Sexual stereotypes strike again

I'm always amused when someone makes wild statements about men's or women's capabilities and then they're shown to be wrong.

Rob Thurman is a woman who writes from a male Point Of View. She guest posted over at Talk in the Shadows and wrote:

I even once received a fan mail that said ‘thank God, finally a man writes a male pov. Women can’t do it.’

Of course they can't.

It's so lovely to see the stereotype being proved wrong.

Men are from Mars... aren't they?

Actually, no. For an interesting insight into how much "research" goes into gender stereotyping, I recommend this Mind Hacks article.

It seems the secret to finding differences between the sexes is to ignore any actual evidence. Oh, and don't be put off from relating human behaviour to animal brain structures that humans don't actually have. No one will know the difference anyway.

Did you know that:

testosterone drives the "Man Trance"-- that glazed-eye look a man gets when he sees breasts (from the article by Louann Brizendene)

No? Maybe Mind Hacks can explain.

Are there any scientific studies on whether hooter staring is related to testosterone levels? (Sadly) No.

The trouble with these sort of articles is that they have a spurious authenticity and soon the "testostone makes you look at breasts" meme will be all over the internet.

I agree with Mind Hacks.

Please make it stop.
 

Men can multitask

There is an urban myth that men can't multitask. This weekend my Beloved and I saw a prime example of how this simply is not true.

Chucklefoot is a professional busker who was playing at Losely Park Live Crafts Show yesterday. He performs as a one man band and was playing the banjo and the harmonica (mouth organ), while keeping some marionettes going with one foot, banging a tambourine and occasionally playing a horn, singing and working a cymbal. He kept the music going while encouraging the watching children to take instruments and then leading them round in a circular parade.

He was great fun to watch and very friendly. Don't let anyone tell you that men can't multitask.

Writing Gender

Sylvia of Can't Backspace fame has found a fascinating article that shows gender stereotyping at its worst. Bev Vincent, a published male author, had a story savaged by an editor on the basis that

It’s quite a challenge for a writer of one sex to explore writing from the perspective of the opposite sex. Bev Vincent has not done a convincing job.

Bev's protagonist was male.

The story had a large autobiographical element, so every time the editor objected to something as not what a man would do, Bev had actually done it. Stereotyping wins over real life every time.

Apparently female horror writers also get a hard time as many people find it difficult to believe that they can write gore effectively. Actually taking the trouble to read their writing might provide an answer to that. I thought that the era of women needing a male pen name to get published was long past. Maybe it isn't.

Do read Apparently I Write Like a Girl, it's a very good article.

That's so gay!

The word "gay" was intended to be a non-pejorative word for a homosexual person but in any school playground you can hear the phrase "That's so gay!" as a term of disparagement. Now, over at I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I read? someone has come up with a different definition of the word "gay".

if it's, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it's on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it's, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, 'Dude, that's so good it's almost . . . gay.'"

You really should read the original: it's very funny. Why not use one stereotype (gay fashion designers) to oust a more pernicious stereotype? Although I don't think it's so much stereotyping that makes kids use "gay" to mean "bad". I think there is a lot of nervousness about sexuality and a fear of being taken to be part of an oppressed minority.

Will it make a difference if we all start saying things like, "That's a great painting. It's really gay!"? I think it might. Words are hugely powerful and we can make a difference. So, if you think this post is any good, tell me it's gay!