Equal, but Better

Here are a few universal truths in our society:

• You’ll never go wrong saying that women are better than men at pretty much everything
• You’ll get no backlash by saying that men are dumb, lazy, and useless
• In any commercial, if a man and a woman are in competition for anything, the woman must win
• Everyone seems to accept that the world would be a better place if run by women
• When told how to better communicate, all recommendations will lean toward the feminine style

Like minorities, women got the short end of the stick for most of our country’s--and most of the world’s--history, so I guess it’s only fitting that the pendulum has swung the other way. But now it seems that the only acceptable thing to do is agree that women are equal to men . . . but better in virtually every way.

Even obvious, reasonable, and provable assertions--that men are stronger and faster than women, for example--are now treated as the mad rantings of a misogynist. If you say something like this, you’re often told, in the most grating and demeaning way possible, that [insert name of a world-class female athlete here] could “Kick your ass!” Very true, and completely irrelevant.

But to be fair, I do think that there are lots of things that women, generally, do better than men, generally.

• I think they’re better listeners, because they pay attention to unexpressed emotional needs.
• I think they’re better conflict-resolvers.
• I think they may, as a rule, be better writers, since they’re probably more in touch with their feelings and can probably identify with others better, even in theoretical situations.
• They’re certainly every bit as smart as men, and studies are now showing that they’re likely as good in all academic subjects, including math and sciences .

There’s probably a lot more to add to that list, but you get the idea.

What I really want us to recognize that men and women both have unique strengths. No one would argue that women do some things better than men. But what about the things that men do better than women? If you can’t think of anything, I think that’s probably really revealing. Don’t you?

-Doug

1. A recent focus on girls in these areas has helped them surpass boys, raising questions about whether boys have suffered as the attention has shifted.