Showing posts with label battle of the sexes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label battle of the sexes. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Social Network: Battle of the Sexes, Modern Version

Dating is so difficult. A man usually thinks about exactly how he will be able to support a family. He realizes big city society favors two income couples and wonders whether a woman will continue to work after she has children and/or if he will be able to provide as the sole breadwinner. Women tend to believe the aforementioned issues will resolve themselves.

Bonus I: Jack Gilbert, from "Tear It Down": "We find out the heart only by dismantling what the heart knows...By insisting on love we spoil it, get beyond affection and wade mouth-deep into love...We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars."

Bonus II, Random Stats Edition: according to National Geographic (March 2011),

1) Worldwide, 33% are Christian; 21% Muslim; and 13% Hindu; and

2) Worldwide, nationality-wise, 19% are Chinese; 17% are Indian; and 4% American.

My friend commented that the religious numbers would change significantly if we accounted for just practicing members. That's actually an interesting question--at what point is it irrational to call yourself a member of a religious group if your beliefs differ significantly from the majority's? And who decides the norm or the majority? If you're a Muslim in Indonesia, you will have a much different norm than a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. Same thing if you're an Orthodox Jew or a Reform Jew, or an Evangelical Southern Christian vs. an Italian Catholic. Perhaps that's the beauty of religion--it brings people together who would otherwise have no reason to mix or mingle.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The French and Sex

I read a while back that the French have the most sex compared to all other nationalities. (I think I saw it in Durex's annual sex survey.) Here might be why:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1195624/French-women-dont-just-tolerate-husbands-affairs--expect-them.html

Seems like a realistic approach. Many marital couples stop enjoying sex frequently, and under the French system, they don't have to get divorced. They just move on and be discreet. But what about STDs?

Anyway, if you notice, in most socialist countries, women tend to be more sexually open. See Scandinavian countries, for example. If Karl Marx had gone with the sex angle, maybe we'd all be red commies today. It does seem that many people compensate for a lack of a good sex life with material possessions. Perhaps that's one reason why capitalism and Puritanism go well together.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Battle of the Sexes

Classic line, from Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957): 

You cold-fish respectable girls...inside, you crave the same thing as the rest of 'em. 

The single most regressive piece of American culture is our attitude towards sex. Because we can't address it in an adult fashion, Americans only seem to accept sex when it's watered or dumbed down. Even in Hollywood--hardly a bedrock of decency or morality--Paris Hilton gets attacked by comedians for being sexually promiscuous. Meanwhile, to paraphrase anthropologist Helen Fisher, "If you think men are more promiscuous than women, who do think the men are sleeping with?" (Another one of her gems is, "We were built for reproduction, not happiness.") 

 I am not sure where I was going with this, except to say that gender stereotypes are as alive as ever. We've progressed from burning witches at the stake, but until women fully harness their sexual power by becoming comfortable with their bodies, it seems they will never attain full power in America. That's a shame. At the end of the day, although men and women are surely different, it makes no sense to use a naturally connecting activity to drive them apart. 

A memorable exchange from Kazan's film: 

 -For a mild man, you sound vicious. 

 -Didn't you know? All mild men are vicious. They hate themselves for being mild and hate the extroverts whose violence seems to have an attraction for nice girls who should know better.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Battle of the Sexes

I was going through some old articles, and I found this one that reminded me of the battle of the sexes. Here are some quotes from the article: 

Using hyperbole and humor that became infamous then, and sound far more awful today, Newsweek said those 40-year-olds were "more likely to be killed by a terrorist" than land a mate... Meanwhile, new research suggests that women today who are highly educated are actually more likely to find husbands. 

At least we know what can knock the gender wars off the front pages: terrorism, a real war, and a recession.