Commentary is hard to get done in these 10-minute Matt Chats. It just takes time to develop a discussion when on a topic like that. I think this summer I'll start some audio podcasts to accompany the videos where I can go into a lot more detail.
There's obvious problems with any discussion on this topic that have to get worked out beforehand. For instance, is there an essential difference between men and women? Do men and women just think differently; are their brains just incompatible? I think many feminists would say NO to these questions, since once you accept such a thing it gets easy to start claiming that certain jobs are better for men vs. women, etc. We like to think of men and women as being entirely equal. Whether it's true in some absolute sense or not seems less relevant than our desire to see people treated fairly. As I like to say, demand opportunity, not privilege.
From a strictly logical viewpoint, I see no reason why men and women shouldn't serve together in the military (including in combat) or why all professional sports shouldn't be integrated. You can't tell me there aren't some good women out there who could hold their own in the NFL. Again, from a strictly logical perspective, I'd go so far as to say that even having separate bathrooms for men and women is bad, since it just reinforces that difference (always wondered how transgendered people handled that). I prefer to see concepts of masculinity and femininity separated from male and female, since we all know that people can be either regardless of their "sex." I found the movie "Starship Troopers" quite effective in these regards; it seemed like a very plausible way of life to me.
Obviously, there are whole college courses dedicated to women's studies and such, and last time I checked some eight waves of feminism (many of which were incompatible with each other). Just the name "women's studies" is a sign of that; many women apparently want to avoid being called a "feminist."
Commentary is hard to get done in these 10-minute Matt Chats. It just takes time to develop a discussion when on a topic like that. I think this summer I'll start some audio podcasts to accompany the videos where I can go into a lot more detail.
There's obvious problems with any discussion on this topic that have to get worked out beforehand. For instance, is there an essential difference between men and women? Do men and women just think differently; are their brains just incompatible? I think many feminists would say NO to these questions, since once you accept such a thing it gets easy to start claiming that certain jobs are better for men vs. women, etc. We like to think of men and women as being entirely equal. Whether it's true in some absolute sense or not seems less relevant than our desire to see people treated fairly. As I like to say, demand opportunity, not privilege.
From a strictly logical viewpoint, I see no reason why men and women shouldn't serve together in the military (including in combat) or why all professional sports shouldn't be integrated. You can't tell me there aren't some good women out there who could hold their own in the NFL. Again, from a strictly logical perspective, I'd go so far as to say that even having separate bathrooms for men and women is bad, since it just reinforces that difference (always wondered how transgendered people handled that). I prefer to see concepts of masculinity and femininity separated from male and female, since we all know that people can be either regardless of their "sex." I found the movie "Starship Troopers" quite effective in these regards; it seemed like a very plausible way of life to me.
Obviously, there are whole college courses dedicated to women's studies and such, and last time I checked some eight waves of feminism (many of which were incompatible with each other). Just the name "women's studies" is a sign of that; many women apparently want to avoid being called a "feminist."
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com