Sergeant Brother
Member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2007
- Messages
- 298
Haha all these polls, we have age and sex - what's next, location?
Race! That wont be controversial at all.
Haha all these polls, we have age and sex - what's next, location?
Cyber geeks? Come on, this isn't 1998! The stats show that men and women spend about the same amount of time online.![]()
It's such a complex question. Why are more men into politics in general? Why are so many more men Libertarian than women? Is it society or is it biology? On that last question, the answer probably falls somewhere between both, but for our purposes I'm going to focus on the social aspect.
In my experience, there have been two main obstacles in getting into the politics game. One, I've found that the women I've known (myself included) have had a tendency to sometimes take things personally in heated political discussion. I've seen women break down crying at what appeared to be a civil, non-personal discussion where disagreement was present. I've found myself feeling attacked and angry when I shouldn't have. I'm sure men fall into the same trap too sometimes, but I don't think they do it as much. This could be because when women do enter that kind of enviornment it's not something we're used to -- even in today's society women aren't usually invited into the proverbial cigar room to discuss politics. Secondly, I've noticed that in many cases men treat the female in the room differently when politics is being discussed. Where they might make a snarky comment with another man, they yell at or talk over the woman. Women tend to feather their opinions with, "I feel" or "I think" or "I don't understand," and you'd think that'd make things altogether more agreeable...but it doesn't have that effect. I'm not sure why. In any case, the combination of these two things closes the door on politics for most women who don't want to invite that kind of confrontation. It creates a cycle that just reinforces itself over and over again.
Of the women who are involved in politics and show a more liberal leaning, I don't think it's as simplistic as, "Oh, they just want the government to take care of them like a husband or father." It's important to note that the actual disparity is only around 45/55, so despite what Ann Coulter may have told you, it's not such a huge difference as you might think.
I believe more men are Libertarians for the same reason more men are geeks. It's not necessarily that men are smarter than women (IQ tests show them at about neck and neck), but that it takes a certain level of social dissonance to seek those things out. The more mainstream something is, the more women get involved (I think liberalism is a bit more socially acceptable and in the media more, for instance, which is probably why more women are liberal). The answer is to make Ron Paul accessible and visible to women through signs, personal conversations, etc.Of course, it doesn't help if a woman interested in RP comes to a forum like this and finds a thread where women are shrugged off as stupid, selfish cows who should get back in the kitchen. I wish I could say I was joking about that thread...