Complimenting Girl Brains

How to talk to little girls

Women in Technology

Toby sent me this article that is really good that talks about Why Women Quit Technology Careers.

Yes, there are issues being a woman in the tech industry, but it's not always the kind of blatant discrimination that you associate with sexism.

It's usually about the lack of colleagues or mentors, and the fact that most everyone is married does make things complicated.

Modern Sexism

Many people consider Hillary's loss a manifestation of sexism. I think there has been sexism against Hillary, but I think the media and the public has also been racist.

The debate is between those like Modo and Judith Warner

Hillary could have made a great speech about sexism just as Obama made a great speech about race. She sort of started to in her concession speech, but it wasn't really a very deep analysis, hence the masses and pundits are duking it out for themselves. Everyone is saying "this is the state of sexism," "no, this is." For example, is "Sex in the City" actually a show about female empowerment or just reinforcing sexism in American society? "Sex in the City" is not singularly about feminism or about perpetuating sexism. It is a show that reflects the values of modern women, although not necessarily about reality. Personally, I think neither "Sex in the City" nor Hillary losing the nomination are women's biggest problems. At this point, most barriers to women are cultural and societal, not officially sanctioned. Women are often their own worst enemy and give themselves and other women a harder time than men even do. This is nowhere more obvious than in middle school and high school, when girls feel pressured to look good but not admit to being good at math. Truly overcoming sexism has to be about raising girls to respect themselves and be ambitious. Benchmarks such as having a higher percentage of female CEO's are more of a breakthrough than electing a female President.

Oh ho! The Gender Card!

Well, it was only a matter of time. Hillary Clinton plays the gender card. I hate women.




New York Times blog about it.

She also spoke at Wellesley.

"In so many ways, this all-women's college prepared me to compete in the all-boys club of presidential politics," she said Thursday to cries of support.

...

In Tuesday's debate, the New York senator was grilled about her integrity, electability and tendency to sidestep tough questions. Her comments at Wellesley and a new fundraising appeal from campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle suggested there was an element of sexism at play.

"On that stage in Philadelphia, we saw six against one. Candidates who had pledged the politics of hope practiced the politics of pile on instead," Solis Doyle wrote. "Her opponents tried a whole host of attacks on Hillary. She is one strong woman. She came through it well. But Hillary's going to need your help."

Chinese Feminism

For my Chinese film and culture class we watched a movie called "Cell Phone" by Feng Xiaogang. Actually it was kind of boring and I didn't know where the movie was going until it finally fizzled to an end, but later when I thought about it, it was actually really clever. I think it's a hit for real Chinese people who catch on to the message faster.

It's about how women find out about their husbands' affairs with the use of new technology (cell phones). A talk show host, Yan, is having an affair with a woman, and the wife finds out because she is able to just call the person he said he was with. They divorce. Yan does not marry his mistress but instead is dating this other woman while continuing to see his mistress. His friend, Fei, gets caught almost having an affair and gets divorced and moves to Estonia to teach English never to be heard from again. Yan asks his mistress to get his ex-wife a job, and she does by allowing her boss to rape her. She then blackmails him with a recording of them having sex since cell phones now have a recording feature. She ends up replacing him as the host of his show. In the end, his girlfriend finds out about her anyway and leaves him. His niece becomes a cell phone salesperson and his friend Fei moves to Estonia never to be heard of again.

This is my reading of the movie.

In this movie, Chinese men complain about technology and wish they could "go back to simpler times." I have heard this sentiment from Chinese men before, who say they would prefer it if we were an agrarian society again. I think a large part of this society is that they are dismayed at their loss of status in society in comparison to women. I think this movie shows that technology and modernization have benefited women the most. Women still get cheated on in this movie and also taken advantage of, but nowadays women can divorce, they are financially independent, and they can even have power to leverage instead of just getting taken advantage of. In the end, Yan's mistress takes his job as the host of the show. Yan's niece and mistress represent a new generation of Chinese women who are bold, successful, and who champion new technology. On the other hand, Yan and his friend fall behind. They wish they could live in the past where "they could go home and their wives would believe anything they were told." So I think this movie, it appears that women are still victimized as in the past, and that men are questioning the value of modern progress, but really, this movie shows that women are no longer second class citizens and that Chinese men are depressed with modern life because they are less powerful now.