When you’re on a good thing - flog it to death!
What is it with women and map reading articles on news.com.au? Here’s the latest, which basically uses a study of spacial ability to draw the conclusion that lesbian women are better than heterosexual women at reading maps.
And the WORST thing about it is that it’s written by a woman! Argh! Obviously, people like myself are getting incensed and they’ve decided to pray on that to get a few more clicks. Oh well, nothing like flogging an issue to death, I say…
In other news, I’ve joined Facebook. Which isn’t very exciting in itself - after all, it’s just another silly social networking thingie. But what is interesting is that I seemed to have joined about a week before it suddenly gained enormous momentum. You see, not wanting to annoy my friends with yet another invitation to join some lame Web 2.0 site, I didn’t invite anybody. Yeah, I was a real Nigel there for an entire week. Then my girlfriend Sal mentioned she was on it, so I invited her. And then another friend, Brett, found me.
But then my friends list populated itself, seemingly overnight. Yesterday I had one friend, today I have seven. From people I haven’t seen for ages and ages! It’s really weird. And cool. I’m feeling loved!
EDIT: Actually, I joined on May 25. So five days ago. Perhaps I did accidentally send out invitations? I didn’t mean to…so sorry if I did.
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I am having the same experience with Facebook. I have absolutely no memory of joining, but I must have done.
Then about two weeks ago my cousin in Scotland found me on there and linked to you. Then a former colleague. Then you. I haven’t done anything but my friends list is suddenly populating itself. It’s very odd - and kind of cool.
I think Facebook has been massive for some time now but it was always off there in the distance. It’s fascinating how it’s suddenly hit people I know, who I guess are slightly older than Facebook’s roots in college dorms.
PS I received a notification that you had linked to me as a friend and I went and clicked ‘yes you are my friend’ - so I think you found me first.
Men and women are physiologically different, are imbued with a lifetime of social conditioning to gender stereotypes and then are somehow expected to have exactly the same aptitude in everything - how exactly?
Issues only arise when you value a set of skills from one gender more highly. Which is the real problem with this article - the subtext reinforces the stereotype of women as slow, helpless drivers. Tsk tsk, what are they doing out of the house anyway? Which is pretty much what I\’d expect from anything called \”news\” which is spewed from Murdoch\’s infernal orifices.
Funny story: I realized the other day while Mad can read a map without turning it around, I still prefer to. However, my entire vocation is based on manipulating, transforming and rotating geometry according to linear algebra.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_transformation)
How lame to I feel?
Ahhh..yes…I remember now. I did link to Caitlin, because it told me she was already registered. But didn’t send out invites. This must be how others found me. Phew. I feel better now.
I hope this lets me leave a message anonymously. I’m feeling shy.
I saw something that might amuse you. I bought a packet of sanitary napkins and the individual packaging had things written on it, mostly exhortations to ‘love your body’ and the like. One of them however, had the following factoid - apparently women’s spatial awareness improves during ovulation. Now how the hell do they know that?
I don’t think that men and women are expected to have the same aptitude about everything but I think that map reading is something that both boys and girls have equal exposure to. I would be seriously surprised if it were statistically true that the average man is better at reading a map, or parking a car, than the average woman. I would expect that any difference in skill between the genders wouldn’t emerge in something like map reading or driving, since the activity is commonplace for both genders in our society. It _might_ emerge in something like kicking a ball or threading a needle but only because of practice, not because of something innately different in our brain.
“I would be seriously surprised if it were statistically true that the average man is better at reading a map.”
I’m pretty sure the researchers just proved that, statistically. That’s what the article was about.
Why couldn’t there be something innately different in our brains? Why are people so afraid of accepting that we have different physiology? Whether you think that is good or bad is another issue entirely.
Oh I just got my first facebook invite from a friend in the UK. I declined
Haha..! See!! Momentum baby. I’d use the phrase ‘tipping point’ ‘cept I hate it
Personally, I don’t have any problem with the general findings re spacial awareness - in fact, I’m sure men and women think differently (based on my own anecdotal experience) - it’s the gross generalisations in the name of sensationalism that rankle.