Just when I thought I knew the guidelines. Admin, is there a reason my comment was censored? Was it too dark or something? /consternation/

Emily, we've had a lot of comments to post in the last few days, so I can't remember specifically what yours said. I do remember deleting one sentence that sounded rude, chastising another CBer, from someone's comment, but I don't know if it was yours or not. If you'll resend the whole comment, we'll review it again.

Admin

I agree. I have nothing against wanting your own child to be a certain gender before they're born, as long as you're satisfied with who they are after they're born and don't try to force your hopes on other people. Of course, the law in China does neither of those things.

Did people prefer boys because they could rule nations, or could they rule nations because they were preferred? I suppose it was probably both--whoever made the law must have favored them for a different reason,and then once the law was made, that just gave the rest of the people another reason.

You have a good point about helping on the farm, but I think it goes back farther than that. In humans (and most but not all other animals), the majority of males seem to be physically stronger than the majority of females, and I think, back when people were... primitave, survival was hard. The main things that help someone survive seem to be strength, intelligence, and unfortunately, often selfishness. I haven't noticed much difference between genders when it comes to intelligence and selfishness, but since there was a difference in physical strength, at the time, many men probably were more able and likely could do many things that women couldn't, although that didn't make them better as people. Thus, most very, very early cultures (except the ones that worshipped female deities) probably admired men more because they were better at surviving at the time, for the most part. A hierarchy became established so firmly that by the time physical strength stopped being necessary or even valued very much, and some things most women are better at, like dealing with isolation stress, became valued more (in space, for example, you need it there, but it took forever to get them to let women in, although not for lack of trying), people just... weren't willing to let the things they'd been taught go. They assumed women couldn't do as much as men could because that's what their parents had told them, even though, all the while, the things that are now possible for human beings are getting less and less dependent on strength, so the prejudice against women really isn't valid anymore. That's my theory, anyway. I'm not saying that the prejudice was acceptable in the past; I don't think that at all, and I certainly do not believe that women were ever inferior, but I'm speculating on what might have caused people to think they were. They used to put a lot of emphasis on physical strength, whereas now, with cars and TVs and everything, that's really fading away... But people did come to their senses, and now we can vote and all that. Well, I can't, since I haven't even turned 13 yet, but females in general can.

Circe in Percy Jackson:  now THERE's a feminist.  So, in a nutshell, my opinion:  Feminism is OK in moderation.