You Gotta Be Stronger

Have you ever wondered why fishing or car racing are considered sports, or why you can win prize money playing computer games?

Did it come to your attention that professions such as secretary or teacher, have suffered a bit of a status slide ever since they became predominantly female?

And while it doesn’t necessarily have to irk you that taking care of others earns less than municipal garbage collection, it should make you wonder why it is that women in most countries continue to be paid considerably less on average than men doing the same job and are prohibited from swinging a club at Augusta National.

The reason for all of this, however, is as simple as it is base: Men are mostly interested in bolstering their position. So, whatever it is they like to do, it is usually considered ‘cool’ even if it is inherently dull (i.e., fishing) or loud, smelly and annoying such as car racing.

The fact is, whatever it is that men do (really whatever!), it holds prestige and/or some -- often considerable -- monetary reward.

But, one may counter, there is nothing wrong with promoting your own interests unless they encroach on others.

Ah yes, but that last bit can easily be neglected. After all, it is tempting to assume that everyone has the same interests anyway, or that someone who doesn’t share the same interests is wrong and, therefore, needs no consideration. Who in their right mind could possibly NOT be interested in the NBA playoffs, right?

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is quite common and can generally be attributed to a low social IQ.

Just in case you are wondering, social intelligence denotes the ability to empathize with others and, unlike analytical, verbal, or spatial intelligence, it is generally overlooked in the IQ arena. It obviously doesn’t rank very high in a world riddled with wars, genocide, and inequality.

By the way, did you know that autism, a form of mental disability due to low social intelligence, is much more common among men? Hmm. In fact, it is often paired with an acute interest in the inanimate world. Aah. But, as ‘Rain Man’ enlightened us, even that is kinda ‘cool,’ isn’t? After all, why write Christmas cards if you can calculate probabilities instead.

Of course, I am not saying that men don’t write and women do nothing but knit for the elderly. But it does bother me that even women, who try to warm up to traditionally male domains such as accounting, prize fighting, and the armed forces, don’t really receive the same benefits as men.

Beginning with fewer endorsements (unless she has a nice back-side to flaunt), being belittled, to being, side-tracked, attacked or outlawed, the road to social acknowledgment for women is rocky.

Women have obtained the right to vote, they can run for public office and become astronauts; they don’t need to put up with domestic violence, they can open bank accounts and even say the most outrageous things in public...at least in any of the countries that I would ever consider living in...but let’s face it, they don’t hold the same status as men and probably never will.

Men are quite clever, you know...