ImJessieTR
Does Team Rocket hire?
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Recently, we had some sort of post that went on and on about how wonderful males were. Here were some names mentioned:
Hitler
Male opinion: Was great due to unifying a country and getting his way a lot.
My (female) opinion: Whiny college wanna-be blames everyone else for his problems and then when he's about to get caught, kills himself. Oh, and he tried to backstab the next guy, even though history showed that you can't win conventionally in a fight with this country ....
Stalin
Male opinion: Was great for taking control of a rather large country, industrializing and expanding it.
My (female)opinion: Oh, look, yet another inferiority complex. He drove his country to ruin, befriended the aforementioned idiot, and died because he idiotically told people not to bother him in his room.
I'll stop there, as I'm sure by now we can get the picture that "greatness" is VERY subjective.
No, wait, I have some of my own "great men", to wit ...
Adam
Yeah, the first Guy. Has the sweetest possible life, ruins it due to spinelessness, and then has the audacity to blame his problems on the wife. Take notice, ladies and gentlemen ... this sets the theme for ALL OF HISTORY ....
Jesus
Is a smart-aleck before puberty, has to be guilt-tripped to help others, brags about martyrdom and sacrifice while running away from most of the mobs, doesn't smack His ego-tripping followers, thinks He's so awesome the authorities won't lay a finger on Him, and has very few nice things to say about Ma and family.
George Washington
Irritated that he didn't get that promotion, so he commits treason, idiotically hesitates to enlist African freemen or slaves when the recruitment quota was almost non-existent, goes to war without being properly stocked with ammo, manages to have a retreat labeled a "success", let his men freeze and starve to death for six months, but hey ... at least he retired.
Abraham Lincoln
Was just as uninterested in freeing slaves as everyone else but somehow got credit for it, underestimated the stubbornness of a bunch of hicks (even though he wasn't exactly from aristocratic stock himself), and let his guard down knowing tons of people were furious with him.
Now, before anyone starts flaming me, keep in mind the idea here is to show that greatness is subjective.
And yet, a definition was given: basically "made an impact on history". Well, isn't THAT helpful. The basic gist was that women couldn't be great because they made no or little impact in comparison to men.
I can bet who wrote those histories that said men were greater than women. Anyone care to take a guess?
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2001-06600-008
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2009-16971-002
http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/apl884725.pdf
To start off, psychology has been well aware that there is a bias against women. A usual experiment will describe the achievements of a powerful administrator, but without giving any pronouns or other identifiers as to the gender. The participant will then be told to rate that administrator. One group will be told it's a man and one group will be told it's a woman. Keep in mind it's the EXACT same story, regardless.
Every single time ... the assumed female gets rated lower than the assumed male.
Now, here are women rulers.
Here are famous American women.
Another list, though some names were mentioned already in the first link.
Have you heard how important sanitary practices are in preventing illness? Thank Florence Nightingale (men assumed you could just pass from one patient to another with bloody hands).
Hypatia invented some scientific instruments, before men got in a jealous rage and tore her to bits like wild dogs.
Also, if we can count mythology for a moment ....
Hera
Her husband was a philandering jerk. She didn't just meekly submit to it. She had lovers tortured and killed, attacked the resulting offspring frequently, tried to off her own husband ....
Athena
A warrior just as tough as half-brother Ares, but not as bloodthirsty. Inspired Athenians to greatness in war and the arts. Submitted to no male, god or otherwise.
Isis
When her powerful husband died, she could resurrect him and was seen as responsible for life and death and shared in the Mother Goddess-concept with the likes of Hera and paleolithic "Venuses".
Men, in general, or male gods anyway, must fashion their place in life for themselves, whereas female gods can just create by virtue of their very being. Women were honored because men believed our "rhythms", since they could be synchronized thanks to pheromones (though they didn't know that) and had a general link to the lunar month, were proof of our divine connection with the Earth, also usually identified as feminine as it gives life. However, eventually, when men watched their livestock mating, it occurred to them that they had something to do with children as well, and they then began patriarchy. The belief that women were magical resulted in both fear and loathing. Men had to use overwhelming violence to take our honor away from us.
I realize this reads more like an essay than a debate, but I wanted to show "men" what a reasoned post looks like, LOL. Just kidding (okay, half kidding).
It is my position that greatness is subjective and that both men and women have earned it over the millennia of human history. However, to deny one over the other is simple bigotry, as the facts simply do not bear them out.
Hitler
Male opinion: Was great due to unifying a country and getting his way a lot.
My (female) opinion: Whiny college wanna-be blames everyone else for his problems and then when he's about to get caught, kills himself. Oh, and he tried to backstab the next guy, even though history showed that you can't win conventionally in a fight with this country ....
Stalin
Male opinion: Was great for taking control of a rather large country, industrializing and expanding it.
My (female)opinion: Oh, look, yet another inferiority complex. He drove his country to ruin, befriended the aforementioned idiot, and died because he idiotically told people not to bother him in his room.
I'll stop there, as I'm sure by now we can get the picture that "greatness" is VERY subjective.
No, wait, I have some of my own "great men", to wit ...
Adam
Yeah, the first Guy. Has the sweetest possible life, ruins it due to spinelessness, and then has the audacity to blame his problems on the wife. Take notice, ladies and gentlemen ... this sets the theme for ALL OF HISTORY ....
Jesus
Is a smart-aleck before puberty, has to be guilt-tripped to help others, brags about martyrdom and sacrifice while running away from most of the mobs, doesn't smack His ego-tripping followers, thinks He's so awesome the authorities won't lay a finger on Him, and has very few nice things to say about Ma and family.
George Washington
Irritated that he didn't get that promotion, so he commits treason, idiotically hesitates to enlist African freemen or slaves when the recruitment quota was almost non-existent, goes to war without being properly stocked with ammo, manages to have a retreat labeled a "success", let his men freeze and starve to death for six months, but hey ... at least he retired.
Abraham Lincoln
Was just as uninterested in freeing slaves as everyone else but somehow got credit for it, underestimated the stubbornness of a bunch of hicks (even though he wasn't exactly from aristocratic stock himself), and let his guard down knowing tons of people were furious with him.
Now, before anyone starts flaming me, keep in mind the idea here is to show that greatness is subjective.
And yet, a definition was given: basically "made an impact on history". Well, isn't THAT helpful. The basic gist was that women couldn't be great because they made no or little impact in comparison to men.
I can bet who wrote those histories that said men were greater than women. Anyone care to take a guess?
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2001-06600-008
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2009-16971-002
http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/apl884725.pdf
To start off, psychology has been well aware that there is a bias against women. A usual experiment will describe the achievements of a powerful administrator, but without giving any pronouns or other identifiers as to the gender. The participant will then be told to rate that administrator. One group will be told it's a man and one group will be told it's a woman. Keep in mind it's the EXACT same story, regardless.
Every single time ... the assumed female gets rated lower than the assumed male.
Now, here are women rulers.
Here are famous American women.
Another list, though some names were mentioned already in the first link.
Have you heard how important sanitary practices are in preventing illness? Thank Florence Nightingale (men assumed you could just pass from one patient to another with bloody hands).
Hypatia invented some scientific instruments, before men got in a jealous rage and tore her to bits like wild dogs.
Also, if we can count mythology for a moment ....
Hera
Her husband was a philandering jerk. She didn't just meekly submit to it. She had lovers tortured and killed, attacked the resulting offspring frequently, tried to off her own husband ....
Athena
A warrior just as tough as half-brother Ares, but not as bloodthirsty. Inspired Athenians to greatness in war and the arts. Submitted to no male, god or otherwise.
Isis
When her powerful husband died, she could resurrect him and was seen as responsible for life and death and shared in the Mother Goddess-concept with the likes of Hera and paleolithic "Venuses".
Men, in general, or male gods anyway, must fashion their place in life for themselves, whereas female gods can just create by virtue of their very being. Women were honored because men believed our "rhythms", since they could be synchronized thanks to pheromones (though they didn't know that) and had a general link to the lunar month, were proof of our divine connection with the Earth, also usually identified as feminine as it gives life. However, eventually, when men watched their livestock mating, it occurred to them that they had something to do with children as well, and they then began patriarchy. The belief that women were magical resulted in both fear and loathing. Men had to use overwhelming violence to take our honor away from us.
I realize this reads more like an essay than a debate, but I wanted to show "men" what a reasoned post looks like, LOL. Just kidding (okay, half kidding).
It is my position that greatness is subjective and that both men and women have earned it over the millennia of human history. However, to deny one over the other is simple bigotry, as the facts simply do not bear them out.