They believe gender is a social construct. So any difference in behaviour or interests between the two groups can be explained with inequality and discrimination (of women, never men) by society.
Gender is a social construct, in the sense that different societies would complete the sentence "Men are _____" in different ways. There are overlaps, yes, but it is also true that "manly" behaviors in one society might be seen as very "unmanly" in another. A good example of this is hand-holding with other men, which would be seen as "gay" or effeminate in most Western countries, but is common in some non-Western countries.
There are many different variations of feminism, so I can't speak for other women who think of themselves as feminists, but I definitely think that when there are substantial differences between men and women, it is important to try to figure out if it is innate or if there is inequality or discrimination happening.
Here is one example: there was a study done that was investigating the fact that men were more often ranked as being competent in their jobs and were more likely to get higher salaries in science departments. So the study made up like 10 fake resumes. They would take a fake resume to one department with a woman's name/picture attached, and then take the same resume to another science department, this time with a man's picture attached. What they found was that the SAME resume was likely to be higher ranked and offered a higher salary if it had a man's picture attached. So given two fake people with exactly the same qualifications, the man was consistently ranked more competent and worth more money. I'm not sure how you can explain that outside of discrimination.
And any feminist worth his or her salt will of course acknowledge that gender inequality has negative effects on men. Less paternal leave for new fathers, for example. Or being dissuaded from certain professions because they are "girly" jobs. One of the most interesting arguments about feminism to emerge in the last few years is all the ways that gender equality benefits men. For example, if women are more highly educated, that leads to the male population being more highly educated (and getting better jobs/salaries/etc) because most children are taken care of by their mothers, and an educated mother will pass that knowledge onto her son before he even gets to school.
The notion of gender equality is not exactly a long-lasting thing. Up until the 70s (I think) women needed a signed note from their parents if they wanted to join the military. And you can say "Oh that was back in the 60s/70s/80s!", but the reality is that inequality has lingering ripple effects, because power positions and money tend to trickle down through families.
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civspan
8 years ago
Sorry, I meant to write that they think it's purely a social construct. Of course gender is not all biological, but it is a big factor. What you describe - customs - are of course entirely social. But to go from there to assert that every measurable difference in behaviour or capabilities is purely a social construct is ludicrous. There are plenty of studies that aren't sociological in nature that have mapped these differences. And that's a good thing, because sociology studies, hell even psychology studies (which are less sensitive to biases on the part of the researchers, and other external factors), simply don't yield reproducible results. That study you mentioned, if you were to repeat that 20 times with different researchers and different subjects you'd more likely than not get 20 different results.
That there is widespread discrimination in most societies goes without saying. That people often are treated unfairly because of their gender, and many other factors, is obvious. To claim that one group, half the population, are always the victims and the other half should be ashamed and assent to having discriminatory measures against them passed into law is far beyond reasonable though. And that's the stance of most activist feminists. Their goal is not equality.
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Stovepipe99
8 years ago
There are plenty of studies that aren't sociological in nature that have mapped these differences. And that's a good thing, because sociology studies, hell even psychology studies (which are less sensitive to biases on the part of the researchers, and other external factors), simply don't yield reproducible results. That study you mentioned, if you were to repeat that 20 times with different researchers and different subjects you'd more likely than not get 20 different results.
You're lumping two very different types of studies together.
You are talking about studies that show that men and women have different behaviors.
I am talking about studies that show that people are treated differently on the basis of gender.
There are many people who will tell you that gender discrimination no longer exists (and will even insist that the scales are tipped these days in the favor of women), and that simply isn't true. There is still active discrimination based on gender, and often it does go against women.
And that's the stance of most activist feminists. Their goal is not equality.
Frankly I think that you and I just know different feminists. I don't know any feminists (male or female) who advocate for laws that discriminate against men. Or who say that women are somehow the superior gender or that all men are evil. Most feminists I know, for example, agree that it's discriminatory that only men have to register for the military draft (though many of my friends oppose the draft itself on principle). If the women/feminists you describe are mostly people you've seen on YouTube or Tumblr, I think you're picking from a pretty rotten pool.
What laws are currently trying to be passed that discriminate against men?
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