Unhelpful 'gendering' of social issues

iptba

Wasn't sure which thread to post this too. Thought it might fit here:

Students: Transgender Woman Can’t Be Diversity Officer Because She’s a White Man Now
Wellesley College students are okay with him on campus, but not in a leadership position.
By Katherine Timpf
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/390425/students-transgender-woman-cant-be-diversity-officer-because-shes-white-man-now

AndreaCollins

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

These two things cannot be blamed on anything beyond the general fact that women judge how other woman look far more than men and women follow and watch rugby far less than men.

I agree with you on these points. I think you've summed it up quite well here. The only thing I would add is it's unclear whether women would prefer to watch a male rugby match or female one. I would certainly rather watch a male rugby match over a female one.

pwurple

AndreaCollins wrote: »

I agree with you on these points. I think you've summed it up quite well here. The only thing I would add is it's unclear whether women would prefer to watch a male rugby match or female one. I would certainly rather watch a male rugby match over a female one.

I imagine different women would want to watch different things. I watch both occasionally. About the only sports I watch really. But I'm not a fan of watching sport in general. Same as watching tv, or reading non-specific magazines... All a bit of a time sucker. I could be making something, growing something, doing something, earning, in that time.

iptba

(November 27 article which I thought could fit here given the talk of "rape culture")

Confronting the C-Word

November 27, 2014

Editorial By Wendy McElroy

The first rule of the politics of fear is that if you want to make something sound scarier than it actually is, you add the word 'culture' at the end of it. – Brendan O'Neill, Editor of Spiked

It is the c-word*: culture. Depending on the political agenda of the alarmist du jour, we live in a rape culture, a gun culture, an abortion culture, a culture of racism. A standard definition of culture is "the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought." When a specific adjective is used to define a society, it means the adjective captures a dominant attitude and behavior that characterize the society.

But a culture does not rape, buy guns, have abortions or express racism. Individuals do. In some cases, like rape, the individuals engaging in the activity are a small percentage of the population. This is especially true today when incidents of rape have fallen dramatically. According to both the U.S. Department of Justice National Crime Victim Survey 2008-2012 and the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN) – the largest anti-sexual assault organization in America – sexual assault has decreased by more than 50% in recent years. Why, then, are we hearing so much more about a rape culture?

See more at: http://www.dailybell.com/editorials/35865/Wendy-McElroy-Confronting-the-C-Word/#sthash.LWAJJJnb.dpuf