wow! i don't even know where to begin with this one but let's see what i can do. just a few quick points:
- there are still major differences in the amount of pay men and women receive for performing their jobs but it's a little more complicated than that. while a lot of efforts have been made to pay men and women equally for performing the same jobs, a lot of the differences exist in the fact that many fields are still dominated primarily by either men or women, and male-dominated careers just tend to earn more than female-dominated ones. for example, truck drivers are primarily male while secretaries are primarily female. truck drivers, on average, make more money than secretaries. similarily, science majors (often male) earn more on average than humanities majors (often female). and so on.
- responding to tarvok, men do hold a lot of power over women sexually, whether that's something you choose to acknowledge or not. a big example i can think of is that of men using force against women. this is a theme that is basically everywhere in films and television (and, obviously, pornography), but nobody recognizes it as rape because it's portrayed in a context in which the female plays hard to get and the male persists and then the girl after a brief struggle decides she likes it after all. not only do few young people seem to recognize this as rape but there is evidence that these same patterns exist in real life as well. surveys conducted among young women in university and college show a significantly larger amount reporting having had force unwillingly used against them during sex than having been raped, even though they're pretty much the same thing. maybe some women do like this, i don't know, but it still proves a valuable point - that in many cases a woman saying "no" really doesn't have a significant impact anymore.
- this might just be one of those particularly grim views you acquire when you read as many crime statistics on a daily basis as i do, but a lot of the power dynamics between men and women stem simply from the fact that women get pregnant and men don't. it's nice to believe that women are really amazing and powerful because they have the ability to generate new life and so on but unfortunately that doesn't really reflect on reality. like, at all. not to bash the male forumites who are married or have children or any of that committed relationship stuff, i'm sure you are all wonderful people but unfortunately the fact remains that when women become pregnant they place themselves automatically in a position where they are completely vulnerable and dependent on another person, usually her husband. she can't leave because she is incapable of earning her own money. this has the potential to end extremely badly, as illustrated in cases where women experience abuse at the hands of their husbands or the husband up and leaves entirely. it is also not unusual for women to experience difficulty returning to work after taking time off while pregnant. not to mention that single mothers are far more likely to experience negative stigma from other parents than single fathers, who often receive praise instead. oh, and factor in the amount of women who are raped on an annual basis and the enormous stigma placed on birth control and abortion in certain states. food for thought.
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Topic: RE: Male/Female Power Dynamics (was: WCT Feb 11-16) (Read 14287 times)