Racism and mysogny are bad - I don't know why this keeps being brought up. I am all about combatting those things, I just disagree with the somewhat subjective 'my feelings matter' approach to resolving social discord.
I looked up your figures.
Geena Davis Institute for Gender In Media found that, in crowd scenes, women tend to comprise about 17 percent of any given crowd. She’s argued, based on outside data and her own interpretations, that this imbalance relates to and reinforces the way men perceive the actual number of women in any given room.“If there’s 17 percent women, the men in the group think it’s 50 – 50,” she told NPR. “And if there’s 33 percent women, the men perceive that as there being more women in the room than men.”
I have issues with the impartiality of both the Geena Davis Insitutie for Gender in Media.... and the sentence 'she argued based on outside data and her own interpretation'. My recently developed Penguin Centre took a recent sample and concluded based on my own observations that 150% men are brilliant at everything.
Come back with a peer reviewed study from a university and we can talk about those figures with a little more seriousness. I'm prepared to accept they might be true, but I'm going to need a little more persuading than that.
Telling people they're handling their pain wrong is exactly what therapists and social workers do. The amount of children I've worked with whose response to the pain of their existence is to take drugs, have sex with strangers and punch things is insurmountable.... but suddenly this is condescending? If you give people carte blanche to express their pain however they see fit, without recourse to adult decision making you're setting the seeds of chaos.
Your assertion that I've created an intellectual framework for an emotional response works both ways. Haven't you done the same? Aren't you cherry picking information from the Geena Davis institute to support your emotionally held belief that the patriarchy is the root of all oppression? I'm inclined to agree, there may be a kernal of truth in that statement - but it's equally true of everyone arguing everything everywhere.
The assertions are human psychology applied over the top of a sociological situation. It may appear to be a veneer but I do genuinely believe what I'm asserting and the psychology I point people towards is within the cannon. These are good faith arguments made to continue the discussion rather than close it down. It seems to resonate with my readership which includes men, women and as of today, a butterfly.
Feelings are helpful, but they are run by the intuitive and primitive part of our brain. This means our 'gut feelings' are often correct in stressful situations - but at the cost of intuitive thinking in more complex situations. If you haven't read 'Thinking Fast and Slow' then I highly recommend it - it's an excellent book that gets to the root of many of the psychological issues affecting society.
Also.... I have no problem with the George Floyd Protests. The anger was necessary, but that intutiive 'take to the streets' had to be tempered with a more analytical 'what do we do now?' by politicians and lawmakers.
When things are rushed through off the back of emotionally charged discourse, you get this sort of thing. https://medium.com/new-choices/defunding-isnt-working-the-way-it-was-meant-to-work-49b88fab0da7 - written by the very excellent Carol Lennox.
And you... it's a good job you're only a youngster, or I would just call you a mouthpiece for radical feminism everywhere. ;o)
On a separate note - do you fancy writing a joint article? I'm not sure how that would work, but I think people would be interested to read some of the many missives we've fired at each other over the last few years. I think anything that encourages civil debate and encourages engagement with core concepts is a good idea. I won't be offended if you're not up for this - I know you've got a hard time with your schoolwork and youth-club and whatnot ;o)
Always great to debate. :o)
