What is the purpose ?

Question

of pitting men and women against each other? Why does one have to be "better" than the other?
I have observed many of these "Are men better than women? questions posted on a daily or weekly basis, and there seems to be no resolution to the question, only responses taking up sides.

So what is the purpose in asking it over and over again? Is it akin to watching Seinfeld reruns (entertainment only)?

Also- on a tangential note...why post the question "3% of women cannot live without_______.? " so many times? Is there an aswer to that bit of trivia?

Answer 1

I agree. It's another sign of the decay of political discourse. Instead of productive debate, we have battles over who can come up with the best burn. We have to lose the us vs. them mentality that some nameless folk on this board continue to encourage.

Answer 2

I have noticed that a large portion of those who post in this specific area are here less for an honest debate with each other and more for a very specific agenda - a lot of the guys just want to get a rise out of women and on almost every "better than" question you will see a slew of people getting in their two cents worth while the guy who ask the question sets back and laughs. I have not seen the 3% question yet, lol.... Go into Politics and Government if you get bored in here - instead of men and women its cons and libs....

Answer 3

.

Here is a draft excerpt from a thesis I wrote a long time ago:

"If genders are polar (www.dictionary.com defines polar as: (3) “being at opposite ends of a spectrum of symptoms or manifestations”), then it is easier to declare one more sufficient and deserving of power, and the other less sufficient and less deserving of power. Should [other] gender(s) blur these lines, the distribution of power among genders must be redistributed; because, the existence of other genders challenges the concept that gender is biologically determined by ones genitals."


"People are fighting a subtle gender war. It wages in the individual, the family and friends, the stores and religions, the media and courts... People wage this gender war which ...preserves the right of one anatomical sex to weild power over all the others[.]

This gender war preserves the lie of biologically determined masculinity and femininity, which is used to enslave humans under the notion of biologically determined rights of power and privilege. When people believe that there are only two gender categories (or that people need to be segregated into any genders at all) convincing those people that gender and existing gender roles are natural is much easier, than if there were an infinite number of genders, or human without gender, challenging the power and stratification of the two archetypal genders.

This gender war manifests in the gender-controlled vocabulary of “he and she.” People preserve it in store aisles that are reserved for the boy’s section and a girl’s section. They preserve it through the media with the flood of exclusively binary-gendered images replaying endlessly. They preserve it the moment they hold a newborn and proclaim at its birth that it is a boy or a girl. Men and women are not born. They are created. "
(2005, Amiko-Gabriel Stocking, From Sociology of Gender: Ethnomethodology)

Part of creating gender is creating a group identity. Part of preserving the gendered power structure as-is require gender policing to keep people "in their place"


My guess is that a lot of this "are men better/women better?" questions come from people who are themselves bouncing off of inconsistent gender margins, which shift over time and from culture to culture, and even within the individual. These inconsistencies, or contradictions, create a lot of friction in an invironment where people are expected to police each other's gender performances, but their expectations might not align with that individuals culture or the information that person has internalized about how they should be performing gender. (individuals might have conflicting messages even within themselves)

so, we have identity pride/empowerment, we have perserving the margins, we have policing others.

I feel that these are some of the reasons why people post those questions on here.

As for re-asking questions, I can only speak for myself. Sometimes I do this if I am collecting data on different perspectives on certain sociological issues.


Amiko-Gabriel Stocking
Director of Gender Schmender
Co-Director of Intersexes Are Human (ISAH)

Answer 4

I agree with you. People are just trying to cause fights. There is no other reason to ask that question. Those who do are either looking for someone to agree with them because they have no self-esteem, or they are trying to cause a fight because they have no lives and nothing better to do. Personally, I have boycotted all questions that are obviously just for shock value. I refuse to answer them, and I think any genuine person in this section would do well to do the same. Ignore them; all they want is attention.

"Arguing with a child is like wrestling with a pig in the mud; after a while, you will discover that they enjoy it."

Answer 5

"There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than there is hunger for bread. It is easier to cure the hunger for bread than it is to cure the hunger for love"

Our culture has amplified the differences of the sexes and is aimed at tearing them apart. The further they get from each other the more hunger they have for love and appreciation. The more hungry they get for this, the more whacked out they become.

"Intimacy" (balance of physical, mental, and spiritual) is hard to obtain and many find themselves seeking self gratification rather than maturing into a higher level of happiness because society tells us that we cannot get this. Self gratification is easier and in today's society, there are many avenues to instantly get the "fix".

So, with the gap widening and separating the sexes from finding "Intimacy" there is only pain, and many become more 'beast' like as they seek self gratification. The more 'beast' like they become, the easier it is to say, "You suck" ... "I'm better than you ... pay attention to me ... what are you blind???" ... "See what you're missing???" ... (malnurished for appreciation)

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Yes, radio talk show's usually play the "3% of women cannot live without ______?" There are gender specific questions like this and it also branches out to politics.

Answer 6

I have a theory that something about the way that women's studies are or are not taught in the schools is inducing a form of madness in people, mostly men. I think there was, and maybe is, a kind of victim/victimizer strain of thinking in some forms of feminism that ignores how men suffer under patriarchy and portrays all men as complicit in events of the past.

This is a false interpretation of reality but I think it has some currency and produces more resistance in men and some women than is necessary or warranted.

Answer 7

Maybe some men feel belittled by some angry feminists dimnishing the great accomplishments of mankind, taking too serious what some angry feminists say or think. The vast majority still thinks Einstein is a Genius and von Braun a great visionair that needs to be praised for taking down a barrier and taking man into space.

Answer 8

Well, the anti-feminists come on here and take over the forum, whining about themselves and their problems, deflecting attention off our serious studies until some of us snap and the nonsensical banter begins.

Answer 9

I find NO value in repetitive questions without resolution. I see NO value in talking anything to death. Conflict for its' own sake is pointless. It is really about self-esteem and a sense of one's own values. Validation not required here.

Answer 10

They seem to be asking the same question in the hopes they will receive the answer they want. Many ask questions for enlightenment but some ask only for validation.