Living by the Male Standard

We have noticed that efforts at "gender equality" are often about making women into men. In other words, the world we live in is subject to a male standard. What does that mean?

It means that the way we talk casts male attributes as positive and female as negative. Why is "you da man" used as a compliment by both male and female athletes (while throwing "like a girl" is uniformly negative)? Why are women "just as good as men"-- aren't men "just as good as women"? Our very language is subject to a male standard.

It means that women are forever the "other" sex, the exception, the deviation from normal. Men are the default. Most medical studies use only male subjects because women's hormonal fluctuations "might confound the results." Uh, excuse me? So men are normal humans and women are humans with these weird hormonal deviations that screw things up? How will you be able to give that medicine to women if you didn't even test it on them because you were afraid the results would be different?

It means that the very way we think is male-oriented. We know that women "lack self-confidence" and tend to "speak too quietly," right? Only compared to a male standard where men's confidence and voice volume are normal. Why doesn't the general folklore say that men as a group suffer from over-confidence and speak much too loudly?

If you want to explore these ideas more thoroughly, read an excellent book by Carol Tavris entitled "The Mismeasure of Woman." You will see clearly how women will always measure up short so long as we are using a male yardstick.

We want to change the yardstick. That doesn't mean making the standard female-biased, or declaring that "women's characteristics" are in fact superior to "men's." Why not discourage the overemphasis of gender differences and instead celebrate valuable human qualities? The first step in doing that is, however, to dethrone the Universal Male as the standard by which all humans are evaluated. And women are finally getting into positions where that will be possible. The roles we are shoehorned into must change. Onward!

• His, and Hers, He and She by Sidra M. S. Vitale (09/20/2004)
• The Wild Female by Janis Cortese (02/09/2001)
• So You Think Women Can't Play Really Tough Sports? by Kim Allen (03/08/2000)
• It's Still a Man's World (by Design) by Fazia Rizvi (05/10/1999)
• And What about the Children? by Alana Wingfoot (10/20/1997)