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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| 40 Years After the Failed Gender Revolution |
| 2014-03-13 |
| h/t Instapundit This week marks the 40th anniversary of an event close to the hearts of gender activists everywhere. On March 11, 1974, ABC aired Marlo Thomas' "Free to Be...You and Me" -- a musical program celebrating gender-free children. Thomas and her fellow co-neutralists envisioned a world where the sex distinction would melt away. Instead of "males" and "females," there would be mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons. The project resulted in a platinum LP, a best-selling book, and an Emmy. More than that, the idea of gender liberation entered the national zeitgeist. Parents everywhere began giving their daughters trucks and sons baby dolls. Like so many dream boats floating on the utopian sea, this one crashed and sank when it hit the rocks of reality. ...In 2009, David Geary, a University of Missouri psychologist, published the second edition of Male, Female: The Evolution of Human Sex Differences. This thorough, fair-minded, and comprehensive survey of the literature includes more than 50 pages of footnotes citing studies by neuroscientists, endocrinologists, geneticists, anthropologists, and psychologists showing a strong biological basis for many gender differences. And, as Geary recently told me, "One of the largest and most persistent differences between the sexes is children's play preferences." The female preference for nurturing play and the male propensity for rough-and-tumble hold cross-culturally and even cross-species. Researchers have found, for example, that female vervet monkeys play with dolls much more than their brothers, who prefer balls and toy cars. Nor can human reality be tossed aside. In all known societies, women tend to be the nurturers and men the warriors. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker points to the absurdity of ascribing these universal differences to socialization: "It would be an amazing coincidence that in every society the coin flip that assigns each sex to one set of roles would land the same way." The 70es have a lot to answer for. In particular if, like me, you have a kid subject to the will of |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #7 In our household she kills it, I grills it. Works well. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2014-03-13 22:29 |
| #6 And that's the problem, bigjim. Too many (most?) women want men to share their traditional tasks, but don't even consider sharing men's traditional tasks. Though I know how to change the oil in a car, use a chainsaw (having been a firefighter earlier in my life pays off a lot), chop wood, cut the grass, shovel snow, put up shelves, etc., I'd really rather not. But in return I don't expect a man to do the shopping, sewing, or cleaning (though I do expect everyone to pick up after themselves), or other house-type stuff, and don't care who cooks. That's more like actual equality in my mind. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-03-13 21:23 |
| #5 Yes, I'm expected to do a certain amount of the house work and child caring now. My wife, however, has never been expected to change the brakes on the cars or run the chain saw after a big wind storm, or go investigate when we hear something go bump in the night. She doesn't know how a table saw works, but she likes the bookshelves it built. She would never attempt to fix the burnt out wire behind the duplex outlet or climb under the house and put a wrench on that leaking pipe fitting. There is nothing critical that she does that cannot be delegated to me, inversely, 85% of what I do cannot be done by her or baby. There is no "equality" in my house, just updated expectations. Not complaining, but let's call it what it is. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2014-03-13 17:09 |
| #4 The gender wars *were* successful in destroying traditional roles - which was the goal all along. The stated goals of "equality," rainbows and unicorn farts were always a smoke screen. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2014-03-13 11:16 |
| #3 You're saying Girls WILL NOT "Play" with guns, what are the actual shooting deaths, By Gender. Don' know? Then you're part of the Gender Separation, My Daughter Carries a weapon, Hasn't had to use it,(Not yet) But ready. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2014-03-13 09:18 |
| #2 Arlington and scores of other veteran cemeteries remain largely gender segregated. Where's the affirmative action to 'level' those playing fields? The old republic was built upon the bodies, bones, trauma, desolation and last full measure of devotion by legions filled by those who's posterity are demonized for making a simple hand gesture of a gun on a school playing field. Privilege and prerogative are not equality when they lack responsibility and consequence. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-03-13 08:42 |
| #1 The 70es have a lot to answer for. Right on starting with the Citation. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-03-13 08:37 |