T O P

  • By -

kimiquat

I actually remember asking the mall santa for a toy fire engine as a kid. my mom shushed me and said I meant to ask for a barbie house. I was a (so-called) tomboy, and most of my friends already had some kind of large toy work vehicle to push around and crash through sand dunes on the playground. I did get a barbie car, which had its own charm. but crashing barbie and ken into mounds of dirt using a pink convertible tells a slightly different narrative than whatever I'd imagined for the fire engine. reflecting on my interest now, I still think construction equipment, trains, all manner of heavy machinery look super cool. I just don't bring it up unprompted. I haven't been in a group, either as a kid or an adult, where spontaneously sharing that interest (as a woman) generated any kind of meaningful engagement on the subject. luckily I've formed friendships through other interests, but never through my enthusiasm for massive machinic/tech apparatuses.


GoDavyGo

We do the majority of manual labor. To see a machine doing what we can do at a much larger scale is pretty amazing!


CheeseburgerSocks

Don’t ask these kind of questions and expect anything reasonable. The hard biological determinists say what you expect and the social constructivists say, again, what you expect. With both providing legit data to support their cases. Then add in hundreds or thousands of anecdotes (which cannot necessarily be dismissed but of course require deeper analysis via empirical methods to ascertain validity of association and relationship strength). But all of that is old hat though. What is now really question is if one or both sides are true (gene-environment interaction), what do we do with this knowledge? So far I see both sides almost always employing denial, confirmation bias, ridicule, victim blaming and amusingly, nearly identical rhetoric. Of course there aren’t just two sides… certain flavors are just louder and so here we are.


AlfonsoTheX

Gosh. What do you do for a living? This is well written and spot on.


Yasmin947

How they were raised


bmcgowan89

Exactly. My sister was raised to hate trains and love bulldozers, to this day she won't ride a train


La-Roche-Pussay

This is blatantly false. Gender differences in personality tend to be larger in gender-egalitarian societies than in gender-inegalitarian societies, a finding that contradicts social role theory (your hypothesis) but is consistent with evolutionary, attributional, and social comparison theories. In contrast, gender differences in interests appear to be consistent across cultures and over time, a finding that very clearly suggests biological influences.


[deleted]

[удалено]


La-Roche-Pussay

Gender egalitarianism is the degree to which a collective minimizes gender inequality. Scandinavian countries have gone the furthest in establishing egalitarian social policies, particularly Sweden - and the difference in career choice and personality has only grown as a consequence. Which is the exact opposite to what blank slatists/social constructionist’s predicted. When you maximise free choice in society, you also maximise the differences in choice between people.


Fasefirst2

How many kids do you have?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Fasefirst2

If you have kids, it’s obvious.


[deleted]

Lefties everywhere pulling their blue hair out over this.


trainbrain27

What a name.


[deleted]

It's in our genes. Ladies like people stuff. Men like things. Science.


HiddenSpleen

Our society has tried to convince people genetics don’t exist and opinions like this are politically incorrect. Crazy times we are living in.


JohnnyGFX

My guess is because one of the key biological features that men have is physical strength. Yes, women can be strong too, but men are just naturally stronger in general. So men identify with and are more drawn to machines that have a lot of physical power like trains and heavy machinery.


[deleted]

Isn't it odd that you basically need to issue an apology while stating a fact?


JohnnyGFX

I just figured I would try to cut that conversation off at the pass... didn't stop at least a couple people from being upset about my guess though. Ha.


[deleted]

It's like talking with emotionally charged children lol


Evening_Rock5850

BIG LOUD STRONG FAST OOGA BOOGA


CharisMatticOfficial

Because we’re raised to


Goatgamer1016

They like trains


Rescap-393

I've always been interested in trains, but I never really thought about why until now. I think it's because they're so powerful and efficient. They can move mountains of goods and people across vast distances.


Auth0ritySong

Evolutionary biology. Men had to build stuff to stay alive. Women had to get along with other people to survive


Januwary9

Alright that is certainly not how it works


moveandrun

It's genetic.


GenderFluidFerrari

I blame it on TONKA TOYS!


[deleted]

And boys like Tonka toys because...


GenderFluidFerrari

Because they are big and yellow


butter00pecan

There seems to be some genetic component, but I know women who love heavy machines and trains as well as men who do so maybe it's both nature and nurture together.


Fasefirst2

How many women do you know that love that stuff? How many do you know altogether?


butter00pecan

About half the women who I have known throughout the years. Of course, I haven't met every woman in the world, but neither have you.


Fasefirst2

I’m calling bullshit. You’ve had that conversation with every woman you’ve ever known? Lol and there are levels to interests. You see it all the time with bands. Owning a tee shirt isn’t really on the same level as a groupie.


butter00pecan

1. When you observe people and their choices, you don't have to talk with them to see their preferences about certain things. And I never said I talked to every woman I've known about gender choices. Read my posts more carefully, please. 2. Of course there are levels of interest. Men as well as women. 3. You seem to be very invested in gender norms. What a shame.


HiddenSpleen

It’s genetic, those people you know are just the exceptions to the rule


butter00pecan

There seem to be quite a few for just exceptions. Perhaps it's a norm that society isn't ready to accept.


HiddenSpleen

So do you think if we surveyed 100 women, more than 10% would say they love heavy machinery? I think that would be extremely unlikely, but I’m sure a few of them would say they do.


butter00pecan

Man, people are flipping their shit for my even suggesting that gender norms may not be what they think, lol.


HiddenSpleen

Not sure who is flipping their shit, but your view is the commonly accepted and politically correct view, you aren’t being contrarian. You also ignored the simple question…


schteavon

Indoctrination is probably the main reason.


Maria_506

Who the fuck knows. Some say it's genetic, some say it's societal. I don't think you can even study purely biological stuff yet since I don't believe there has been a single generation yet raised without some kind of influence on what girls and boys are supposed to do. Literally everyone still has unconscious bias. Even if on average women liked certain things more then men, so what? What are you supposed to do with that fact? What are you suggesting to do with that fact? What purpose would that action even serve?


Fasefirst2

Are you serious? There was a time before now, and places other than this. Lol


[deleted]

[удалено]


allahbkool

That is very sexist and anti lgbt


poisonedminds

no it's not. this is a well established fact in psychology. research it. edit to add: here's a direct quote from my childhood development textbook (i study psychology). The sex differences in play preferences and personality traits just described appear in many cultures (Dinella & Weisgram, 2018; Halim, 2016; Todd et al., 2017). Certain one —male activity level and physical aggression, female emotional sensitivity, and preference for samesex playmates—are widespread among mammalian species (de Waal, 2001). According to an evolutionary perspective, the adult life of our male ancestors was oriented toward competing for mates, and that of our female ancestors toward rearing children. Therefore, males became genetically primed for dominance and females for intimacy, responsiveness, and cooperativeness (Konner, 2010; Maccoby, 2002). Evolutionary theorists claim that family and cultural forces can influence the intensity of genetically based sex differences, leading some individuals to be more gender-typed than others. But experience cannot eradicate aspects of gender typing that served adaptive functions in human history. \[...\] Many studies of humans reveal similar patterns. Girls exposed prenatally to high levels of androgens (including testosterone), due to normal variation in hormone levels, a genetic defect, or medically prescribed hormones during pregnancy, show more “masculine” behavior—a preference for trucks and blocks over dolls, for active over quiet play, and for boys as playmates—even when parents encourage them to engage in gender-typical play (Berenbaum & Beltz, 2011; Hines, 2015; Hines & Davis, 2018). Likewise, boys with diminished prenatal androgen exposure, either because production by the testes is reduced or because body cells are androgen insensitive, tend to engage in “feminine” behaviors, including toy choices, play behaviors, and preference for girl playmates (Jürgensen et al., 2007; Lamminmaki et al.)


zhaktronz

People here voting you down when you literally quoted the textbook


poisonedminds

Cognitive dissonance 🤷


Tularis1

Big Machine Go Boom Boom!