General Discussion

Nay

(12,051 posts)

13. If by essentialist you mean that men and women have definite characteristics that will always

Sat May 4, 2013, 11:31 PM

May 2013

make them different from one another in every individual case, I hesitate to agree with that. I know so many women who could easily be men and so many men who to me act and react mostly as a woman would. I'm no sociologist, but I have to believe a lot of the so-called differences between men and women are enforced by whatever society we are in. There probably are essential differences between men and women, but societal pressure warps us to the degree that we would have a hard time decoding what those essential differences are. We are seeing massive pressures on whole groups of humans, pressures that use our gender to jerk us around. Most people never make that connection, so it looks like they are acting 'male' or acting 'female' when they are truly just two different groups of humans being manipulated by other factions in society.

Thank you for the wonderful discussion! It's been a rare pleasure. I have so enjoyed it.

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The Marrying Kind: (Ghettoization of the working class) [View all] HiPointDem May 2013 OP

k&r for exposure. n/t Laelth May 2013 #1

Well, well, well. "Financially independent women who both earn the bulk Nay May 2013 #2

Study of various historical 'underclasses' shows one of the predictable tactics of capital HiPointDem May 2013 #4

Exactly. They are doing to the white underclass just what they did to the black underclass -- Nay May 2013 #5

i don't think that it's really "culturally unwilling". i think it's a bit more complicated. when HiPointDem May 2013 #6

I still think 'culturally unwilling' fits, though, because doing women's work seems to make men Nay May 2013 #7

I think it's a mistake to view things exclusively through the lens of male/female, because the HiPointDem May 2013 #9

I think you have to look at the micro AND the macro. Most people just trying to get along in Nay May 2013 #10

"EXCEPT by making individual choices that work for them in the here and now". the choices HiPointDem May 2013 #12

If by essentialist you mean that men and women have definite characteristics that will always Nay May 2013 #13

likewise. HiPointDem May 2013 #14

You both forgot the name calling and insulting mythology May 2013 #16

easy to forget it when one's co-discussant doesn't lead with it. HiPointDem May 2013 #17

It is, isn't it? I tend to bug out of threads that get nasty, as so many of them do. Again, I have Nay May 2013 #21

This is the kind of post that makes me wish I could rec individual posts. redqueen May 2013 #8

Well, thanks. Nay May 2013 #11

"dumping marriage," though, isn't an unalloyed 'good,' just better than the alternative -- maybe, HiPointDem May 2013 #15

Not celebrating it, no, because I think kids do so much better with an intact family. Nay May 2013 #19

Women hold on to high income men Fumesucker May 2013 #18

Low-income men are not always bad marriage partners; Mr Nay and I are high-income, and we know Nay May 2013 #20

Evidently you are now changing your tune.. Fumesucker May 2013 #30

This message was self-deleted by its author galileoreloaded May 2013 #25

+1000 YoungDemCA May 2013 #26

i've got a great idea... galileoreloaded May 2013 #29

I read the whole article senseandsensibility May 2013 #3

Nothing surprising here... PopeOxycontinI May 2013 #22

Or, as the late, great Daniel Patrick Moynihan got into trouble for saying - hedgehog May 2013 #23

nothing to do with anything the late unlamented pat moynihan ever said. HiPointDem May 2013 #24

Community issues are a product of economic circumstances... YoungDemCA May 2013 #27

I think Moynihan saw it as a chicken and egg problem or feed-back loop - which enraged people hedgehog May 2013 #28