Posted by C Elegans:
Do you think women discriminated in your culture?
Yes, I think most examples have been mentioned already.
Do you have any personal experience of women being discriminated?
Not personally. Though I just thought of this when I was answering the next question... At the farm I worked at, which was a fruit and veg farm, they never had any of the blokes working in the farm shop. And it's not because stronger people were needed in the fields - occasionally it was helpful (for example, moving the irrigation pipes), but generally picking soft fruit isn't any easier for men than women.
Do you have any experience of "reversed racism" regarding women?
Actually yes... When I worked on a farm a few summers ago, there were 3 girls and probably about 10 guys working there, and we were balecarting, and our boss took us aside and asked us if we were ok to do that job, because we could stay and work in the shop if we didn't think we were up to it. And when we did it, we got the better job of packing the bales on the trailer rather than having to toss them up there with pitchforks (but that was because we
were less capable of doing that because we weren't as strong as the guy).
Aside from that, consider how people react to each other online. How many of the guys on SYM react to other guys rather competitively, flaming each other (albeit goodnaturedly), while they have a tendency to flirt with the women?
Are there areas where men are discriminated in your culture?
Again, this has been pretty much covered already.
Posted by VoodooDali:
The other thing that bothers me is that in order to climb up the ladder, women have to abandon many of the better feminine qualities. Is it progress to have a high-powered job when you have to act as ruthless as men in those positions? Look at Margaret Thatcher--is she an ideal? I had hoped women would bring changes, but that has not occured except in small ways.
Which is what I was going to point out - one of the things you hear most about Thatcher is how masculine she is...

It's not equality when women have to become "masculine" in order to be accepted by men as equals. Admittedly, it's just as bad that certain traits are considered masculine as feminine... Ideally it would be the case that those traits didn't label a person as one or the other. Surely a woman should be able to be ruthless and still feminine, a man should be able to be masculine and caring.
Posted by Der-Draigen:
Many, if not most, women have very good reason to think that way. Women don't just pull these kinds of beliefs and attitudes out of their ears. They come from extremely painful, frequently repeated, experience. Unfortunately, there are far more horror stories out there than there are positive experiences. Many (again, if not most) women have never found a decent guy, who behaved as if he was actually a human being capable of putting his own ego/needs/wants aside for 30 seconds to take her into consideration.
So, don't be surprised when/if a woman displays this kind of belief/thought/attitude. Try to remember -- she got it from somewhere, and she's probably still got the gaping wounds to prove it.
While this is true... I don't think it applies exclusively to women. People have too much of a tendency to generalise when they have bad relationship experiences, irregardless of gender. There are probably just as many men out there who've had bad relationship experiences with women.
Posted by Nippy:
I consider myself to be polite and a gentlemen with women, I always open doors and never think about having my girlfriend buy the dinner or film tickets, I was raised as a considerate human, but the feminists that say we (males) shouldn't buy tickets or food talk bullsh*t in my opinion. From my experience women like to have their films/dinner bought for them because they like a gentlemen. Am I right in saying that the females posting in this thread agree? Do we have any fervent femininsts in here?
Well, I think my opinion on the subject has been pretty much covered already... One should be polite to people irregardless of their gender. Yes, it's nice to be treated to dinner or a movie or whatever, but I wouldn't expect a man to pay, and I would pay sometimes. The problem that ultra-feminists have with this, I think, is that they feel a man who insists on paying for everything is enforcing some kind of chauvinist agenda. Which is probably misplaced in most cases... most guys are probably just trying to make a good impression

As long as a man's paying because he wants to, rather than because he feels that he ought to pay to conform to some masculine stereotype, and doesn't mind it when I pay, then it's fine by me
