Girl's Life v Boy's Life: "Do you Know When to Shut Up" vs "Jokes to impress"

Well, you could knock me down with a feather!

17 Likes

Sure, being told you canā€™t dance or ask for directions has given you an intimate look at the worst harm stereotyping does to people, and that gives you all the perspective you need to assert itā€™s not so bad to do with women or racial minorities.

ā€¦I guess that actually proves your point about stereotypes sometimes being based in fact, seeing as one of the Caucasian male stereotypes is being completely and obstinately blind to the different experiences of other people. Iā€™m not sure that counts for credit, though.

20 Likes

You wrote earlier that ā€œstereotypes help human beings navigate more happily and easily through life.ā€ How could that possibly be true unless people let stereotypes influence their decisions and actions?

11 Likes

ā€œBeing awareā€ of stereotypes is waaaaaaaaaay different than saying shit like ā€œstereotypes are true (except when theyā€™re about me)ā€

6 Likes

Before 2010 they could rely on time-tested stereotypes, passed on by their mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, to guide them through life. </hpsaudio_mode>

1 Like

But stereotyping encourages people to make heavy decisions based on those stereotypes. If you take identical resumes but one with a male name and one with a female name, the male name will be rated as better qualified and get a higher starting salary. Police officers are more likely to pull over someone of color. Defendants claiming ā€œstand your groundā€ are more likely to prevail if the victim is black.

The fact that you cannot imagine how this stereotype can be turned negative indicates that you probably have not been the victim of such stereotypes.

12 Likes

Thank God Iā€™m old. Iā€™m starting to get excited about my birthdays again!
(One year less! Letā€™s have cake!)

Hey! Iā€™m a Caucasian male, and I definitely donā€™t know when to shut up!

2 Likes

Actually I would expect the past to be more progressive in terms of ā€œgirls doing thingsā€ really. By todayā€™s standards Iā€™m pretty sure some of the old Ladies Home Journal covers might be too progressive.

2 Likes

No man you are so way fucking off base I donā€™t even know where to start. Iā€™m almost tempted to think youā€™re joking, but there is this cheerful naive earnesty about your comments that says you are deadly serious.

Itā€™s the little, mild, casual, obviously generally true and really quite harmless stereotypes that underpin socially entrenched sexism racism and general intolerance. And while they might have their roots in ā€˜human natureā€™, and be a common anthropological trait, they are destructive forces in our communities, and the civilised thing to do is to train yourself to avoid them.

In fact, if you get out enough, you might even find they really are all bullshit.

17 Likes

Hmmmā€¦ any chance you relied on stereotypes in arriving at that a priori conclusion?

3 Likes

[quote=ā€œhpsaudio, post:19, topic:13124, full:trueā€]
And Iā€™ll retort by asserting that some or many racial stereotypes are not inherently bad. [/quote]

Yes, they are.

Good, because we are already aware that you are privileged and blind to it, so no one needs to see a list of white man whines.

No, itā€™s not useful or true, and it hurts women so it should go away. It also hurts men. So it should go away. Itā€™s bad, not good, and should not be perpetuated.

It is a prejudice, usually said in anger by some one who has been hurt by a man. Itā€™s not useful either. And no, not to be overly literal, no men are pigs. Some men are entitled, abusive, unpleasant, narcissistic, and generally horribleā€¦ but they arenā€™t pigs. Associating the bad behavior with a gender just excuses and normalizes it though.

Do they apply to the races, to the people you know, or just your unexamined justifications for believing what you do? Waitā€¦ I doubt you can answer that intelligently.

Yes, we do. Thatā€™s why we should stay on top of it. That is also why I considered wasting my time replying to you worth the effort.

11 Likes

It was an a posteriori conclusion.

1 Like

Possibly, but it was one that apparently confirmed some stereotype you have about white males.

2 Likes

The Wikipedia page also says:

It covers a range of topics, from heavier topics such as dealing with racism, sexual abuse, and feelings for boys, as well as lighter topics such as fashion, beauty, skin care, embarrassing moments. There are also often recipes, gift ideas, and interviews.

Those assholes!

And since Girlā€™s Life has nothing to do with the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, weā€™re comparing apples and oranges here. I canā€™t find a magazineā€“I see they used to have a magazine called American Girl, which is no longer in print and has nothing to do with the current American Girl magazine, and their adult leadership magazine has been out of print since 2009, but looking at the website

here

Although somewhat distressingly it has a picture of Barbie right there on the Brownie section, there seems to be loads of Girl Power stuff.

Are we done? Weā€™re done here.

Sloppy, manā€¦real sloppy. I get it, they have similar names. But thatā€™s all.

Au contraire.

Most people (in my experience) who are clueless in discussions about race and sex are white males. Doesnā€™t mean I believe that all white males are clueless about racism and sexism - I hope Iā€™m not! (although I probably am).

3 Likes

Citation required.

2 Likes

If a poster was describing their experience of discrimination, you could factually deduce they were probably of a minority that is discriminated against, without applying a stereotype.

Just try that in reverse.

2 Likes

If you wanted to compare and contrast two magazines marketed to difference sexes you would do better to take something like GQ vs Glamour.

Itā€™s not like there would be that much contrast; douchey v.s. vapid.

1 Like

So youā€™re saying that only white males can discriminate on the basis of race and sex?

1 Like