Gender Poll - 2009

[neelaykumar11]

This is Neelay....
I am male....
I know information about Linux.........

[Artesia]

I just upped the ladies count to 5. \/\/00+!

Like qv was saying, I agree that much of this is cultural. And I'm going to speak strictly about United States culture, because this is where I spent my entire adult life.

Despite the big steps we've taken towards equality in recent decades, there are some basic teachings the culture continues to perpetuate.

For the woman:

play house and play with dolls -- it will get you used to the idea of motherhood
pretty clothes and makeup will make it easier to find a man
your wedding day is the most important day of your life
your role is to get married and have kids -- if you don't you're a failure
after you get married it's the man's job to take care of you, so don't worry about education too much
be "ladylike" because men like that
taking care of your family is more important than taking care of yourself
not understanding how things work is ok because once you have a man to protect you, you won't have to worry about them

For the man:

asking her to marry you is a noble thing
play with things! create! live it up! have hobbies! because once you get married and "settle down," you'll be expected to give it up
marriage = your life is over
how much money you make determines your worth as a person

Maybe some of you boys here will add some to the man column.


Basically, a huge shift is to take place when a couple gets married. I've always found this fascinating. And what happens after the divorce is that you have a woman who can't support herself because she devoted all her energy to the family, and the man who loses 50% of what he worked for because, after all, it's his job to take care of the financial security. This is a lose-lose scenario and it was set up that way from the start. Kudos to the folks that have successful and happy marriages. They do exist but the risk is insanely high.

Anyway, I hope I'm not offending anyone. I'm very sorry if I am. I just think that these are the messages that we're bombarded with in the media and pop culture in general. There are a lot of gender stereotypes that are unfortunately true. And personally, I find it very frustrating when I meet women that live up to those stereotypes, but I meet a lot of them. Opportunities to break out of them exist everywhere, but if you grow up thinking you're not supposed to take them, you won't.

Specifically, why more women aren't on LFO? Delving into computers is a hobby that takes concentration away from the pursuit of family.

For those of us that don't fall into the stereotypes, all this can be an advantage. I'm 30, no kids, happily single, financially independent, and my hobbies and toys are many. The hobbies are often in fields that are very male-dominated. Flying, computers, woodworking, guns, health & fitness stuff, solo road trips. For example, since I'm not intimidated by being one of maybe 3 women on a group hike with 30 men, I get more attention. I might not be into the marriage thing but I don't exactly mind meeting guys, either. ;p I reap the benefits of the men who are out to make a good impression on an available woman. Funny how all these social rules work.

So yeah... that's my take on it. I know I uttered many generalizations, all of which have many exceptions and again I'd like to say I'm sorry if this is offensive to anyone. I'd understand completely if the moderators decided to delete this post.

Now excuse me, I need to go mess around with my fstab.

[techieMoe]

For the man:

asking her to marry you is a noble thing
play with things! create! live it up! have hobbies! because once you get married and "settle down," you'll be expected to give it up
marriage = your life is over
how much money you make determines your worth as a person

Maybe some of you boys here will add some to the man column.

Yeah, I'll pitch in a few.

• Never, ever emote except for anger. Showing emotion isn't "manly"
• Boys like sports. If you don't, you're weird.
• High school is the pinnacle of your existence
• You're expected to screw anything with legs in college. It's "a guy thing."

Let me say that I don't agree with any of these, but since Artesia brought up the topic, I thought it would be worth discussing. In American culture we do still have a very defined set of "values" we instill on our children according to their gender. It's often hard to break free of these later in life, even if you're fully aware they're ridiculous.

Now excuse me, I need to go mess around with my fstab.

Is that what they're calling it these days? Sorry, had to say it.

[Bemk]

My culture teacher was really surprised when he started about stereotypes, of how male and female are different, because the only thing that came out of it was that females have breasts and a vagina and men don't have breasts and have a penis.

However I still see that out of about 10 people going to the IT class, only 1 is female.

The thing I look for in a girl is that she should be intelligent, independent, nice and have a sense of humour somewhat equal to mine and a sense of taste similar to mine. I think I found that girl. I don't think that's right according to those stereotypes, however when I look into my heart I feel that the girl I want is the right emancipated girl.

Here in the Netherlands we still have the girls playing with dolls, but they're not feeling like their most important job is to be a mother, since it isn't.

The way I look at this is that here in the Netherlands (at least the area I'm in) has a far better emancipation than what you're talking about there.

Good luck with being independent, I think you're doing the right thing, but it's always ok, to get together with someone.

[b2bwild]

However I still see that out of about 10 people going to the IT class, only 1 is female.

LOL, Hell Yeah!
All because girls are smarter(?), they don't need to solve or troubleshoot the problem, we have to do that for them.

If any boy asks me to solve the technical problem, I shout, "JUST GOOGLE IT!"
Yeah but cant just ignore girls like that.

[Artesia]

Is that what they're calling it these days?

ROFL!!

Good luck with being independent, I think you're doing the right thing, but it's always ok, to get together with someone.

Oh absolutely. I know I probably came across as anti-relationship, but I'm not. If something awesome happened, then I'm all for it. I had a 5-year thing with a guy, and now am I ever glad that I didn't marry him. Relationships come and go, so I'll enjoy them while it's good, end it when it's not. I'm cool either way.

[Jaredvcxz]

I'm manlier than Britney Spears.

[dalinux_n00bie]

I'm manlier than Britney Spears.

What does that have to do with the price of rice in china?

[Jaredvcxz]

What does that have to do with the price of rice in china?

Nothing, but it has everything to do with the main point of this thread.






Why do we call them threads and not strings?

[MikeTbob]

Why do we call them threads and not strings?

Because they are woven together like threads, and we don't like people pulling our strings anyways!