Sunday, March 11, 2012

Pinterest

I found this website a bit troublesome.  It's a website, apparently used mostly by women.  It is mostly about cooking, clothes and children.  Why?  Is there some fundamental biological distinction between men and women?  Or is it that patriarchal domination, or the black magic of false consciousness forces women into such things?

Or do they like them at all?  Most women I know don't really like cooking.  My wife doesn't, nor does a friend of mine who goes home and lies on the sofa with a glass of wine while her husband operates in the kitchen.  Clothes are for people under 30, of both sexes.  As for children, these are a biological necessity.

I was more disturbed by the horrible cute kitsch of the whole site.

6 comments:

Anthony said...

"Is there some fundamental biological distinction between men and women?"

Heh.

Edward Ockham said...

>>"Is there some fundamental biological distinction between men and women?"

"fundamental"

Anthony said...

Yeah, "fundamental".

Edward Ockham said...

What did you have in mind as a fundamental biological difference? Men have beards, e.g.? I don't see that as fundamental.

Edward Ockham said...

Why are hormone levels fundamental? Going back to the original post, I was implicitly asking whether there were a fundamental biological distinction which would explain the female stereotypes of clothes and cooking. As opposed to some 'externality' like patriarchal domination, false consciousness or similar.

Anthony said...

>> Why are hormone levels fundamental?

My understanding is that they are the base cause of most of the characteristics of gender.

>> Going back to the original post, I was implicitly asking whether there were a fundamental biological distinction which would explain the female stereotypes of clothes and cooking.

The stereotypes are based on tendencies, which are based on social norms, which are based on secondary sex characteristics (strength, size, speed) and the process of pregnancy/childbirth, which are based on fundamental biological distinctions.

The social norms are largely outdated in modern society - strength, size, and speed are not as important for working outside the house, and fertility rates have plummeted. But to some extent the tendencies still remain, and to an even larger extent the stereotypes still remain.