eTe said:
This topic annoys me. As far as men wearing skirts, it's not right in societies eyes. It was always an icon for the female. I don't know why, I don't care why, maybe it's because women have better looking legs than men (on average) and it shows them off better?
Well, as a straight woman, I find men's legs to be much more pleasing to look at than women's. And men have been
fighting in skirts for hundreds of years, and they were nothing short [http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/romans/images/soldiers/army.jpg] of badass [http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/upload/yuiupload/1139882291.jpg]. And let's not forget togas and tunics and other clothing from antiquity and far back. Everyone was wearing "skirts" and "dresses". Also, kilts. But yeah, times have changed and now, skirts are associated with women. I find nothing wrong with that and I really like skirts, but I think it's a bit backward to make gender exclusive uniforms like the OP described and I would support her in her attempts to change that (I find tuxes for women to be really awesome looking if it fits the woman). Nothing wrong women wearing skirts, but it should not be forced upon you. Same thing with men as a matter of fact; if a man want to wear a skirt, I don't mind at all. Actually, I like to look at some nice naked man legs.
eTe said:
There will never be total equality, it can't happen. For example, paid parental leave. If a woman and a man are applying for a job with paid parental leave, assume wages are they same, they both have equal qualifications etc. As an employer which would you choose? For arguments sake it's a customer service rep, which I think men and women should do equally well.
Any employer would choose the man as if he fell preggers, wouldn't take the paid parental leave.
Our bodies are different, men and women are different, there are surgeries to try and alter that, but at the end of the day we are ultimately who we are born as. And because of that, there will always be differences and inequalities. It's something that, in the real world, just will not, and can not change.
That said don't think of me as a sexist pig, I'm all for womens rights, and I do think they have a little way to go in some areas before things will be right.
Our bodies being different has nothing to do with sexism or equality. Of course, we will never be physically "equal", because we're not mono-gendered species, but our reproductive apparatus has nothing to do with our interests or abilities. That's the problem here, not our biology. I find it sexist when someone tells me I can't do something because I'm a woman, and I'm not talking about stuff like "You can't piss while standing" (at least not in the way to hit the toilet). Of course I can't. But if they tell me that I can't drive a car well or play a game well, I find it sexist and insulting. I study archaeology and when we got back from the excavations this school year, one of our professors asked us if women had to work with smaller tools (like, with smaller shovels because, according to him, the regular ones are too heavy). I was repulsed by that question and couldn't hold it in so I said "No, we worked with the normal tools" which made him shut up. I mean, come one, we're not ten years old, we're only
women. One of my friends is a very small gal, but when she grabs the shovel, she does an astounding work even faster that most of our male colleagues and she almost never takes a break. Don't judge a book by its cover, that's all we want. Of course there are weaker women, but there are also weaker men. And besides, being weak in one field, does not mean you can't exceed in another one, so using physical weakness as some kind of an insult or shortcoming is pretty stupid in my opinion (in cases involving both sexes). There is nothing wrong with being a "weak" woman or a "weak" man, but the society sees one as a rule and the other as a horrible flaw, while in real world, both exist as parts of the variety of the human kind. Same with strong women and strong men and everything in between. Those social norms are outdated and they benefit no one and do no good whatsoever. And they can be removed. Some other more complex things, not so easy (your example with parental leave; while it still is sexism, I can't say it's really better to give the job to a woman and then have her miss work for months while still having to pay her because she's pregnant. It's a difficult problem and I understand both parties involved and they are technically both in the right. However, teaching kids that girls can drive and play games and that boys can dance and cook and that there's nothing wrong with it is fairly easy).
I believe there will always be some type of inequality, but some of it can easily go away with good education and working on accepting new, improved social norms. In my country, most people still believe that a woman did nothing if she didn't have kids or that she is not a desirable woman if she can't cook. Also, repulsive, a man is not a man if he can be kind and caring or he is the one that cooks. And these are just on the top of my head examples. I've seen sexism from my own
mother who kept telling me that it's a woman's job to clean the house. I was extremely insulted by those claims because there is nothing in our biology that makes us scientifically pre-dispositioned for that job. Inequality hurts us both, it hurts progression and the evolution of the society. We made steps towards equality in the past and we'll make more in the future, no need to be pessimistic about it
Anyway, I mentioned a few instances of sexism I've witnessed. And I've witnessed some more, not necessarily towards me, but towards others too (both male and female). I find it sad that in this day and age, people still need to make sexist remarks for petty reasons, and then make excuses about tradition and how it's "always been like that". Well, a lot of things have "always been like that", but we still ditched them because they were retarded.
mirasiel said:
This is so awesome and made me go "AWWWWW".
