Women: Do you consider yourself superior to men?

[OmniscientOstrich]

I'm sorry. You make a very good point. What I was unfair and inconsiderate. I made my original statment based on an isolated incident where a classmate made a similar claim in front of a group of women. I never considered that one might have non leacherous reasons for saying such a thing at the time because of the circunstance, However I'm obviously quite wrong. once again I appologize to Fawcks, you, and this community.

Don't sweat it, I might have been overeacting and being a tad harsh and I'm not going to pretend there has never been anyone who tried to act in such a manner to gain attention, though it just pisses me off when people jump to that conclusion. But I guess we can't help our experiences shape our views somewhat and I apologise if I came off as incendiary. Relax, I bear you no ill will good sir. Have a nice day (or evening, depending where you are).

 

[SilentCom]

Screw this superiority, inferiority complex. Whatever happened to wanting to be better and doing good? Now everyone just wants to compare themselves to others to make themselves feel better...

 

[nightwolf667]

And now I wish to know: Do you consider yourself superior to men? And if you do, justify your answer.

Well, when we women find a way to reproduce without you men, we won't need you anymore...so ha?

j/k

So... Yeah.

Personally, I don't. I believe that everyone, man or woman should be judged according to their actions and not their gender. It is however true that many women and minorities must work harder to be recognized and often receive less pay for performing the same job. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. The highest paid profession for women is (I believe) a university professor. However, the highest paid person in higher education is actually black men. Why? There are fewer of them available.

Now,many societies across the globe consider it to be the exact opposite. Men are superior to women. These feelings are based on cultural and societal norms that stretch exceedingly far back into their heritage. But the important thing here is: India believes that men are so superior to women (a woman's family must provide a dowry to attract a suitable suitor, a man can carry on their family name where as a woman is provided to her husband's family and lost) that over the past ten years 8 million female fetuses have been terminated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13264301

The problem is so bad and widespread that now India does not have enough women to go around. They are killing their culture. The same problem happened in China with the imposition of the one child rule, many families, especially rural ones who needed a male heir to continue their family line. For a time, China faced a similar predicament as India: not enough women. My boyfriend once came across an American website where fathers put up pictures and descriptions of their daughters, along with a "bride price". We could talk about Saudi Arabia or places in the middle east, but that topic has been covered.

Can life be difficult for men? Yes. But for the majority of history men have been on top. But there are just as many greedy, cruel, and terrible women as there are men. As humans we all have that in common. I'm sorry, this might be too heavy for this thread, but gender politics are wound up in a very sad, tangled, and messy web. We do horrible things to each other, that's the only real truth in life.

 

[Fawcks]

I consider women superior to men (on a general level), but I'm a guy so you probably don't care about my opinion. ;c

Here's a product of modern society. Men are told they are worthless from day 1.

Umm... I'm sorry, I guess? I was just sharing my opinion.

I think mister Fawcks believes that by being self depreciating more women will go out with him. It may work but I'd rather be proud of who I am than sacrifice my self respect to be better liked.

I'm not terribly interested in women... Not to say that I'm interested in men, either.

Besides, I doubt the Escapist is the best place to go to pick up chicks. So far, checking my inbox, I have yet to see any females eagerly throwing themselves at my feet... Still, I appreciate your apology. Thank you~

 

[Astoria]

I'm sure you'll find very few men and women think they're superior to the other gender. Like others say men and women are generally better at different things but not enough that you'd assume they were good at it. Are some certain women superior to some certain men, yes. Are some certain men superior to certain women, yes. But no gender as whole is superior to the other.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I find it very interesting that much more men have found themselves inferior to women on this thread rather than the other way around. Not necessarily surprising, but interesting nonetheless. I'm curious what kind or response other forums would get from this question...

Although I do dislike many traits in the stereotypical male culture, I wouldn't say that woman are any worse off. I've seen about equal amount of dickery from both genders, maybe a little more from guys, but that's just because I am one and we're much more willing to show our faults to our own gender. I suspect the same is true for girls too.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Men are (generally) more violent, but women are (generally) more vindictive and history is full of women manipulating behind the scenes for power and money. (Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.)

http://www.patientedu.org/aspx/HealthELibrary/HealthETopic.aspx?cid=M0907d
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

Just wanted to put that out there, not trying to make you feel offended or anything, but generally I just say they are both equally capable of manipulation and violence. But the rest of your post I agreed with

... I was just planning to read and watch but I wanted to post that... I don't feel any superiority or inferiority to females if that really matters.

 

[Lyri]

Being a white male is the bottom of the food chain in the world currently, so yes women are superior to some of us in a way.

 

[Byere]

As a feline, I concider myself to be FAR superior to all humans, regardless of gender

 

[Dark Knifer]

Being a white male is the bottom of the food chain in the world currently, so yes women are superior to some of us in a way.

Wait what? I'm a white male and I enjoy so many luxuries and freedoms it's not funny. How are we at the bottom?

 

[AnnaIME]

I dont consider female superior. We as the human species are all dumb as hell, we just have different levels of stupidity, myself included. I am not a feminist, never will be. I believe that everyone no matter what color, age, sex, or sexual interest should have the same rights and be able to make the same mistakes.

Well, that last sentence is pretty much the definition of feminism where I come from, at least the "sex" and "sexual orientation" parts. (The feminists I know don't deal with colour and age specifically, but in general, they include them in the "equally entitled to making mistakes".)

 

[Zyntoxic]

I'm gonna state here as I do everywhere when there is a concern of difference between gender:

I don't care much for the lables put on me by culture and the traits expected from me because of those lables, and rarely in this day and age does physical differences really matter in any real or meaningful way, so nor do I care for those.

I am an individual, and if you do not have a romantic interest in me, my gender should not make a difference in your opinion or view of me as a person.

I might be inferior, I might be superior, but in either case that is not by credit or fault of my gender.

so to be clear I do not deny the effects my gender may have on me and how it affects my world view, me as an individual also fights hard to pierce that gender veil of ignorance that has been forced upon me from birth, I'm not gonna have a 100% success ratio, but neither am I gonna fail completely.

I think the biggest mistake is to consider one self as the norm, both men and women do this equally, creating a rift of us and them.
Of cource this becomes a neccessary evil when discussing the problem at depth, so that one day there might be a greater understanding of humanity as a whole.
but in cases of jokes at the expense of the other gender, male or female, widens this rift, strengthens these labels and dooms me to be a giant walking pussy with accompanying tits....

 

[trollnystan]

Men are (generally) more violent, but women are (generally) more vindictive and history is full of women manipulating behind the scenes for power and money. (Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.)

http://www.patientedu.org/aspx/HealthELibrary/HealthETopic.aspx?cid=M0907d
http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

Just wanted to put that out there, not trying to make you feel offended or anything, but generally I just say they are both equally capable of manipulation and violence. But the rest of your post I agreed with

... I was just planning to read and watch but I wanted to post that... I don't feel any superiority or inferiority to females if that really matters.

What you say is of course true. I'd hoped my "(generally)"s (grammer iz funnest!) had inferred that there are of course exceptions - sometimes more than we think - but perhaps I failed =P No offence taken!

Historically[footnote][disclaimer]This is a layman's understanding of historical events and persons; by no means am I an expert, in fact I'm barely a dabbler.[/disclaimer][/footnote] though, because of gender roles being what they are, et cetera, men have been quicker to resort to violence than women, and women - due to restrictions on their gender and fear of reprisal - have been more inclined to resort to guile and manipulation.

It's now illegal (in a lot of countries) for men to beat their wives/girlfriends and there is a social stigma associated to it. Some women - being manipulative assholes - take advantage of that and beat their husbands/boyfriends because, even though it is just as illegal, the shame of it hinders men to talk of it, the legal system unfortunately does not always take it seriously, and if the man tries to defend himself the woman can cry abuse and everyone will (usually) rally to her side.

At least that's my take on it. I don't personally know any man who's been beaten up by their girlfriend. (Although my cousin does have a habit of being attracted to emotionally abusive women...) My father was a manipulative old bastard though - lack of physical violence might be attributed to him being physically handicapped at an early age - and my mother used to beat my brother, so I'm well aware that it goes both ways.

I guess the point of my sleep-deprived rambling is that people [pause for effect]... can be utter arsewipes. Gender plays a varying role in how they are arsewipes, but there will always be people who are arsewipes.

Time for bed methinks.

 

[Eleima]

Ummm.... Just wondering... How many women do you know who actually think that?

I don't consider myself superior to men at all. We're different, and yet the same. It's as simple (or as complex, depending on how you look at it) as that.

 

[CentralScrtnzr]

Feminism:

1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

Misandry:

Hatred of men.

Apparantly there are a fair few men on this site who lack the possession of a dictionary. Feminism is not misandry, it does not stand for female superiority, feminists are individuals of both genders with their own perspectives, methods, ideologies and morality all united under the one same desire to bring gender equality to fruition. That's it, please keep this in mind when posting on threads pertaining to gender politics.

OT: I'm a guy and consider myself inferior to a lot of men and women, which I judge on an individual basis, regardless of gender.

If feminism is what it is supposed to be, by your account, would it not be better to call it Sexual Egalitarianism? The name alone, in that it implies a preference for the concerns of women, rather than the concerns of men, is going to always be divisive.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The name itself means nothing, there are plenty of words that sound much different to their meaning, but the above is the dictionary defintion of what Feminism stands for. The name isn't the issue, it's people who make sweeping generalisations on the basis of an extreme minority within the movement and subsequently associate feminism with misandrist doctrine that are the problem. If they're too ignorant to notice the difference, I don't think the same principles under a different name is going to do much to assuage them. Besides, changing the name isn't going to stop the people with more extreme beliefs hijacking it to push their own prejuidiced dogma.

Well, Masculinism, could be imagined much the same as feminism, according to that logic, as much as Masculinism is, in reality, associated predominantly with father's rights and divorce rights.

That said, insistence on calling it "Feminism" is going to lose whatever movement "Sexual Egalitarianism" really is traction in the public sphere. God knows they lost my vote long ago.

Feminism, as we understand it nowadays, is very much unlike its dictionary definition. You may insist misandrist views may only be associated with a minority of feminist thinkers, but you can read a great deal of misandry into the works of nearly all big-name feminists ranging from Carol Gilligan to Andrea Dworkin. So what you're saying is patently untrue. Feminists having worked against such misandrist views, such as Christina Hoff Sommers represent a minority, oft-criticized view within feminism. I am loathe to say that merely because of the presence of Sommers in the canon, that feminism is as you say or even as bleeding Merriam-Webster says.

 

[DoxyGrim]

I think of myself as superior to the ones that act immature, bitchy, stupid, or intolerant, but I also believe that I'm superior to females who act like that, so I don't think that it counts.

In general, I just view them as humans who are equal to me and all other human females.

 

[FaithorFire]

I think many people here have it right. There is a minority or women who have that sexist mindset, just as there are a minority of men who have their own sexist mindset. (I'm not claiming a necessarily equal number in the "minorities" though.)
What is true, and what may be the root of your perception that women think that, is our feminized popular culture where jokes about men are accepted, but parallel jokes about women are treated as taboo. I have no doubt women enjoy the better end of the double standard when it comes to gender inspired jokes.

Examples: the previously mentioned "make-me-a-sammich" jokes versus "men are pea-brained idiots" jokes. Have you ever gotten away with the women in the kitchen jokes outside of your close (mostly male) friends, family, or anonymously on the internet?

I otherwise despise Bill Maher, but he did have a stand-up bit that you've probably seen, a youtube search for "Bill Maher women" brings it up at the very top. I won't post it, becasue it is only tangentially related to your discussion.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Feminists having worked against such misandrist views, such as Christina Hoff Sommers represent a minority, oft-criticized view within feminism. I am loathe to say that merely because of the presence of Sommers in the canon, that feminism is as you say or even as bleeding Merriam-Webster says.

When you entitle one of your books 'Who stole Feminism Speaking?' that just comes off as immediately inflammatory and saying shit like this: 'There are a lot of homely women in women's studies. Preaching these anti-male, anti-sex sermons is a way for them to compensate for various heartaches-- they're just mad at the beautiful girls.' That's just petty and immature derision. Speaking out against misandry is a good thing obviously, but perhaps there are people who are much better equipped to do it. Consider that is the author that people have a problem with, that if their were better representatives to tackle the issue they would be revered and not reviled in the Feminist community.

Well, Masculinism, could be imagined much the same as feminism, according to that logic, as much as Masculinism is, in reality, associated predominantly with father's rights and divorce rights.

That said, insistence on calling it "Feminism" is going to lose whatever movement "Sexual Egalitarianism" really is traction in the public sphere. God knows they lost my vote long ago.

Feminism, as we understand it nowadays, is very much unlike its dictionary definition. You may insist misandrist views may only be associated with a minority of feminist thinkers, but you can read a great deal of misandry into the works of nearly all big-name feminists ranging from Carol Gilligan to Andrea Dworkin. So what you're saying is patently untrue.

No, it is untrue in your opinion. I've read nothing by either of those two authors so I can't say whether you've read too much into things, if it's a question misinterpretation or whether some of them do express genuine sentiments of misandry. The point is Feminism is just an ideology, it's definition is clear. Feminists on the other hand are an assortment of different people of both genders with their own ideals, methods, morals and perspectives. You can't extrapolate the popular opinion of each of these individuals by looking at a handful of authors on the subject. Frued could be considered a big figure in the field of psychology and yet many contemporary scholars within that field are now largely rejecting his theories. You've no way of knowing whose opinions or authors feminists ascribe to, if any, so you've no way of asserting that the majority of the movement has been infiltrated by misandrists without making sweeping generalisations.