Jezebel 
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New York, 12:06 AM
Mon Nov 9
22 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/27/09
03/27/09
It's fine to take issue with his assumption that all women are kinder (i get it), but can you look at developing nations where they've allowed women more power and deny that things run smoother and less violently? Or that the top countries for producing terrorists are also countries where women are oppressed the most?
But it is a pain to be expected to have some higher moral aptitude just because you're a woman, but it ain't the WORST idea to foster.
I think it's equally lame for women to celebrate violence/aggression/assholetry, like it's some right that's long been denied to us. It's not, and I'd rather not stoop to the level of the less evolved patriarchies past just to convince someone I'm equal.
03/27/09
Your point about developing countries is REALLY interesting, but I suspect it may have something to do with a wider openness in society than with the specific consequences that derive from having a female leader. It's very difficult to separate the two effects. Take Liberia as an example--does the election of a female leader lead to a more peaceful society, or, conversely, does it signify an existing desire to have a leader who, in part due to sex, isn't associated with the wars of the past? What's the chicken and what's the egg--and which came first? Sorry if I'm being annoying--I'm a PhD student, and a discourse analyst at that, so the idea of cause and effect always piques the old interest (especially after many, many G&T's--hence the rambling)!
03/27/09
But I do think that if more women were in positions of power, the world would be better off.
Also, I wonder if this had been written by a liberal woman rather than a conservative man (different justifications, but same idea) if so many people would have a problem with it.
03/27/09
I judge people based on their intelligence and political positions, not based on their sex.
03/27/09
03/27/09
I think you're right, in that if more women were in power the world would be better off. I don't, however, believe that would be the case because women are inherently nicer or more cooperative than men. I think the world would be much better if we as societies were open to the idea of 'female'-style leadership--if the concepts tradtionally associated with women, like nurturing and caring, were valued in our political elite. Whether these attributes are really accurate descriptions of most women is, however, another question--and it's one against which I suspect that many feminists, myself included, instinctively bristle.
03/28/09
And I wouldn't say that women are inherently nicer or more cooperative, but I would say that peoples' priorities are sometimes different along gender lines. I think part of the problem is limiting the qualities associated with any gender to just a few things. If women were only described as "nurturing and caring", and those were the only things we were supposed to be good at, I'd be mad as hell. But if you broaden the definition to include other aspects of human nature - hell, most aspects of human nature, its a different story. Women aren't just nurturers, the same way men aren't just hunters. Both genders have an awful lot of characteristics, and I think its the narrowing of these that is upsetting people - which makes sense. I just thought rejecting this claim out of hand was too harsh.
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(that is not to say that all men or all women are nasty and brutish, just that humans in general can be)
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I bet his girlfriend put him up to it for saying something stupid.
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Ha! Take that 4!
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