Tuesday, January 4, 2011

"Feminism will make it possible, for the first time, for Men to be free"

Kimmel’s discussion on gender differences intrigued me. Much of what he said I had to agree with, if not almost all of it. I’ve heard a lot about the “Mars and Venus” take on gender difference and equality, but I’ve never really paid much attention to it. In some senses of the word, I agree that there are ‘differences’ between men and women. There are physical differences, however I don’t think the differences diminish the importance of the other sex. Together, men and women make new life and without the other, all life would cease to exist. Each sex is equally as important and we need to treat each other likewise. Unfortunately, because of history and the way life is now, women are depicted as “less” or “inferior” to men, which isn’t true at all. I found it very interesting when Kimmel gave the statistics about how men feel better, are healthier, and happier when they help take the load of housework off their counterpart’s shoulders. This just proves that we were made to be equal and take equal responsibility for everything in our lives.
            I agree with Kimmel’s point of view that men and women are created equally. I think he supports his point of view extremely well and had a lot of statistical material to back it all up. Personally I’ve always felt men and women were equal in all ways, but after listening to Kimmel’s lecture, I feel even more comfortable with my believes on the subject.

5 comments:

  1. One problem that another student brough up on one of my posts, is that biological differences do exist. The issue of abortion is important, for if men and women have equal rights, does this mean the father should have the same amount of voice even though it is the woman's body?

    I have to say I am stumped..

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  2. I agree with what you say about men and women being equal. I have thought that forever so I never paid attention to the Mars/Venus argument. Also, I have to say Joanie's comment about abortion leaves me stumped too. I never thought about that issue while thinking of gender equality.

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  3. I agree. I think men who do not feel that they are equal to women are reluctant to even explore other opportunities such as helping with housework and taking care of children. I always found the Men are from Mars Women are from Venus argument to be a sort of cop out.From that argument, I kind of got the impression the issue of gender differences was being swept under the rug. To me they saying well we can never be equal so we must must maintain our "respective" places. Kind of like a roadblock.

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  4. Joanie, I'm also completely stumped about the abortion issue. My personal opinion at the moment, is that while the male is every bit responsible for the cause of the situation, the only person who has a choice is the woman who is going to be put in that physical situation.

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  5. I think the reason most people discount the whole "father" issue related to abortion is that people (both men and women) have forced men into a confusing role were they are criticized for not caring enough about their children. Then looked oddly upon when they do. Think about this, if a man walked up to a little girl on the street and smiled and said hi would you think, would you think he was a child molester? If a women did the same thing what would you think?

    Another thing to think about is the issue of paternity during divorce case, this is a subject I have a personal bias in. My mother was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and was still given primary custody of me and my siblings when my parents divorced.

    Keep in mind when reading this an earlier argument (I think it was Kimmel) made about men being scare and pointing out all of the little inequalities that they have to deal with in the face of the larger ones women face. I don't want to tilt the table like that, I just think that these are some of the more important issues we need to work out on our "road to equality"

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