em1913

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Posts by em1913

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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

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  em1913

  She's published by Harvard University Press, kids. That's what I was referring to. Pretty much top of the academic publishing heap here in the US. (BTW, Barnard is one of the "Seven Sisters," the seven most prestigious women's colleges in the US.) And yes, she does have a background in cognitive neuroscience. You can be a professor of (gad) Women's Studies and still have legitimate scientific credentials in other disciplines. That's how academia works. Her CV is here -- https://barnard.edu/profiles/rebecca-jordan-young

  And the book in question is here: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674063518&content=reviews. I know, I know, Publisher's Weekly is such a man-hating feminist rag.
  

  Dueling academics is such a classic internet-forum game to play.
  
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  As I said, you'll have to read the book for the rest. It's all laid out in detail there. I'll see you Cambridge and raise you Harvard. (And Dr. J-Y would want me to mention her background in cognitive neurosvcience. XD right back atcha, you kids with your LOLS and your ROFLS and what not.)
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  Another thing I find with certain types of men is that they can't tell when a tongue is in a cheek, especially when it's a woman's tongue in a woman's cheek. Funny how it is that so many men think women have no sense of humor. I'm just kind of amused by the discussion, that's all. I wasn't supposed to laugh at the elders at the KH, you know, but I always did.
  

  Jordan-Young questions quite a bit of B-C's methodology, especially his small sample sizes and also the way in which the conclusions he did reach have been taken out of context by the pop-science press and made to seem much more conclusive than they actually are. Some of his results have been, so far, irreproducible, and others have been directly contradicted by the findings of other, larger-scale studies done by researchers in San Francisco and Toronto. That's the gist, but you'll have to read the book for the rest.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  I recommend Jordan-Young's recent book, "Brain Storm," which is a review of all the current scientific literature on sex-linked brain differences. Very thoroughly documented, and very honest about what's actually been proven and what's merely extrapolation.

  I couldn't particualrly care less about "eradicating gender differences." I'm too busy rebuilding the carburetor on my 1940 Plymouth, and sewing a dress for my oldest's wedding this summer.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  My aunt was a hell of an anecdote, I'll have you know. She once laid three men flat on the floor during a bar fight, and the cops were scared to go near her until she'd finished her beer. But she also liked to grow dahlias. So there ya go.

  As far as the binary arguments go, I will say this -- many men do tend to have a psychological compulsion to divide just about everything into A and B, black and white, we and they, and they do this in an almost ritual manner, like dividing the peas and the carrots and the meat and the gravy into little sections on the plate before they can eat. I have an autistic nephew that's like this, and autisim is a trait that does seem to be found more in males than femaies. Baron-Cohen researched this specifically.
  

  But I don't find that all men, or even most men are like this. Most men I know are not preoccupied such divisions, or with gender differences -- they just go on living their lives and get along just fine with the women with whom they share the planet. And, I gotta say, they're the men who impress me as *men,* not the preachers of a lost cause, or those who fantasize about a world where The Women Knew Their Place (a world that never really existed.)
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  I have indeed heard of the bell curve, and I also know how the concept is often used as a rhetorical device by those with an agenda to promote. By bringing it up are you saying that "not all gendered behaviors are displayed in all people of a specified gender at all times, and that said behavoirs are displayed by different persons of specified gender in different levels, while some may not display those behaviors at all?" Because that's pretty much what I've been saying all along. The idea of gender behavior as immutably divided between "male" and "female" is specious. BTW, Rebecca Jordan-Young's critique of Baron Cohen's theory makes for interesting reading -- among other points she finds that his results show no link between testosterone levels in the brain and play behavior in either sex.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  My aunt was a longshoreman during the war -- rough, physical work that she absolutely relished. She had no interest in kids, no interest in "housewifery." And yet she was as indubitably and as genetically female as I am. I know men -- as genetically male as I presume you are -- who have no interest whatsoever in "things" and are drawn instead to what you'd consider "female" pursuits, How do your "biological facts" account for this? This kind of essentialism gets pretty leaky the further you get from the internet. Watch out you don't choke on the red pill you're trying to swallow.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  em1913

  If the current definition of masculinity is so delicate that it depends on men making more money off a tennis tournament than women then, ooooooweeeeee. Vai vind iz meine yoren!
  
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  27

  Do You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Really Believe They Are Living In The Time Of The End?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
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  i think they talk a good game and that’s about it..

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  em1913

  I believed it forty years ago. But now it's forty years later.
  
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  194

  Is Being a “Manly Man” a Bad Thing?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.

  shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.

  men should be less masculine.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  em1913

  There are certainly some things in behavior that are the result of chemical interactions in the brain. One of the most fascinating things I ever heard was a radio interview with a female-to-male transsexual, who described the impact testosterone therapy had on his brain: he'd be sitting on the subway and he'd see some random guy and be consumed with thoughts of wanting to beat him up. He hadn't had a lifetime of learning to control those impulses, so it was an unexpected and difficult situation for him to have to handle, and hearing him describe the "rush" in his mind was fascinating.
  

  But sociologically we're a lot more complex than our brain chemistry, I change my own oil, set my own points (I have an old car), grease my own tie rods, and fix my own differential. I also sew my own clothes, cook my own food, and nurture my own kids. There is nothing "gendered" about any of this behavior other than the gendering that society gives it. The idea of a strict line between "masculine" and "feminine" is one of the myths that caused me to get wise to the WTS.