Women Are Dumb, Inconsequential
Yesterday afternoon I was relaxing on my couch with my dog and my RSS when I came across a Washington Post Oped linked to on Feministing called "Women Aren't Very Bright" -- the perfect Sunday read! It is an actual piece that ran in the Outlook section and was featured prominently on the homepage. By the time I got to the WaPost's page the headline had been changed to to read: "Why Do Women Act So Dumb?" (I took a screenshot for posterity.) See the improvement? Act dumb, not are dumb.
If you're thinking it's just another brilliant piece by Laura Sessions Stepp, it's not. The Washington Post is tapping into a new source for its women-hating-by-women pieces, Charlotte Allen. Here's the gist of Allen's article: Hillary Clinton ran a terrible campaign and, in general, women are dumb and not as good as men. Here's my favorite part:
I'm not the only woman who's dumbfounded (as it were) by our sex, or rather, as we prefer to put it, by other members of our sex besides us. It's a frequent topic of lunch, phone and water-cooler conversations; even some feminists can't believe that there's this thing called "The Oprah Winfrey Show" or that Celine Dion actually sells CDs. A female friend of mine plans to write a horror novel titled "Office of Women," in which nothing ever gets done and everyone spends the day talking about Botox.
Ok, I like this too:
The theory that women are the dumber sex -- or at least the sex that gets into more car accidents -- is amply supported by neurological and standardized-testing evidence. Men's and women's brains not only look different, but men's brains are bigger than women's (even adjusting for men's generally bigger body size).
I was almost sold with that argument, especially when Allen conceded that there are some "brilliant outliers" who she admires, like Margarent Thatcher. I'll be sure to compliment all my accomplished female friends that way from now on, you "brilliant outliers."
How do you even begin to respond to a piece like this? How do you argue with someone who still says women are the inferior sex, and that argument appears in the Sunday edition of a prominent newspaper. Do you link to studies showing that women aren't in fact, as Allen suggests, "only children of a larger growth"? Do you point out that, despite our pea brains, women are outpacing men in college attendance? Do we point to the fact that we have more women governors holding office right now that at any other point in American history? Doesn't that all just lower the bar on feminist discussions? It's a sad moment for feminism when, at the same moment we have a woman running president, we have to step back and even think there is still an argument to be had.
Comments:
Posted 03/03/2008 03:21pm with
When I got to Ms. Allen’s pseudo-scientific analysis of the female brain (”... make one wonder whether there isn’t some genetic aspect of the female brain … that turns the pre-frontal cortex into Cream of Wheat …”), I had to find out who this person is. This is from her Web site:
“Unfortunately, it would appear at this point that I have been involuntarily retired. I have neither an agent nor a publisher. Currently, the quality of writing has very little to do with what gets published.”
In Ms. Allen’s case, I’m afraid that the quality of her writing and analyses has everything to do with why she has no agent or publisher.
I’m a neurobiologist, so I must come clean and admit that one of my pet peeves is fake scientific analyses that present themselves as fact. I’m also a woman and not dumb and not swooning—and I support Senator Obama. Women scientists who came of age in the early 1980’s have realized that it isn’t enough for a woman just to become a scientist—it is necessary to be a good, successful scientist. So we don’t feel obligated to vote for a candidate just because she is a woman. I will vote for Senator Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee. But I have chosen to back Senator Obama because I think he is the braver of the two—I feel he is less likely to spend his first term as president making decisions that will ensure him a second term. I also feel that it is time for the baby boomers to step aside and allow a new, less self-absorbed generation to take the reigns.
For the record, absolutely no swooning took place while I made my decision.