We’ve already heard from the so-called Thinking Housewife on the subject of Sally Ride. Meanwhile, over on The Spearhead, the regulars also have opinions about Ride. Regular commenter Keyster has this to say about Ride’s work in promoting science and technology education for girls:
She was supposed to have inspired a generation of girls to take science and math. While she may have inspired the “Grrl Esteem” movement, very few girls went on to get degrees in math and science as a result of Sally Ride … .
She was frustrated by the fact young girls were very interested in math and science initially, “…but for some reason we lose them around the age of 13.” MMmmm…I wonder why that would be. Because they discovered an interest in boys? Not surprisingly, Sally was able to keep her interest.
That’s right: girls are incapable of thinking about both math and boys. Lesbians are the only women who can sustain an interest in math, because their brains aren’t cluttered with thoughts of Justin Bieber. (Ok, bad example.)
In another comment, Keyster expresses his annoyance at the fact that Ride turned out to be capable of astronautery despite being a woman.
Sally Ride proved that a woman can have “the right stuff”, like Amelia Earheart proved a woman can fly long distances.
OK so now that we know she won’t become hysterical during her period while in outerspace and allow her used tampons to clog the toilet, what do we do with this information? Just because a woman accomplishes something normally associated with men, is this inspiring young girls to spontaneously excel en masse and compete against men in male dominated arenas? Or are women like Sally Ride the exceptions that prove the rule?
You know, “exceptions that prove the rule” aren’t actually a thing. The fact that Ride was a capable astronaut doesn’t actually “prove the rule” that women aren’t capable as astronauts, but instead suggests that this particular rule is not a real rule. You would think that Keyster, as a logical male, would understand this.
‘…still rather fight to the end THAN give in…’
SIGH.
for values of ‘women’ that a dumb teenager pulled out of his ass
And men are never fickle. Especially not when young.
Way to directly prove the point, you ass.
nameless baby, we get that you think girls have cooties, so what else are you trying to prove here?
I hate it when people say “it’s the exception that proves the rule,” and MRAs seem to say it a lot. I’m glad you noticed it too, because it’s the epitome of mental laziness, and every time someone uses it to support their point, I want to scratch my own eyes out.
Oh shut the fuck up! (goes to look at more kitty pictures)
You’re aware I can vote, right? Really no reason for the worry.
I get the sense that the walking contradiction is a math major trying to make himself look good.
Fickle is MRA speak for having the audacity to be selective when looking for a partner. Those bitches!
basically when someone says ‘im a transhumanist’ what i hear is ‘i think the matrix was based on a true story’
Sounds like you don’t seem to understand MY view of transhumanism: I’m not in favor of modifying human beings to correct their imperfections, I’m in favor of ultimately replacing humanity with an entirely new species, created by humans, which is even more intelligent and more complex than us.Do tell me how that is *sexist*.
😀
WE ARE SAVED!!!
….
Of course, I’ve seen Mitt Romney’s polling numbers. And as long as a non-zero amount of people think that he’s a perfectly okay person to vote for, maybe just not far enough right-wing, I will continue to occasionally think that there is something very wrong with people.
But on good days I remember that it is only because of a massive propaganda machine that he has any chance, and that even a die-hard ideologue fundie can change… and I have hope.
So you admit that you’re a retard and don’t comprehend what “transhumanism” actually is. Got it.
That and it’s usually backed up with an allusion to their libertarianism. I also hear, “asshole, do not engage.”
Sorry to disappoint you hellkell, but I am not a libertarian.
Ooo, got linked to a good read on libertarianism.
It’s hip, it’s cool, it’s libertarianism!
Good read.
Om Nom, do you think you’re oh-so-edgy using abelist slurs? Guess again, chump.
What political affiliation/philosophy does a transhumanist claim, Nommie?
But, my dear Om Nom, you ARE an asshole.
‘kay.
Reducing women to their ability to birth children
Defining positive traits as male by default.
Making shit up about women as a whole, then congratulating yourself on how terrible women are.
I don’t really care about the movement as seen in Plato’s Cave, I care about the real world, and these flaws aren’t just found in you. Plenty of sexist idiots parrot similar within transhumanism.
i get that it’s a bunch of self-important pseudo-intellectuals playing robot in their backyards, ya
It’s misogynists who get hysterical over menstruation.
I mean, duh, Nommie. You don’t get to say ‘women are so dumb!’ and then pretend you LIKE women. ‘I mean, that is, this woman is smart! She isn’t like other women! She’s EXCEPTIONAL!’ I.e., an exception to my rule about how women suck.
That’s like textbook misogyny. Like a definition from the dictionary. I mean, honestly, it doesn’t even feel like you’re TRYING.
Oh yeah, well, sure, if you collect poor personality traits together, and positive personality traits together, and assign one set to the dominant gender and the other set to the marginalized gender, you can talk about gender-essentialism all you want to.
But you’ve missed the point that you’ve set these things up this way, and actual people are not actually like the model you’ve got in your head.
You can decide that Lois Lane’s mind is so fragile that, if she believes she’s a witch and yet finds out that she can’t fly or actually do witchety things, she’ll go insane, and so Superman has to feed her delusion*, but if you decide that this entirely odd psychological set up is down to Lane having a vag, you’re being sexist and a right asshole.
*Seriously, this was an actual issue of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, and not the one where Lois actually becomes a witch (which has to be stopped because she could be better than Supes, and we can’t possibly have that), but I can’t find an image of the cover online in anything like enough time that this comment will still be relevant.
I don’t associate with other transhumanists, so I wouldn’t know. However, I personally tend to favor authoritarianism since I believe that people in general need to be controlled and when they are free, they used their freedom to be destructive and hurtful to others. I’d like to think of myself as a Stalinist, actually.
@Dracula: I think when half the commentariat gets to it before you it goes from ‘Ninjaed’ to ‘Smallarmyofninjaed’