The aim of this thread is to put some of the prevailing gender stereotypes to the test and is open to everyone, friends and foes.

I know that some people will welcome my input and I know that others will feel offended. Either way, all of us will have to question their perception of the opposite s*ex if they take part in the upcoming discussion.

A greater awareness of and a higher sensitivity to stereotyping is all I hope for at the present moment. I do not expect everyone to change their views and to discard their whole belief system and world view but I want everyone to become aware of the underlying processes that shape our way of thinking and perception.


Let us begin the discussion by defining the word 'stereotype' to avoid unnecessary misapprehensions and then move on to the most common stereotypes, which I would like you to question and either confirm to be true or to reject them altogether. Eventually, the choice will be yours to make.

stereotype

1 A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing

(...)

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/stereotype



Now let us ask ourselves which fixed and oversimplified images and ideas we or others have of men and women. I know there are plenty of them, so I suggest that we focus on a limited number of them to be able to draw final conclusions. The for now neglected stereotypes can be discussed on another thread (Gender Stereotypes Part II), if you wish to.


1. Women are more emotional than men.

2. Men are more logical than women.

3. (Consequently) Men are better leaders.

4. (Consequently) Women are better suited to take care of the home and the children.


I have done some research but I would like to first read what evidence / arguments you have for or against these stereotypes.

The aim of this thread is to put some of the prevailing gender stereotypes to the test and is open to everyone, friends and foes.

I know that some people will welcome my input and I know that others will feel offended. Either way, all of us will have to question their perception of the opposite s*ex if they take part in the upcoming discussion.

Please i'm interested in this. Foes?

hmmm....

I think, I'll sit on the sidelines and watch, till I fully comprehend the rules of the game...

I've got a loooomg weekend ahead
Make I just park here with my popcorn

Lol, which of the two sexes has the higher estrogen levels? Once you understand the science and mathematics behind that, you'll get the supreme knowledge on why you're an emotional being. And why it isn't a stereotype but something that's fundamentally part of the female anatomy. That is what makes you a female and why you are quintessentially different from real men.

For what it is worth, you can dress up like a man for halloween and enjoy what comes with it.

Anyway, I decided to bless ya thread cos it seems you are heading towards depression. And it will be sad to see our resident "wannabe" get depressed and shyte. Have fun but you can't be a man.

I think it depends on what emotional means. I have found that men are often just as emotional as women. Think about it? How many men can you describe as passionate, angry, proud, stubborn? Those are all emotions. I find that what women most likely cry about, men get angry about. It seems that men just react in an emotionally different way. Its just that anger is seen as more acceptable in public than crying is because anger is looked at as strength but crying is viewed as weakness.

As for logical, most of the purchasing decisions for families are done by women. That means food, housing supplies, clothing needs, and others. That is obviously not emotional but very logical budget and accounting. Taking care of 3, 4 or 5 individuals is very difficult. You prepare for school, sometimes drop them off, feed at least once or twice a day, check assignments and reports, and others. If you were doing the same duties in a company, you would be called a senior supervisor.

I believe men and women are different and have unique skills that make them useful both of home and office. For example, I read that women CEOs are exceptional at crisis management in a company that is going downhill.

I think women make better homemakers (stereotypically) because they are just trained better. My husband was clueless with our first baby but I had been forced to take care of every relative's baby since i was 10. But now after 2 years, he is better with him than i am (in my opinion). Meanwhile i think most guys are trained to be leaders cuz they have been told since they were 2---you must be a man! You must provide!

So i think half of it is naturally inbuilt, but i think the other half is training. At the end of the day, natural talent is always defeated by good training and effort.

ahan
what's wrong in being more emotional? why cant some of you just accept your femininities? does it suck that much to be a woman?
I've come to realise that some of you don't really wanna be treated equally with men like you love us to believe. deep down you really do wish you were men. na wa o

SirShymex:
Lol, which of the two sexes has the higher estrogen levels? Once you understand the science and mathematics behind that, you'll get the supreme knowledge on why you're an emotional being. And why it isn't a stereotype but something that's fundamentally part of the female anatomy. That is what makes you a female and why you are quintessentially different from real men.

For what it is worth, you can dress up like a man for halloween and enjoy what comes with it.

Anyway, I decided to bless ya thread cos it seems you are heading towards depression. And it will be sad to see our resident "wannabe" get depressed and shyte. Have fun but you can't be a man.

As defined above, stereotypes are oversimplified ideas and your knowledge of the effects of hormones in males and females is oversimplified too.

Before we open a discussion on the effects of estrogen and testosterone in males and females, which is much more complex than your summary above, let me present a recent study to you that shows that

"Men Are More Emotional Than Women (But Less Likely To Show It)

(...)

But a rather surprising recent study has shown that men are, in fact, more emotional than women.

Men experience greater levels of emotion than women when presented with heart-warming material, according to the study for Royal Mail, which has used the findings to produce the "definitive" list of phrases for a successful Father's Day card.

A group of 15 fathers and 15 mothers were presented with images and videos categorised into blissful, funny, exciting and heart-warming scenarios, such as a soldier returning from service and reuniting with his daughter, while their physiological reactions were measured using skin conductance electrodes.

Men demonstrated a marginally higher emotional reaction to the blissful, funny and exciting content compared to the women but responded twice as strongly as women when presented with heart-warming content.

An accompanying questionnaire found that even though the men reported feeling less emotion than the women, their physiological changes showed they felt emotion more strongly.

Mindlab founder and chairman Dr David Lewis said: "Gender stereotypes about men being stoic and women being emotional are reinforced by our day-to-day consumption of media and our social interactions.

"We tend to oversimplify and exaggerate the perceived differences between men and women and are more likely to focus on evidence that supports our existing gender stereotypes.

"This study suggests that men feel emotion just as much as women, sometimes more strongly, but are less willing to express these emotions openly due to expectations put on them by society."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/06/13/men-women-emotional-parents_n_5491119.html



Now why would I want to be a man when as a woman I am at least free to express my emotions, which men also feel but are forced to hide?

Ochiban:
I think it depends on what emotional means. I have found that men are often just as emotional as women. Think about it? How many men can you describe as passionate, angry, proud, stubborn? Those are all emotions. I find that what women most likely cry about, men get angry about. It seems that men just react in an emotionally different way. Its just that anger is seen as more acceptable in public than crying is because anger is looked at as strength but crying is viewed as weakness.

As for logical, most of the purchasing decisions for families are done by women. That means food, housing supplies, clothing needs, and others. That is obviously not emotional but very logical budget and accounting. Taking care of 3, 4 or 5 individuals is very difficult. You prepare for school, sometimes drop them off, feed at least once or twice a day, check assignments and reports, and others. If you were doing the same duties in a company, you would be called a senior supervisor.

I believe men and women are different and have unique skills that make them useful both of home and office. For example, I read that women CEOs are exceptional at crisis management in a company that is going downhill.

I think women make better homemakers (stereotypically) because they are just trained better. My husband was clueless with our first baby but I had been forced to take care of every relative's baby since i was 10. But now after 2 years, he is better with him than i am (in my opinion). Meanwhile i think most guys are trained to be leaders cuz they have been told since they were 2---you must be a man! You must provide!

So i think half of it is naturally inbuilt, but i think the other half is training. At the end of the day, natural talent is always defeated by good training and effort.

Very good points.

First, we should ask ourselves what emotions are.

Secondly, running a family requires management skills too.

Third, it is no secret that female CEOs are very effective leaders, which contradicts stereotype 2 and 3 that men are naturally more logical and better leaders.

"A recent article in TheAtlantic.com pointed out that hedge funds run by women make three times as much money as hedge funds run by men, and that companies with female CEOs outperform companies with male CEOs by nearly 50%.

The data is so compelling that, according to The Wall Street Journal, Barclay's Bank has set up a stock fund that invests in companies with a female CEO or a board of directors that is at least 25% female."

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/admit-it-women-are-smarter-than-men.html

Arsenate:
ahan
what's wrong in being more emotional? why cant some of you just accept your femininities? does it suck that much to be a woman?
I've come to realise that some of you don't really wanna be treated equally with men like you love us to believe. deep down you really do wish you were men. na wa o

Who says we don't accept our feminity?
Who says it sucks to be a woman?
Who says anyone wants to be a man?

Nonso23:


If there is anything that is oversimplified it's the research above. I'd rather a more comprehensive study and by all mean let's discuss hormones and neurological researches as these are more credible and have withstood the hammer of global perusal.


What is Mindlab??
Are they supposed to be credible in this field?

Well, this was just the beginning. I have another article that provides more references to more research.

It is a commonly held belief that men and women treat their emotions in different ways. Men are thought of as less emotional than women and more inclined to use logic and reason when dealing with daily stresses. However, a growing body of research has demonstrated that it is not quite this simple. Fischer (2000) proposed that stereotypes about individual emotions are gender-specific. The emotions of happiness, sadness and fear are believed to be more characteristic of women, whereas anger has been found to be more characteristic of men (Birnbaum, Nosanchuk & Croll, 1980; Briton & Hall, 1995; Fabes & Martin, 1991; Grossman & Wood, 1993; Kelly & Hutson-Comeaux, 1999).

Numerous studies have shown males to be characteristically different from females, in their emotional expression (Wood, 1997; Brody & Hall, 1993; MacGeorge, 2003). The exact role of biology is unclear, however; differences between males and females appear to be magnified by a culture, which supports emotional development for girls and discourages it for boys. As for emotional experience, current findings suggest similarities between men and women’s reported underlying emotional experience (Averill, 1982; Fischer, 1993). Research examining the relationship between emotional expression and experience in men and women, has illustrated gender differences in expressiveness but not in experience [b](Lanzetta, Cartwright-Smith, & Kleck, 1976; Kring & Gordon, 1998). Therefore, Hutson-Comeaux and Kelly (2002) concluded that the dimension of emotional expression, rather than experience, may be an area in which women's and men's emotionality is differentially evaluated.

http://www.emotionalprocessing.org/Full%20World%20of%20emotions/Emotional%20Processing%20&%20Gender/Emotional%20expression%20in%20men%20&%20women.html

Nonso23:


This is almost no better. But at least they were able to disclose in honesty that "... has illustrated gender differences in expressiveness but not in experience"

You can do better. This article is still very vague.

No, you can do better.

It is cheap to dismiss every source because it does not support your beliefs.

Nonso23:


You claimed to have research papers to support the assertions but what I see here are merely blog posts.

It is also cheap to bring forward questionable content just because they support your beliefs.

I have said that I will provide more articles with references to research.

Let me quote this article again and highlight the references that these articles are based on.

"It is a commonly held belief that men and women treat their emotions in different ways. Men are thought of as less emotional than women and more inclined to use logic and reason when dealing with daily stresses. However, a growing body of research has demonstrated that it is not quite this simple. Fischer (2000) proposed that stereotypes about individual emotions are gender-specific. The emotions of happiness, sadness and fear are believed to be more characteristic of women, whereas anger has been found to be more characteristic of men (Birnbaum, Nosanchuk & Croll, 1980; Briton & Hall, 1995; Fabes & Martin, 1991; Grossman & Wood, 1993; Kelly & Hutson-Comeaux, 1999).

Numerous studies have shown males to be characteristically different from females, in their emotional expression (Wood, 1997; Brody & Hall, 1993; MacGeorge, 2003). The exact role of biology is unclear, however; differences between males and females appear to be magnified by a culture, which supports emotional development for girls and discourages it for boys. As for emotional experience, current findings suggest similarities between men and women’s reported underlying emotional experience (Averill, 1982; Fischer, 1993). Research examining the relationship between emotional expression and experience in men and women, has illustrated gender differences in expressiveness but not in experience [b](Lanzetta, Cartwright-Smith, & Kleck, 1976; Kring & Gordon, 1998). Therefore, Hutson-Comeaux and Kelly (2002) concluded that the dimension of emotional expression, rather than experience, may be an area in which women's and men's emotionality is differentially evaluated."

http://www.emotionalprocessing.org/Full%20World%20of%20emotions/Emotional%20Processing%20&%20Gender/Emotional%20expression%20in%20men%20&%20women.html

You are free to do your research on these sources now to get rid of your bias.

Chillisauce:


Please i'm interested in this. Foes?

You just need to follow.

EfemenaXY:
hmmm....

I think, I'll sit on the sidelines and watch, till I fully comprehend the rules of the game...

You don't follow rules, you make them.

alutacontinua:
I've got a loooomg weekend ahead
Make I just park here with my popcorn

What is wrong with a long weekend?

Arsenate:
ahan
what's wrong in being more emotional? why cant some of you just accept your femininities? does it suck that much to be a woman?
I've come to realise that some of you don't really wanna be treated equally with men like you love us to believe. deep down you really do wish you were men. na wa o

I don't think OP is saying being emotional is wrong.

It's just that most people say it in a stereotyped way.

I have met women who are not emotional not matter what's being done, but it applies to most of them sha, and I know men that are emotional e.g me

Some people need to stop there archaic way of reasoning.

Nonso23:


Please do.

References do not necessarily lend credence to articles especially when they are used out of context. The article you posted is very disjointed and that is very likely in the case here.

The article supports its message with plenty of references. If you want to prove that the article is wrong, then you will have to explore and to prove that its references are wrong and/ or out of context. Enjoy!

FrancisTony:


I don't think OP is saying being emotional is wrong.

It's just that most people say it in a stereotyped way.

I have met women who are not emotional not matter what's being done, but it applies to most of them sha, and I know men that are emotional e.g me

Some people need to stop there archaic way of reasoning.

Exactly!

Nonso23:


If an article that is half this disjointed is put in for academic scrutiny, it would be disqualified before the assessor gets beyond the table of contents.
The goal of article writing is to prevent me from having to read the entire books from which its references were derived and still get the message it passes across.
This article doesn't fulfill this role. I say disqualified.

I insist, you can do better.

I insist you take your time to explore the research to which references were provided.

Nonso23:


I refuse on grounds of 'academic value of time'.
A better article is always welcome.

You could use the time you spend arguing blindly to do some research.

Nonso23:


You should use the time spent parading questionable articles to post better ones.

You have more or don't you?

Of course, I do.

Just follow.

FrancisTony:


I don't think OP is saying being emotional is wrong.

It's just that most people say it in a stereotyped way.

I have met women who are not emotional not matter what's being done, but it applies to most of them sha, and I know men that are emotional e.g me

Some people need to stop there archaic way of reasoning.

Very True. I am one of such women. because of this, i usually end up with men who are more emotional/sensitive than i am.

carefreewannabe:


(...)

In as much as the article you quoted isn't a scientific research, and it has a lot of inconsistencies, with the use of terms, it's self-explanatory. This is why I always tell you to make use of your cognitive and analytical reasoning when you're posting to me. And with that, you have to always read carefully, with a perfect understanding of what you're reading.

That said - I'll break it further down for by explaining certain excerpts from the same article:

- "their physiological reactions were measured using skin conductance electrodes."

- "An accompanying questionnaire found that even though the men reported feeling less emotion than the women."

Note: whatever was measured was done based on physiological reactions NOT psychological reactions.

Basically, why the skin conductance electrodes were able to show a higher reaction from men is because men are more likely to be passionate about anything they're interested in. And being passionate is different from being emotional, though stronger. With passion, you'd have full control over your brain, hence the answer on the questionnaire about the men feeling less emotion than the women. Furthermore, being passionate has more to with beliefs/interests - and I'd wager that the reason why the men showed passion in this case had more to do with the fact that the study was based on Father's Day card.

However, when you're emotional, it's an internal feeling which subconsciously takes over your body and brain. And it prevents rational/logical decision-making. Also, it's a feminine trait synonymous with women, due to higher estrogen levels. Just take time out to learn/understand the nuances between passionate and emotional.

Anyway, Royal Mail is going straight to hell for wasting tax payers money on this trash. Now, I see why my letters always come late.