A great top*c you've chosen :) I can't wait to read the next article. In two months maybe? :D
I was put through that system that you talked about, the snowflake factory, you know, I went to a college where I was told that gender is a social construct, nature doesn't matter at all, that there's really no difference between men and women — I'm sorry, that's just ... those are myths, okay? And that's the lie that the sexual revolution sold to women.
Well, I have never ever believed that women and men are the same. I remember I've told you in another discussion that that is something that I don't like about feminism and that I don't use this word to define myself. I do believe that men and women should be equal in their civil rights, etc. but biologically there are some differences. Which I find to be great and exciting :)
BUT, in Bill Maher's quote, I find another generalization. There are biological differences for sure. For example, schizophrenia starts rather earlier in men - usually in puberty. On the other hand, it starts later for women - usually around their 30s. And here is the cumulative effect of differences. Women with schizophrenia usually have a better social adaptation than men. However, this is not biologically determined, but rather culturally. Usually, women have already started a family in their 30s and have better support with the disorder. While men stay with their parental family and are more often institutionalized after their parents' death (there is no one to look after them).
Besides the biological differences, there are certainly cultural differences that emerge as a result of our own stereotypic behavior toward men and women.
And that's where the mess begins. Feminists are partly correct and so are the neurobiologists. There are biological differences that we as society can not change and there are cultural differences that we as societycan change. Gender is a social construct (to some extent). And a biological construct (to some extent).
So, to me, the big question is where the biological construct ends and where the social construct begins.
:)
Noo! Think positive!
This is one of the reasons I'm a feminist, and I try hard to explain to my male peers who are often very dismissive of feminism. In other words, cultural differences very often favor women. Examples are easy to find, like even today in most countries the courts will favor the mother in terms of who gets the child after a divorce.
For some reason most men think of feminism as trying to gain more rights for women, when in fact real feminism is about creating a more just society for both sexes. Or at least it should be. It's true that I don't often hear feminists talking about injustices against males. Eh...almost never. But instead of blaming the (usually female) feminists about that, let's have more men become feminists! Just like female feminists needed to raise male consciousness about certain things, the same needs to be done the other way around too. Women, I find, are often quite clueless about what it's like being a man, whereas men know quite a lot about women now because of how prevalent their issues are in the media, all kinds of media, from books to movies, everywhere you look really.
This is a very interesting perspective and I think that you are quite right about it.
It's definitely true! And this is another thing I don't like about this narrow understanding of feminism - acting like a victim who has the whole world against her/him and not taking into account their own discriminative behavior. I couldn't agree more that it is quite hypocritical if one demands respect for the rights of only part of the population. What about the rest? They don't deserve/need their rights fought for? If you fight for human rights you should respect all humans, not only half of them, right?
It's funny that I had a similar conversation with my husband three days ago who argued that it is extremely difficult to be a white (Caucasian) male nowadays :) Everyone is trying to accuse you into some kind of discrimination :D