So, at work this week, I arrived at a meeting early. I'm often the only person in the meeting without kids, but this particular meeting, I seemed to be the only one without high-school-aged kids. The discussion of choice was teaching them to drive, and one woman said "I hate driving with my daughter. It was never like this with my son. I think boys are just more natural drivers." And another woman immediately agreed, based on her experiences with her own kids.
This was a couple of days ago, and I still haven't figured out what the hell I could have said. I felt like saying that I was a terrible driver, and I'm still not a comfortable one, but I feel like that's agreeing with them, because I was a girl at the time (not that this group necessarily knows that). I felt like saying that if boys are better drivers, why are their insurance rates higher? I felt like saying that drawing a conclusion about genders based on your two children is completely ridiculous.
What I did was sit there silently and be uncomfortable, and I noticed that the (one) other man in the room didn't say anything either. When women express sexist stereotypes, how can we help?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sexual numbers, revisited
This morning, on the way to work, I was thinking about the "differences in average sexual partners" problem again, in reference to Gale's 2007 mathematical proof that the average for men and women must be the same. I thought of a couple explanations for differences in self-report that may not have anything to do with social pressures.
First, there is the chance that men are reporting the same woman more than once. It does not seem implausible to me that a man could count the same woman as three separate "conquests", while that woman would define their relationship as "on-again-off-again dating." Anecdatally, I believe it's not at all improbable to forget someone you've had sex with. Boy, was that an awkward conversation.
Another question I wondered about was the definition of "sex." I have rarely encountered heterosexual men who spend a lot of time thinking about what the word "sex" means. I'm wondering whether anyone has looked for gender differences in what "counts". I would actually expect a dose-specific effect, where the more experience you've had, the more things count as sex, but wouldn't be surprised to find out that dose-specific effects vary by gender; i.e. that men with a lot of experience count fewer contacts as sex while women with a lot count more. It would be foolish to discount social pressures for this option, but I'm not sure they are necessary to explain it.
Finally, there's record-keeping, which I would have guessed would favor women in terms of reporting higher numbers of partners. I have not encountered many men who admit to keeping a list of their conquests. Nearly all the women I've spoken to about it admit that they have at least one such list, often annotated with additional detail like location, types of contact, etc.
Mostly, I suspect I have trouble accepting the self-report explanation due to my personal selection bias. I don't spend a lot of time around guys who I feel are likely to inflate their numbers, or around women who I think would lower theirs. It's probably a bit of self-delusion, as is the idea that just because I forget having sex with people, it's probably not that uncommon. Honestly, I find any theory that leaves me as an outlier fairly suspect. I'm just not that special.
Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
First, there is the chance that men are reporting the same woman more than once. It does not seem implausible to me that a man could count the same woman as three separate "conquests", while that woman would define their relationship as "on-again-off-again dating." Anecdatally, I believe it's not at all improbable to forget someone you've had sex with. Boy, was that an awkward conversation.
Another question I wondered about was the definition of "sex." I have rarely encountered heterosexual men who spend a lot of time thinking about what the word "sex" means. I'm wondering whether anyone has looked for gender differences in what "counts". I would actually expect a dose-specific effect, where the more experience you've had, the more things count as sex, but wouldn't be surprised to find out that dose-specific effects vary by gender; i.e. that men with a lot of experience count fewer contacts as sex while women with a lot count more. It would be foolish to discount social pressures for this option, but I'm not sure they are necessary to explain it.
Finally, there's record-keeping, which I would have guessed would favor women in terms of reporting higher numbers of partners. I have not encountered many men who admit to keeping a list of their conquests. Nearly all the women I've spoken to about it admit that they have at least one such list, often annotated with additional detail like location, types of contact, etc.
Mostly, I suspect I have trouble accepting the self-report explanation due to my personal selection bias. I don't spend a lot of time around guys who I feel are likely to inflate their numbers, or around women who I think would lower theirs. It's probably a bit of self-delusion, as is the idea that just because I forget having sex with people, it's probably not that uncommon. Honestly, I find any theory that leaves me as an outlier fairly suspect. I'm just not that special.
Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Retirement
According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, the average age of retirement for men and women was the same in 1998: 64 years old. Gendell and Seigel (1992) predicted that age at retirement would continue to fall for men and women into the 2000's, but as a Star-Tribune (MN, 2007) article suggests, current census figures don't seem to follow the predicted pattern. More people over 65 are remaining in the workforce.
Speaking of retirement: I think I'd better officially retire Difference Blog before I start to really slack on it. I haven't been satisfied with the quality of my posts for a while, and I'm not finding more time to do it in. This Tuesday, I just flat-out missed a day right after taking two weeks away from the blog. I haven't made Difference Blog the type of blog I'd want to read, and it's increasingly not the type I want to write. I'm not saying that this is the last DB post, but I clearly can't keep up with 5 posts per week anymore. Thanks for all your comments and feedback over the past (nearly) three years.
Speaking of retirement: I think I'd better officially retire Difference Blog before I start to really slack on it. I haven't been satisfied with the quality of my posts for a while, and I'm not finding more time to do it in. This Tuesday, I just flat-out missed a day right after taking two weeks away from the blog. I haven't made Difference Blog the type of blog I'd want to read, and it's increasingly not the type I want to write. I'm not saying that this is the last DB post, but I clearly can't keep up with 5 posts per week anymore. Thanks for all your comments and feedback over the past (nearly) three years.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
[Filler] Penis Power
I'm in a class this morning and didn't have time to post. However, talking to a coworker while I got my coffee, we got onto the subject of HBO. HBO doesn't scrimp on the presentation of breasts, ass, or cursing, but I'm not recalling much in the way of male exposure. My coworker described the condition as "Advanced Penis Deprivation"; and we spent some time discussing what I've long considered a double standard about the taboo surrounding naked bodies.
Is it really a double standard? Does it bother you?
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Is it really a double standard? Does it bother you?
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Biases affect Performance
Nosek et al (2009) provide additional support for the effect of stereotype threat on academic performance. Using gender bias data from Project Implicit and scores from the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), Nosek's study found that countries where stronger gender biases existed also showed greater disparities in TIMSS performance between girls and boys. (see other posts tagged "stereotype threat")
I'd be interested to see if there's a regional difference in biases within the U.S. or Canada. Do people in Montana hold difference gender biases than people in California, or Texas, or Massachusetts? Do gender disparities in math and science performance mirror these differences, if they exist? I feel like using regional differences within a country might control for some portion of the huge array of cultural confounds that I suspect plague international studies. The cultures are regionally diverse, but there is a common language and legal system, and I feel like that would help.
I feel like the big "key", if there is a one, to stereotype threat is the self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe what I mean is that stereotype threat assumes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm concerned that it rules out a valid interpretation of available data. Let's say, for some unknown reason, that there is an innate gender difference ability in math and science in Chile, but not in Cyprus. Wouldn't it make sense for the people in those countries to have beliefs that reflected that reality? I don't think that's the case, but I'm not sure it's appropriately ruled out by the stereotype threat studies -- because they assume that the biases create the performance, rather than performance creating the biases.
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I'd be interested to see if there's a regional difference in biases within the U.S. or Canada. Do people in Montana hold difference gender biases than people in California, or Texas, or Massachusetts? Do gender disparities in math and science performance mirror these differences, if they exist? I feel like using regional differences within a country might control for some portion of the huge array of cultural confounds that I suspect plague international studies. The cultures are regionally diverse, but there is a common language and legal system, and I feel like that would help.
I feel like the big "key", if there is a one, to stereotype threat is the self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe what I mean is that stereotype threat assumes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm concerned that it rules out a valid interpretation of available data. Let's say, for some unknown reason, that there is an innate gender difference ability in math and science in Chile, but not in Cyprus. Wouldn't it make sense for the people in those countries to have beliefs that reflected that reality? I don't think that's the case, but I'm not sure it's appropriately ruled out by the stereotype threat studies -- because they assume that the biases create the performance, rather than performance creating the biases.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Difference Blog Reader Poll
Monday, June 22, 2009
Gender differences in PTSD
Lilly et al (2009) assert that among civilians in general, women tend to have more PTSD than men (see Tolin & Foa, 2006), but that military populations tend not to have this gender difference (see Brewin et al, 2000). To examine this pattern, Lilly et al compared posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms between female police officers and women in the civilian population. The police officer group had greater rates of exposure to violence, which is usually a strong risk factor for PTSD, but lower rates of PTSD symptoms. The authors suggest that the low emotionality (masculine) gender role encouraged for women in the police and military may have a protective effect in terms of PTSD.
Previous posts on Difference Blog have not found as clear a civilian/military divide for gender differences in PTSD. Studies of civilians post-9/11 were inconsistent in finding more PTSD among women (2006-09-11). Two posts examining military sexual trauma found higher rates of PTSD among women in the military, but this did not always control for higher rates of sexual assault against women (2006-11-10 & 2008-11-11). Before the age where career enters into it, girls 7-18 were more likely to develop PTSD following a car crash than boys of the same age (2007-01-08).
In this case, I am more convinced by Lilly et al's literature review than by my own: I can't see any obvious problems with the meta-analyses they cite (which is why I linked them, above), although I didn't check the individual studies. What this really drives home to me is how the scattershot approach I take to Difference Blog topics can paint a really odd picture of the state-of-knowledge in a particular field. Given the studies I've posted about, I would not have picked up on a pattern based on military service.
That being said, I'm not sure of the chicken-and-egg situation between emotionality and career. It seems to me that someone who tended to have strong peritraumatic distress would not tend to pursue a career in law enforcement or the military -- regardless of their gender. The hypothesized effect of the male-dominated field on the female officers does not seem obvious to me.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
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Previous posts on Difference Blog have not found as clear a civilian/military divide for gender differences in PTSD. Studies of civilians post-9/11 were inconsistent in finding more PTSD among women (2006-09-11). Two posts examining military sexual trauma found higher rates of PTSD among women in the military, but this did not always control for higher rates of sexual assault against women (2006-11-10 & 2008-11-11). Before the age where career enters into it, girls 7-18 were more likely to develop PTSD following a car crash than boys of the same age (2007-01-08).
In this case, I am more convinced by Lilly et al's literature review than by my own: I can't see any obvious problems with the meta-analyses they cite (which is why I linked them, above), although I didn't check the individual studies. What this really drives home to me is how the scattershot approach I take to Difference Blog topics can paint a really odd picture of the state-of-knowledge in a particular field. Given the studies I've posted about, I would not have picked up on a pattern based on military service.
That being said, I'm not sure of the chicken-and-egg situation between emotionality and career. It seems to me that someone who tended to have strong peritraumatic distress would not tend to pursue a career in law enforcement or the military -- regardless of their gender. The hypothesized effect of the male-dominated field on the female officers does not seem obvious to me.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Difference Blog Reader Poll
Monday, June 8, 2009
Construction of Masculinity
Kang, 2009 discusses how masculine identity has shaped politics, and in turn been shaped by politics, in American self-government. Kang contrasts philophers Thomas Hobbes' and Robert Filmer's views of manliness, and shows how neither of these competing views of manliness made responsible self-government seem realistic in 17th-century England.
I've been meaning to discuss Kang's article for a while. The author did email me directly to point it out, but I think it's especially relevant because it tackles a question that is key to the questions raised in this blog. It's all too easy for me to see "femininity" as a constructed thing, but Kang points out the ways that our legal history, at least in the U.S., has constructed masculinity as well. Examples include codes of "gentleman's codes" and sports fandoms. The code of law seems bent towards preventing men from acting as men are presumed to be, with little consideration of women as relevant at all.
I saw an ad for a beer today which read "Be the person your grandparents think you are" -- encouraging potential drinkers to be worthy of heartfelt admiration. It brought home to me how much all identities, not just trans-identities, are constructed and maintained by daily action.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Difference Blog Reader Poll
I've been meaning to discuss Kang's article for a while. The author did email me directly to point it out, but I think it's especially relevant because it tackles a question that is key to the questions raised in this blog. It's all too easy for me to see "femininity" as a constructed thing, but Kang points out the ways that our legal history, at least in the U.S., has constructed masculinity as well. Examples include codes of "gentleman's codes" and sports fandoms. The code of law seems bent towards preventing men from acting as men are presumed to be, with little consideration of women as relevant at all.
I saw an ad for a beer today which read "Be the person your grandparents think you are" -- encouraging potential drinkers to be worthy of heartfelt admiration. It brought home to me how much all identities, not just trans-identities, are constructed and maintained by daily action.
Find out the day's topic before you read: follow diffblog on Twitter! Diffblog also available on LiveJournal.
Difference Blog Reader Poll
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