Why are people in the gender and women's studies section so rude?

Question

I asked a question about myself as a guy feeling inferior to women. The only answers I got were people accusing me of being a troll and saying that women ARE superior in every way. Why are they so bitchy?

Answer 1

It's just sexism. The only reason people go on this site is to express their views, so sexist people go to the gender and women's studies section. It's like...there are politically-opinionated people at the polls because they want their vote to be counted.

I must admit, I have answered a question or two in that section...but I tried to do it unbiasedly.

As far as your problem goes, I'm not sure I can help. I have a few guy friends who also feel inferior to women. I would just remind yourself that you don't REALLY have anything to lose when dealing with girls. Even if she turns you down, you'll have other chances. The girls who reject you wont matter nearly as much in the long run as the girls who respect you. In 20 years, you will have forgotten about your rejections, or the crushes that didnt go anywhere, but you'll remember the girls you had meaningful relationships with.

Answer 2

The feelings run high in that section. I've seen a lot of really disgusting posts, from both women and men, however there are a lot of woman hating men there so many women become really defensive (and to a lesser degree, vice versa). They probably assumed that you were being facetious. Don't take it personally.

Regarding your question, I've talked with a number of my close guy friends about this. With all the bravado and swagger that some of guys project, there is a hidden side of things. People only see, and tend to stereotype from this, the macho persona of men and the real feelings of men are often hidden and ignored.

Lots of men feel inferior to women. In fact, it is likely that this feeling, one of my guy friends called it "superfluousness" -- like he wasn't necessary -- is probably at the root of patriarchy and sexism against women. Women are really amazing and powerful creatures, even though very few women ever realize this. Men feel it but have a hard time naming it. There is this pervasive sense that men are at a disadvantage when dealing with women.

Men must make advances and risk rejection, must navigate changing gender roles, must sacrifice their decision making power to their female partner if she gets pregnant, are expected to put their body on the line to protect females, etc, etc. It just goes on like this. Most men are afraid to admit this because they fear being labeled as a girl, a sissy, or p***y. It's difficult. Besides, men are supposed to be "better," more powerful, so anyone who questions this is ridiculed, or thought a liar. This is probably what you encountered in the gws section.

Anyway, I am sorry that you experienced terrible things in that section. I do post there often and I try to add an educated and nuanced element. Unfortunately there are just a lot of trolls with chips on their shoulders. I see everyone still wants to blame feminists. As a feminist, I can only take responsibility for my words. The words of others have nothing to do with me, and there is, statistically speaking, more woman hating than the other way around on that forum. It does no one any good.

I have a few recommendations for you in terms of learning to feel better about yourself. Study masculinity and femininity and gender and decide for yourself what values and traits you really want to embody and which are rubbish. Be who you are. Don't compare yourself to others. It will always lead to vanity or bitterness. Unfortunately, most of us sleepwalk through life. You will find very few really aware, authentic people, but if you choose that path, the people you do find will make it all worth it.

Best of luck & aloha!

Answer 3

Boy did you get my attention but not because of Yahoo Answer's Women Studies section but because of the discipline as a whole.

I wrote a research paper connected to women's studies that contains a theory never before published.  You would think Women's Studies scholars would jump all over a new theory especially since I cite famous feminists like Carol Downer, Joan Emerson, and Terri Kapsalis.

Not only did I dig up original research but the paper is in APA style and I put the paper on my site at Authorsden.Com.  Every single review I received I had to solicit.  I even received a review from a woman whose bio appears in Who's Who in the World but mostly I get ignored.

I am pulling my hair trying to get cited.  Meanwhile, the scholarly literature of gender studies is polluted by so much trash you can feel the stink in the business section.

Answer 4

So you are new in YA! Welcome!

Taylor Melissa is right. Most men that write in the G&W studies are just picking for a fight. Troll is the least you can say about them. So it's not surprising that they find one, because those girls can be tough too.

Now that doesn't mean you can't learn a lot in that section, because even if you don't see them as superior, they still have something to teach us in many ways.

Answer 5

I've noticed that there tends to be a good bit of "men-hating" women in there, but also a good bit of "women-hating" men.  I think it is just a place for them to argue.

Answer 6

we are just being playful, get over it. have you ever heard the chant when you were a kid, "Girls rule and boys drool"?

Answer 7

Just brush them off and don't worry about it, there seems to be a lot of extremism there, and they communicate that accordingly.