Monday, February 28, 2011
How To Be A Woman In Any Boys’ Club
Jezebel: "Here are some rules about how to be a girl in a boys' club. This works for any world you're in or want to be in. Pretty much everything in the world is still a boys' club.
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Ok this article has hilariously accurate metaphors my favorite '...youre Ray Liotta from Goodfellas, youre not Italian so youll never be made' so great. However, with the rest of the article Im not so sure. I agree that it can be difficult in a predominantly male work environment and that they can be judgmental and exclude you and not respect you. But this whole thing that women should stick together isnt necessarily true either. A predominantly female environment could be just as bad if not worse, and if you were to do as suggested and befriend the only other woman if possible you can easily get a reputation as a kiss-ass and pushover. Which could make the work environment even worse. At the end of the day all you can hope for is to be yourself, starting to team up and make it to be this constant gender battle(though at times it may be) is really just going to make things harder and like a comment on the article if you act like you and they dont like it then screw them.
One of the things that I never got about "feminism" is how they work for a equality while practicing inequality. Most of the general guidelines in this article are also great words of advice for men because they a good business practices on how to be a confident, dependable professional with room to grow and expand while playing the game and playing nice with everyone in the work place, even if you don't like them. However, I don't know how much I agree with the fact that you need to start a woman's club in order to survive in the man's club. That seems to point out that woman can't survive in a "man's world" without a dependable relationship to fall back on which pretty much plays into the stereotype that women are not as independent as a men. Sure, boys will be boys and girls will be girls, but I wouldn't go out of my way to create that divide because it seems it will only make matters worse in the future. If woman want to be seen on a more equal level with men they are going to need to think of something more bold and usually those are actions that are found within the individual and how she interacts with her environment, not a team of women plotting against the men. Of course, there is more to be said and refined on my points, but this is generally what I feel the problem is as we work for more equality.
I think I might have written this article in my head about 70000 times. Although I think that it stands for pretty much any minority in a group. I have always been the only girl in basically every group I have ever been in, except for my family. I think that the author brings up a lot of good points, but I think she takes too harsh a look at men. You can gain privilege being the only girl in a group, because once you have become a "bro" you are not only a girl you are also a man, or you are on the same level as a man. I think certain men will acknowledge the fact that you can hang with both the men and the women. The author victimizes men, but frankly I think there is a lot of awareness about gender inequality so people are very conscious. Also, the thing she says about the standing up when you see things happen that you don’t like, I don't understand why one woman has to stand up for and symbolize every other woman in the world, I think that you should pick your battles, there are something’s that are worth fighting for and other things that will not change in the foreseeable future.
I agree with all the previous commenters, but I have to say that, while there is definitely a lot of inequality in the workplace, that the fight against it is sometimes taken to an extreme. Someone touched on the feminists practicing sexism against men and how men are portrayed too harshly in this article, which I definitely agree with. One thing that I though of when reading this was how many women we have working in our technical theatre department at CMU. I know more female technical directors than I do males (and in most cases would rather work with the females than their male associates). I'm not sure if any of the women in our program feel like there's inequality here, but I would definitely say that we are closer to it than other programs and workplaces.
I really can't take this article too seriously. Firstly because there are typos and grammar errors and I don't appreciate the ALL CAPS used for emphasis. Beyond those preliminary issues, I think that the entire beginning about befriending another women is ridiculous. Yes, women should be nice to each other. I don't need to read paragraphs about "What if she sucks?" Also, there is a danger in gravitating to other women, which is that it encourages exclusivism. It is important to have female companionship, but it is also important to communicate with everyone. More than anything, I had an issue with the way this was written.
Girls are not helpless. Not only do girls not need this article, but girls do not also need this mentality that men are just chauvinistic and looking for a good laugh at women. It happens, yes, but it's not standard. Because, as it happens, most people (men and women) do not seek out to ridicule everyone, especially men ridiculing women. It happens a lot, yes, but it's not the only thing that occurs in a workplace. Many people do understand that gender does not define talent, and that both men and women are equal.
The most prominent thing that is provoking sexism toward women is feminist movements/"tips" on how to deal with men. Women don't need to know how to deal with men. People need to know how to deal with people. Gender defines nothing.
I think this article is an insult to women. This is not how you get ahead in the world. Yes being nice to people always great! But to complain about everything that absurd! I'm pretty sure that's how you make people hate you and being hating could definitely stop your progression of "getting to the top". I pretty much agree with everyone and everything I have to say has basically already been said. You need to gain respect without being called a kiss-ass, a pushover or a bitch. And all of these tips can definitely make you look like one of those stereotypes and can be detrimental to your reputation.
This is one of the most sexist articles I have ever read. It is things like this that continue to contribute to gender inequality. I agree with Michael “people just need to deal with people.” The idea that girls need this kind of advice is ridiculous. The way she keeps talking about men as the enemy is just as sexist as the men she is attacking. Men are just as good as women. It seems this author forgets this fact, along with basic grammar skills. In my opinion, the girlfriend way in which this is written is insulting to both genders. Sentences like: “She is not the enemy. She is never your enemy. The enemy is always any guys who are creating situations that limit the number of females allowed. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down” are simply infuriating. The idea that women have to stick together agaist all the men just contributes to gender divides. I thought in 2011 we were beyond this kind of useless and offensive advice.
I agree with everyone that is article is wrong on a lot of levels, but I think the first (of many) mistakes this author makes is that almost every business is prominently dominated by males. Not true at all. There are tons of fields where females are perceived to be better than men, but in those fields I know lots of men that are great at what they do. People should not think about whether or not they will have a lot of competition in a certain because it is thought to dominated by men or women, but instead they should go into a field they enjoy.
I truly enjoyed reading this article and primarily to comments in response to it. Having been the middle child and the only girl between two boys, I learned one lesson: men think simply. This is why I love reading articles on how women should best communicate with men because either the advise is focused on the simplistic mindset or they over-analyze every thought, move, and word. It's not sexism, feminism, or any "ism"s, it's just a matter of thought processing.
I found the section about women's competition to be the most controversial topics of the article, though, considering its truth. No mater how hard we try to deny it, Natural Selection does not only happen on the Discovery Channel. The human connection between men and women is naturalistic yet defined by subjectivity therefore reading articles such as this one is humorous and may imply a sense of power for a woman, this is what I have to say: if you live life like it's a gender game than it will be; if you interact based off of human connection than that is how you will be treated back.
Very interesting article--and also very funny. It does have a lot of things that are relevant to most people in any work situation--if you are good, you are good, be confident in your work, make friends with your co-workers, etc. The advice for women is humorous, but not without some truth. It's a tough world out there, and when you become the outside it can be mighty difficult to get anything that you need done done. Understanding how people operate and how your particular office group functions will give you a much better idea of how you can most effectively and efficiently do your job.
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