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Robina's avatar

Great article. BTW I think you’re me, down to the aversion to certain noises (look into misophonia).

But anyway, my theory is a little kinder. I’ve always thought that women pushed these theories partly because we’re so damned nice and hate to think that we’d be exclusionary. We know what it feels like to not be physically able to do something; we’ve been in places that made us uncomfortable but we stayed anyway... Most of us (maybe especially if we’re mothers) never want to contribute to someone else having to feel left out.

But I do like your theory about teachers. Their self righteousness and (sometimes) false sense of intellectual acumen sort of place them perfectly for the role of fervent gender apostles.

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Frederick R Prete's avatar

You’ve made a lot of interesting points as have your commenters. There’s a lot to consider here. As I’ve written about some of these points, I’ve come to wonder if part of the motivation isn’t the same as that motivating women who push their young girls into beauty pageants. As a psychologist, I find the whole thing as fascinating as it is disturbing.

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