Men and Women are different

In class this week we discussed several topics, but the one that I will discuss today is on the differences between men and women. There is this idea that equality not only means that males and females have the same rights, but that this also somehow means that they can do everything just as proficiently as the other gender in all circumstances.

This idea of equality that men and women are the same with the exact same attributes and that they can do as well as the other is both interesting and harmful to our society. It ignores the idea that differences are what make us great. Men and women are different. They have different ways of handling situations and of pursuing different activities. It is important that when these differences are discussed that it is realized that the generalizations and stereotypes used in our discussing patterns have been seen over and over again they do not accurately portray every individual person. It is interesting to note that these patterns of action are not necessarily taught or seen by children it is just something that they can innately pick up.

This is true even when people are toddlers. They will, when they have the option, choose to play with toys that are considered stereotypical for their gender. Children that young don’t understand the world’s political views, biases, or agendas, and while they can be trained to use them as there view they are still going to see issues from their perspective of either male or female. I think one of the things that is detrimental to society is ignoring these differences and not studying them. By not studying them will lose the opportunity for a better understanding of everything that people have the potential to accomplish.

It is true that the division between things girls and guys like has less of a divide then is sometimes depicted, it does exist. However this does not mean that everyone is the same. When we get down to the level of each individual person, they are going to fit some of the stereotypes, but not all of them, and that is 100% ok. The stereotypes are to help researchers to remove layers of complexity so that they can try to better understand the why of what people do. As a people we naturally divide people up to try to understand them. As people are doing better about not judging, we need to realize that we still do it and that just because one activity is more associated with one gender then the other does not mean that it is not ok for the other gender to like it too. This also does not mean that by doing it somehow makes them less masculine or feminine because they don’t behave like the stereotypes say they will.

Growing up and wrestling with my sisters was something that we did a little bit, but we are girls so we wrestled like girls. Whenever my brother tried to join in we would stop because we know that he wrestles like a boy. There was nothing wrong with it except that he did not know how to adhere to our girl rules that we know without having to say anything to each other, much like how boys know their own rules for wrestling.

No two people are alike. That we share characteristics of our gender is something that is true. They are a part of us. We use them whether we realize we do or not, but because we have these characteristics does not mean that we can only do things that fall in that domain. It does mean that we have some different skill sets that bring just as many good and helpful things to the table as they do not useful things. I hope that as we strive for equality we will not blind ourselves to the real world in favor of the view we want to see, but that we become educated about the differences and the most effective uses for people and that people will still have the opportunity to choose their path in life.