regard, women are not treated as actors with will. They are treated as props that are moved about and influenced by other actors (men, or societal structures). So when it comes time for sentencing, a judge will look at a man and punish him for his own mistakes, while a woman will be sentenced for "corrective behavior" that isn't considered her fault. While it may benefit the woman, it's because she is perceived as lesser.

This is the problem with how people perceive patriarchy and other oppressive systems. Not every aspect of the system is going to favor men 100% of the time. Society and human psychology is so complex, that a system designed to oppress or limit one group may inadvertently provide slight advantages to the other (though rarely). It also works in the opposite regard. Men may benefit from patriarchal systems in a lot of ways, but we are pidgeon-holed into gender roles as much as women are. The solution is to obviously disband our notions that men and women are entirely different, but instead we are both humans with slightly different dispositions towards our life experiences.

Sadly, I fear a lot of people will just read this article and say something like, "LOL women privilage," or, "Men are being oppressed." Just shut it. When inequality exists in any regard, we are ALL oppressed.

Perhaps he makes a valid point that, ironically, it's traditional attitudes regarding gender roles that could be a factor in males getting hit harder by the justice system. Another possible factor is that there are also clear racial biases in sentencing, with minorities, esp. African-Americans, getting far harsher sentencing than whites. If black and Hispanic males got sentences more in line with what white males get, would we see the gender disparity close? I'd like to see another study on the gender gap in criminal punishment that controls for all factors, including race, income, family structure, and so forth, and also tracks these differences over time (if there's still a gender gap in the 1950s when paternalism was still alive and well, then we can probably rule out anti-male bias). There are a ton of variables, and I honestly doubt that there's some anti-male bias in our criminal justice system.

Other supposed inequalities, such as only men getting subject to Selective Service or women tending to get child custody more often than their husbands, could also be traced back to traditional societal attitudes on what "appropriate" gender roles were. Until very recently, females were prohibited from front-line duty in the U.S. military, not because we were a matriarchal society that elevated females on a pedestal above men, but because women were not seen as fit to be soldiers. For countless centuries, male-dominated societies considered it an honor and a duty for men to fight for their country. Meanwhile, women were considered too weak both physically and emotionally to be fit for duty, lacking the aggression and killer instinct of a man, and therefore the woman's primary role was, to quote George Carlin, "to serve as a broodmare for the state." Now that women are allowed in front-line combat roles, we could very well see the Selective Service (which is largely pointless anyway since there hasn't been a draft since Vietnam) be altered to where both men and women have to sign up. As for child custody, traditional gender roles dictated that the man was to be the primary breadwinner and the woman was nominally supposed to be a homemaker who raised the kids. Because it was the woman's role to raise the kids, society likely saw it more sensible to give custody to the mother, not because women had a priveleged position in society but because their role as caretaker was dictated to them. Also, the court system doesn't really seem to be playing a significant role in the custody disparity and the disparity may be illusory.

I believe in equality under the law, including equality of consequences. What I don't believe is that there is some sort of societal pendulum that shifted the balance of power to where men are where women were in the 50s and vice versa. I also do believe that MRAs are not concerned by notions like equality at all, but rather are simply angry over a perceived loss of men's priveleged position in society and have created a reactionary movement in response. While I am no fan of the more overtly PC forms of feminism (the kind that spend more time and energy complaining about pointless things like fanservice in video games), I do not believe the appropriate response is to engage in overtly hostile misogynism. You don't fight one "extreme" with something even more extreme. Moderation is the true opposite of extremism. MRAs (and associated groups) are anti-woman, plain and simple. Their rhetoric drips with a seething unquenchable loathing for women and anything that has even the slightest whiff of feminism about it. They equate feminism in all its forms with "misandry." They rail against the imaginary bogeyman of "cultural Marxism." They label anyone who disagrees with them as "white-knighting beta cuck bluepill manginas" or whatever other string of slurs from their own glossary they can think of. On the rare occasion they bring up a legitimate issue, they frame in a way that to an outside observer it would seem like more anti-woman propaganda. It's a movement that lacks credibility and does not deserve to be taken seriously. Whether it's the various "manosphere" bloggers and message board dwellers or more prominent people like RooshV, Vox Day, and the hack "journalists" at Breitbart, there's little to nothing coming out of that side that possesses any merit.

This is why I hate both sides in the Gamergate "debate." On one side you have so-called "SJWs" like Anita Sarkeesian (GG's public enemy #1) who spend most of their time complaining about fanservice in video games, while the loudest and most numerous voices on the other side are the gaggle of MRAs that infest the internet. They're opposite sides of the same insufferable coin. That's not to say I prescribe any sort of moral equivalence between the two, and I will say I tend to despise MRAs more than "SJWs." If one were to rank the list of things that hurt women, jiggle physics and skimpy swimwear in a niche Japanese volleyball game wouldn't even qualify, and the fact that some feminist gamers & game critics make a big deal over such things is simply mind-numbing in how asinine it is. I think there's just as much room for pointless fanservice as there is for strong female protagonists. But I have seen little to nothing to suggest any actively malicious behaviors or attitudes. They're just obnoxious. When I first heard of Anita Sarkeesian, I decided to see what the big deal was and watched her so-called "review" of Bayonetta. I just rolled my eyes, clicked away from the video after it was over, and went on with my day. It's hardly worth getting riled up over if some random vlogger who thought a niche video game was supposedly sexist.

Meanwhile, I've seen mostly a bunch of MRA-style ranting and seedy and even sometimes malicious behavior (threats, harassment, vaguely anti-Semitic propaganda) from the GG side. Considering that these same people were railing against feminists like Sarkeesian long before the hashtag was a thing, I have my doubts that lofty notions like "ethics in game journalism" was ever really a priority for the vast majority of GG's base. The (as-yet unproven) allegations against Zoe Quinn by her ex just provided them more ammo to continue their crusade against feminism and an opportunity to give themselves a name. Their actions have succeeded in little else but reinforcing the stereotype of gamers being mostly a bunch of misogynistic frat boys. Had they just kept their damn mouths shut, then people like Sarkeesian, Quinn, and Wu wouldn't have the prominent public platform they have, and the backlash against fanservice in video games might not be a thing. They turned a no-name vlogger and a couple of no-name indie devs into household names amongst gamers. They created their own Frankenstein's monster, they opened Pandora's box, and now we're starting to see the (presently mild but still incredibly annoying) consequences. It's like they never heard of the Streisand effect. If the movement ever had noble intentions, it took the certain segments of the internet all of five minutes to hijack it and turn it into a haven for MRAs.

Excessive political correctness sucks. MRAs and other manosphere denizens suck. Moral guardians of any political stripe suck. If large bouncing bosoms in a video game offends you, keep it to yourself. If feminism offends you, keep it to yourself. You do not have the right to go through life without being exposed to images, concepts, and ideas that offend you. You may have a legal right to complain about things that annoy you, but you do not have a moral right to be an insufferable asshole about it.

 

Great post.

*liked*



SvennoJ said:
DonFerrari said:

Yes, politics... around 50-50 voters but woman don't get that many votes. Maybe woman don't believe in the woman candidates?

Perhaps there aren't that many female candidates. I didn't check who I actually voted for last election. I voted for the party I wanted in government, who ever was attached to that at the local level got the vote. It was Danielle Takacs, yet she didn't win although the Liberals won by a landslide. (Phil McColeman took the win) The new parliament is:

Gender

26% in parliament, while 33% of the candidates were female. (1% increase from 2011)
The party with the highest female percentage (43%) lost the most, unfortunate byproduct of getting Harper out.
A key hurdle is that the main parties are still not putting forward enough female candidates, says Louise Carbert, a Dalhousie University political scientist. This year, women accounted for one-third of the 1,427 candidates running for the five main parties, but many of them were running for the Green Party or the Bloc Quebecois, with little to no chance of winning their riding. The increase in female representation has mostly happened in cities – to improve representation, more women need to win in the country’s rural ridings.

At least Trudaux has come true on his promise to make a gender balanced cabinet (15 to 16)

Anyway I don't think it's a case of lesser confidence in female candidates.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/we-have-a-record-number-of-female-mps-but-hold-the-applause/article26887164/

 



politicians are moved by votes so if they saw more votes to be have with more female candidates they would have. Perhaps woman don't want to be involved in the mud of politics. We had no issue voting for merkel, kirschner and Rousseff but only one of them were good. The majority of female elected in brazil are conmunist feminazi. So we don't have any good example, not that men are good example on politics either down here.

duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

Personally I think in terms of "perks" it goes

Successful man > Attractive woman > Attractive man > Regular Joe Man > Regular Jane Woman > Ugly/Broke Man > Ugly/Broke Woman.

Being a man still has more overall perks, but being a good looking woman is the genetic jackpot in a lot of ways.

Men still control most avenues of power though ... we are in charge of the majority of government, banking, business, and media ... most of the people in charge of power are men. There's no if, ands, or buts about that. Every institution of power is dominated by men. 



RadiantDanceMachine said:
You forgot the biggest one - the feminist movement isn't a threat to you.

 


i'd argue that any movement that tries to force me to keep my legs squeezed together.... in effect squeezing my balls, is a threat to me



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Soundwave said:

Personally I think in terms of "perks" it goes

Successful man > Attractive woman > Attractive man > Regular Joe Man > Regular Jane Woman > Ugly/Broke Man > Ugly/Broke Woman.

Being a man still has more overall perks, but being a good looking woman is the genetic jackpot in a lot of ways.

Men still control most avenues of power though ... we are in charge of the majority of government, banking, business, and media ... most of the people in charge of power are men. There's no if, ands, or buts about that. Every institution of power is dominated by men. 

 

a successful man actually has to put in a lot of effect to achieve his success though... whereas looks are an inherent part of you

 

so i'd actually put attractive women first on the rung

and why is a regular woman in a worse position than a regular man?



o_O.Q said:
Soundwave said:

Personally I think in terms of "perks" it goes

Successful man > Attractive woman > Attractive man > Regular Joe Man > Regular Jane Woman > Ugly/Broke Man > Ugly/Broke Woman.

Being a man still has more overall perks, but being a good looking woman is the genetic jackpot in a lot of ways.

Men still control most avenues of power though ... we are in charge of the majority of government, banking, business, and media ... most of the people in charge of power are men. There's no if, ands, or buts about that. Every institution of power is dominated by men. 

 

a successful man actually has to put in a lot of effect to achieve his success though... whereas looks are an inherent part of you

 

so i'd actually put attractive women first on the rung

and why is a regular woman in a worse position than a regular man?

Not necessarily. There are people who simply inherit their parents' fortune and/or company and instantly become CEO's or investors without much effort





Double post.



naruball said:
o_O.Q said:

 

a successful man actually has to put in a lot of effect to achieve his success though... whereas looks are an inherent part of you

 

so i'd actually put attractive women first on the rung

and why is a regular woman in a worse position than a regular man?

Not necessarily. There are people who simply inherit their parents' fortune and/or company and instantly become CEO's or investors without much effort



 

this situation is not exclusive to men and its a very rare situation regardless



o_O.Q said:
Soundwave said:

Personally I think in terms of "perks" it goes

Successful man > Attractive woman > Attractive man > Regular Joe Man > Regular Jane Woman > Ugly/Broke Man > Ugly/Broke Woman.

Being a man still has more overall perks, but being a good looking woman is the genetic jackpot in a lot of ways.

Men still control most avenues of power though ... we are in charge of the majority of government, banking, business, and media ... most of the people in charge of power are men. There's no if, ands, or buts about that. Every institution of power is dominated by men. 

 

a successful man actually has to put in a lot of effect to achieve his success though... whereas looks are an inherent part of you

 

so i'd actually put attractive women first on the rung

and why is a regular woman in a worse position than a regular man?

 

Regular men still have many advantages over regular women. Look if being a woman is so great, these days a man can become a woman, lol. Have at it if you think it's so fantastic. 

And really the "increased value" that an attractive woman has is only such because she has something to offer men.