Comments for

Comment on Dear Lea by bryan nixon

bryan nixon — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:45:20 +0000

gotcha. i hope Lea read your blog.

i just discovered your blog the day i first posted. i like it. ang & i are well. we are expecting a baby girl at the end of july!

Comment on Dear Lea by Eli

Eli — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:30:35 +0000

Hi Bryan….thanks for the question, I know it belonged to a male because I saw him several times… the tent was along the burke gillman trail where I run. Fun that you are reading my blog….always value your thoughts, hope that you are well.

Comment on Dear Lea by bryan nixon

bryan nixon — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:48:10 +0000

how do you know the tent belongs to a male?

Comment on Biological Benefactors: How male privilege has been reinforced by the faulty belief that men are physically stronger than women by Christian

Christian — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:08:47 +0000

Hi, great article! I live in Denmark; we are close to reaching gender equality, and well on our way to get the remaining issues out of the way I hope (women STILL don’t get payed exactly as much as men do for doing the same job and some other problems…). This may be the reason I don’t quite understand your need to justify women as being physically as strong as men are. You probably have your reasons. However, I must object. The power to procreate, is
a) not reserved to women in our modern days
b) even if it were, would not be a physical strength, but a psychological strength. Men wish to have children, and they need women to get those (or so it was, before the age of artificial production, in which we are now). This however does not hinder a man from “taking” a woman against her will to get those children, and he could probably – through sufficiently elaborate contraptions – be able to get her to finish the pregancy…
I am obviously not saying this because I am against equality, just pointing out a flaw in your argumentation. Women -biologically- do not produce the same amount of testosterone as men do (per unit weight) which restrains their muscular development (and therefore physical strength). In a primitive society, a man could subdue a woman to his will through the use of this physical dominance. However this would not be viable because the woman would be able to pester his life (among other ways sexually) and herein lies the strength of women: men are dependent on them, and men want to please women! This is a psychological strength which reaches far beyond the physical strength a man can achieve over a woman. Women and men have -by nature- been given certain physiological strengths and weeknesses, but this should not play any role in the equality debate, because in the modern society we live in, we are evaluated mostly on our intellectual capacities, which both genders (fortunately) have equal oportunities to gain.

Comment on If I were a boy. by Meghan

Meghan — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:41:50 +0000

YES! That performance was amazing. I believe I did a fist pump at the end… I won’t lie.

Comment on A hero to honor. by Lacy Rain

Lacy Rain — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:50:00 +0000

Eh em. More Eli thoughts please.

Comment on Biological Benefactors: How male privilege has been reinforced by the faulty belief that men are physically stronger than women by Larry

Larry — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:27:45 +0000

Ok Hayley, let me get this straight. You r pretty much arguing that racism doesn’t exist, then you use Rosa Parks as an example of a great person…right. You do know that she is remembered because she stood against the racism right? Also, it’s great that you have female supervisors, but who many powerful female politicians do you know? Is there an equal number of male and female leaders in the world? How many makeover shows are there on TV telling men that they are dressing all wrong and should really work on their “look” because the best they can be is beautiful? I think you know the answer to all of these questions and I think the answers lead to the conclusion that we still have a long way to go. So please, either get on the band wagon, or get out of the road because right now, people like you are the reason we are not getting anywhere

Comment on The ultimate distraction. by Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:42:07 +0000

AMEN! I personally know of 4 very beautiful and intelligent women who have been plagued by body image issues. If women and men did not obsess about issues of physical attractiveness and performance, we would all be able to make a larger impact on our world. Men, by the way, have as many issues as women along these lines, but we NEVER talk about it. However, if you watch the ads for “curing baldness”, or umm Length and size enhancements, you know what we worry about.

Of course, if everyone did wake up one morning and decide that they were perfectly happy with how they look, there would be an economic collapse the likes of which we have never before seen. That is how much money is involved in the ‘beauty’ industry. They will never go away. The best that can happen is that some will stop listening to their words, and focus on inner beauty, and creativity, and intelligence, and get things done regardless. They won’t change the world, but they can make it better.

Comment on Biological Benefactors: How male privilege has been reinforced by the faulty belief that men are physically stronger than women by Hayley

Hayley — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:19:50 +0000

It’s not sexist to comment that this was written by a woman. It just means that the article must be taken with a grain of salt: that of the bias on the part of the author towards her own gender. Of course you’re going to speak out against “submissiveness” and “weakness” when you feel as though you’re being treated that way. Let me just say this: Of the 4 lead supervisors at my job, never have less than 2 of them been women; in fact for the longest time 3 of the 4 were women. They don’t seem to have a problem showing they’re just as capable as any man for the positions.

The fact is: women are the reason women get stuck in gender roles and behaviors. It’s just like ethnic groups who claim people are racist against them. The average population has nothing against anyone based on gender or race or orientation; it’s the groups themselves that have a problem with other people and pull the racism, sexism, etc. cards at the drop of a hat. Great women like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and others are remembered not just because they were women, but because they weren’t afraid to do what they believed in regardless of whether it fit with “gender roles” or not.

If you have a problem with someone, bring it up to them; don’t whine on the internet about it.

Comment on Biological Benefactors: How male privilege has been reinforced by the faulty belief that men are physically stronger than women by Eli

Eli — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:32:47 +0000

Thank you Marc for your articulate commentary. Your response is a helpful indicator of the current level of insidious sexism that holds a powerful current over people’s beliefs and behaviors. The primitive misogyny with which you address my topic truly illuminates the journey left for equal rights for men and women.