I would like to know what about this article shown so big and bright that it deserved publication. I see that Allen is well aware of, what appears to me, outdated stereotypes. She is also still attributing quite a lot to some basic and inconclusive science about the relation of the size of one’s brain to their intelligence. In Allen’s world, our worth is based on how we drive a car and marginal IQ tests without addressing very dramatic studies on teachers’ bias toward one gender over another, not to mention the confidence of parents, employers and the press still rubbing their eyes and shaking their heads at the idea of a female American president when the rest of the world is already way ahead of us.

She has ignored studies on how women are more effective as managers, more communicative . . . she has neglected studies on child-rearing and education. Then again, what is the world outside of Allen’s TIVO but romance novels, snacking and the theatrical release of ‘Sex in the City.’ This exercise of self-loathing and undermining one’s peers is simply a symptom of laziness and fear. Women who cower in the face of competition . . . what would Allen do if women grew in leadership roles, becoming more prominent public figures and speakers and scientists, my God, she would have to put down the Lady Fingers, get off her fat ass and do something.

I will admit, as a woman there is less pressure to succeed. When you make a mistake, it is often forgiven if not anticipated by a supervisor. However, when you reinvent yourself, when you discover something new, when you really contribute- that feeling trumps all comfort that comes with acceptance in the face of failure.

Allen feels what a number of women feel, anxiety from what this means about them. They will be asked to participate when all they have been expected to do, up to this point, is look pretty and purr under the touch of their male counter-part. How will they handle this?

I am very excited to see how they will. Succeed or die Ms. Allen.

The only reason that their ‘feminine’ brains are even allowed on television is so that they can help pick out the pretty fabrics.

The “no femmes can do 3D” argument still doesn’t work there, because you have to be able to evaluate the visual impact of the scale of the sofa’s floral print fabric, relative to
- the sofa’s size,
- the size of the other furniture, and
- the rest of the room.

I won’t complicate the issue with the question of where to hang the Escher prints.

Sorry.

Hee.

Perhaps my weak female brain is oversimplifying, but it would seem to me that the only kind of math that spatial skills would help with is geometry. And that’s the only kind of math I’m any good at!

Still, I’m glad there are women like Charlotte Allen about telling me that my degree in philosophy is somehow useless because of my female brain (Funny, though. I remember about half of my professors emphasizing that so much of philosophy is the manipulation of language and words; it’s damn near impossible to get through even a basic philosophy course without picking up a handful of words in German, French, Latin, and Greek, because they describe untranslatable concepts)

And better tell Dad to stop that next tuition check to my law school. Never mind that he (the guy who raised me) believes so much in my capacity to be a great lawyer, that he’s put off retiring so that I don’t have to worry about money and can concentrate on doing my best at school…Nope, this chick who’s never even met me has my number better just because we have the same genitalia.

calliopejane - me too!

Why is it that left wing ideas shared by most of the population are “fringe” in the eyes of the CMSM, whereas right-wing, panicky nonsense like this merits a shout-out from the Post? (Rhetorical question. Depressingly, I already know the answer.)

(Hat tip to “magtured” in the “Lying won’t save your ass” thread for the link.)

I’m trying to think of when I acquired the ability to rotate 3D objects in my head

I know how I acquired/practiced my 99th percentile saptial skills: jigsaw puzzles! Loved them as a child, and I still do. I look for difficult designs and always work them without looking at the picture, because otherwise they’re too easy and I’m done too quick.

I never thought of jigsaw puzzles as being gendered, but now that I’m thinking about it, I know several women who do them and not a single man. Does anyone know if there’s an overall gender-skew in jigsaw puzzle aficionados?

(then again, maybe I just have good math & spatial skills cuz I’m a lesbian like teac!)

No, no. This is the IWF we’re talking about. You know who comes closest to this description of rejection in intellectualism?

Catholic writing of the Opus Dei school and (irony warning) Ayn Rand.

As the politics of the IWF seem to be a blend of the two, I expect Charlotte Allen is a pretty good representative of the Schlaffly wing of the Village.

No, no. This is the IWF we’re talking about. You know who comes closest to this description of rejection in intellectualism?

Catholic writing of the Opus Dei school and (irony warning) Ayn Rand.

As the politics of the IWF seem to be a blend of the two, I expect Charlotte Allen is a pretty good representative of the Schlaffly wing of the Village.