How a woman becomes governor.

[FindersKeepers]

Good video. I was expecting exactly to hear militant feminism speak. Instead they delivered rational thought.

Same here.

Trish says they're "gaslighting," but they're not trying to control or manipulate anyone. They're just offering their opinions, and they're doing so in a very astute manner.

[The Xl]

I would gladly vote for a black lesbian Muslim midget if they were the best option.

I hope she's better than Cuomo. Can she get the job done? That's all that really matters to me.

[Mister D]

I think you're right, I'm just not sure whether it's a condition of nature or nurture. Girls can be vicious as you say, and we've been conditioned to be the soothers, so it might be more difficult to see ourselves in positions of authority.



Aha, so that's it. I wasn't really sure why, but I know Icelandic women (some) have a long history--back to Viking times--of fighting alongside the males.

Realistically, today, most women are not physically capable of matching the physical strength of men, although we seem to be getting stronger.

I'm not sure it's such a simple question. I don't doubt for a moment that historical gender roles are at least partly based in human biology and the psychological traits more predominant in the male of our species, for example, probably reflect eons of sexual selection. We are certainly products of culture but culture shaped our evolution. I think it's highly implausible that contemporary human females are less inclined to physical aggression/violence simply because "the patriarchy" frowns on it.

Not sure I buy the female warrior thing. As far as I know, there are no written accounts of any such phenomenon. The claim is based entirely on interpretations of grave goods and legend. That said, just because women were not fighting alongside men in battle (IMO, highly unlikely) that doesn't mean that women did not have positions of authority, including military authority, in Viking society. We know that women were sometimes leaders in war among the Celts. Boudica is a famous example.

[IMPress Polly]

I don't know who Sommers is so I don't know if I do or don't disagree with anything she says.

Sommers is a semi-famous libertarian who has been described as a kind of conservative feminist by some. The views you've expressed here are similar enough to hers that I assumed you'd followed her work.

I'm not much of a libertarian myself.

Like you, I'm not convinced a man in a dress is a woman, nor am I convinced Covid is the common cold. I certainly don't think you're stupid or gullible, but I do respect myself more than you respect yourself, and I am a stronger woman than you are. Harming women is never good for them, I didn't say that, but elevating them to victim status will always weaken them.

I don't understand what nuance it is you're aiming to carve out here. If a girl or woman just gives sexual harassment and abuse a pass like you seem to suggest they should, how is that not precisely being a dopey victim? Standing up and fighting back despite the likely negative consequences (retaliation, controversy, etc.) seems the braver thing to me, especially considering that someone like that will probably go on to abuse other girls and women if the issue is never confronted.

What should one do then in response to sexual harassment or assault or rape? Nothing? Internalize it? Ask how it was really your fault? Self-harm? What? What's your better, "stronger" alternative to fighting back and stopping it from happening again? Should Andrew Cuomo remain the Governor of New York because he did nothing wrong in your eyes? What exactly is it you're trying to say here?

Your characterizations are fair, I was just pointing out that woman in recent history have responded in aggressive ways when they needed to. I could have gone farther back in history and pulled out bloody queens and aggressive young women such as Joan of Arc who were every bit as ready to use violence as their male counterparts.

"Ready to use violence" and 'ready to use conquest' are two different things in my mind. Even when we consider Joan of Arc, we are considering a woman who was leading a major effort in a national liberation struggle. The logic you seem to be using here would imply that like the American Revolutionary War was an aggressive militarist adventure similar to the Iraq War or (our role in) the Vietnam War. There's really no comparison in my mind. A national liberation struggle isn't the same thing as a war of aggression. [quote]To be sure, I would choose Iceland over Afghanistan any time. Norse women are notably strong, going back as far as the Viking age when they explored and fought alongside the men. I've always enjoyed reading about Norse women in history.

Women in Afghanistan have no lives. Not lives much worth living, and their lives are currently taking a sharp turn for the worse. It's a sad situation. But, understand that liberals in the west have contributed to the fate and subjugation of Islamic women. Rather than seek bans on burkas, liberals sought to allow them in public--and talk about a warped idea. In upholding the use of hiding women beneath fabric, they allowed Muslim men to continue to subjugate women. In Muslim countries, women are considered second class citizens and many sign marriage contracts over there that doom them to poverty and no custody of their children if the marriage fails. Guess what? We have American family court judges that uphold those warped contracts, even though they're one-sided and the women cannot be considered "competent" when they sign them. It's a shame.

For sure! Look, I consider myself a liberal. I'm very much in favor of burqa bans like those in France and Quebec and I've come around to kind of agree with limiting migration from Muslim-majority countries more strictly. Islam is not our friend.

Look, I see you as a semi-strong woman, and I think you want to be stronger. But, until you let go of the idea that women are perpetual victims of a male society, you can't be. It's a self-defeating concept.

I make no claim to be World's Strongest Woman. You're no doubt much wealthier than me, way more popular than me (certainly you are here for sure), you're married I think, no doubt have already raised a family of your own and all that, and you probably don't struggle with PTSD and depression and BPD either. You have me outclassed on the social ladder on all fronts. Not trying to compare myself to you.

To me, just surviving my day is often an accomplishment. But I view myself as kind of a strong person for managing despite my...issues. I think strength is relative to your circumstances. If you have arachnophobia and push through that fear and adopt the biggest, hairiest spider in the world as a pet, that's a braver thing than it is for someone without arachnophobia to do the same. I'm strong relative to my condition. That's how I view it anyway.

I embrace a factual view of the world, at least to the extent that I have the facts of life, that is. I can admit to being wrong when it's shown that I am. That's why much of my worldview has changed over the course of my adult life. I definitely believe that women have the power to change the world but that knowledge doesn't change the fact that women have been and are socially disadvantaged overall. That's just a statistically demonstrable reality of life and nearly two out of every three American women can agree with that much, as compared with just 8% who believe women have won too many rights.