Althouse: Women are afraid to talk about politics.

April 9, 2008

Women are afraid to talk about politics.

Via Bloggingheads.

24 comments:

AllenS said...: I've never owned a Saturn.; 4/9/08, 6:02 AM
Meade said...: No comment.; 4/9/08, 7:06 AM
Ron said...: clearly these women need to read Althouse...and especially the comments!; 4/9/08, 7:07 AM
MadisonMan said...: Would the results would be different if a man was asking, or if this wasn't being done in New York City?

The conclusion should be women are afraid to talk about politics in New York City when asked by a roving woman with a mic and camera.; 4/9/08, 7:08 AM
The Drill SGT said...: I think she is correct. Women want to be liked. Stating a position means the some part of the viewers won't like your opinion.

Better to say nothing and smile.; 4/9/08, 7:21 AM
rcocean said...: Its the patriarchy at work.; 4/9/08, 7:39 AM
Bob said...: I thought by the title that this might be a Christopher Hitchens Vanity Fair story, perhaps a follow-up to his Women Are Not Humorous article.; 4/9/08, 8:01 AM
rhhardin said...: It's more interesting not to reach a decision, to women. More stuff is kept in play. Connections, soap opera and otherwise, grow and multiply.

Asking women to reach a decision without a need for it is spoiling the day.

Ask a guy and you get an answer. Decisions are made early and often for entertainment. Disagreements are settled with bets. Guys like disagreements. They, however, naturally follow hail-well-met rules that women do not.

Women never forget.; 4/9/08, 8:37 AM
Meade said...: Neutrality is cruel, bro.

But hey, it's not like they won't let us give them directions. Right?; 4/9/08, 8:54 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Guys like disagreements."

Not John McCain.; 4/9/08, 9:32 AM
Roger J. said...: rcocean: Since I think we share Memphis as our homes, perhaps you could tell me where and when the next meeting of the patriarchy is--I keep missing it!

Can't believe the tigers blew a nine point lead--oh the tragedy.; 4/9/08, 9:40 AM
Apple Fanboy Dude said...: The interviewer was a very attractive woman. When comparing gender-specific responses, it seems you'd want to control for that.; 4/9/08, 9:54 AM
rhhardin said...: Not John McCain

He's against soap opera bite wars.

Respect is his thing. Guys' rules.

Soap opera war is women's thing.; 4/9/08, 10:18 AM
knox said...: I'd comment but ... hold me!; 4/9/08, 10:22 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann, you have only recognised me once by calling me nausea.

what should I reciprocate? a**. No, i won't comment anymore. Read my blog if you want to find a poetic thought. Or ask someone who has archived every single thing I have ever said on the net.

Freaky and scary.; 4/9/08, 11:41 AM
Synova said...: I wonder if there would be any difference if the interviewer was a man? Some good looking guy asking questions is attention from a good looking guy. No way around that.

Obviously she never asked *me* about anything because I'm not at all shy about sharing political opinions but I'd still prefer to be able to compose my thoughts and edit them. And like the woman who didn't want to be the dumb person on television or (worse!) the web... I agree with that and it might keep me from saying anything. I would probably do an interview but I would want to prepare.

Also, all the women without men to intervene were uncomfortable. I expect that most of the men who didn't "let" the women speak understood that she was uncomfortable. Protecting women from discomfort is a man sort of thing to do. How would that play with gender reversal... a man walking down the street and his wife/girlfriend/companion diverting unwanted attention. I don't think we'd interpret it as suppression.; 4/9/08, 1:38 PM
Anonymous said...: this video isn't even about sex. It's about age. typical white grannies speak up, why can't young girls who were born after 1970 speak up.

Lots of good that sexual revolution did. I'm turning in my Annie Hall tie for a smock and stretch pants.; 4/9/08, 2:23 PM
Anonymous said...: wait, I better make a comment to protect the men in my life. My three sons.

Get them on a road trip with me or around the kitchen table and we are as opinionated as the next asshole.

They are rather quiet in public. I think it is because they can smell roving reporters agendas, that or their wives accuse them of being like their mother. And hell that would just piss me off to hear that.; 4/9/08, 3:19 PM
Agnostic Monk said...: Where was this on Bloggingheads? I saw the same link at Feministing yesterday.
There are a bunch of these interviews on youtube. The lady that conducts these interviews has her own channel on it.; 4/9/08, 3:25 PM
ricpic said...: If the questions had been about shoes the women would have answered.; 4/9/08, 4:31 PM
t-mac said...: Clearly women must be idiots or more afraid to talk about politics than men. It can't be at all that women are skittish about appearing on the internet against their will and men don't care about things like that because they're not likely to be judged for things other than what they're saying... i.e. their hair/shoes/cleavage.; 4/9/08, 5:23 PM
Mortimer Brezny said...: Or maybe, just maybe, the women think THIS FUCKING BITCH IS ANNOYING!!!; 4/9/08, 7:13 PM
Anonymous said...: okay, so can i talk about guys and their shoes.

Now one is quite particular because he does city walking in his shoes so they have to be presentable for the kind of work he does but comfortable for a long city walk (hard pavement) and beeter an expensive brand that a shoemaker might be able to repair. Another guy grew up in the army and neat and tidy well fit shoes were important to a foot soldier whose mode of transportation were his feet and you wouldn't want to be a drag on your company by having bad shoes. Another guy has feet that had 1/2-1 size difference between the two. Doesn't matter what, shoes were necessary, but they were uncomfortable things on one foot or the other. He wore things that were very flexible. Another guy has more flat feet. This poses another walking problem and requires a certain type of shoe. Some of these things were solved brand specific. Others were economy specific. Others... just an issuance thing...well, you get the picture.

That's all I know about men and shoes as a woman.

I like to go barefoot which isn't really a girl thing, and can be quite dangerous in some countries where you can get hookworms, but it does have the advantage that my little toe doesn't get squished because I have wide feet, which may just mean I have a larger skeletal structure or that the creator knew what he was doing in building a foundation of a woman of my stance. Or maybe my feet are just like my mother or fathers, or a mix of their recessive foot genes. At least I know they were never bound.; 4/9/08, 7:28 PM
Sean W. said...: "Men seem to relish the opportunity to be on camera...."

Or to be talked to by an attractive young woman.

Hell, I'm willing to wager most people asked about funding for an obscure agency aimed at providing health care to a tiny constituency which they've never encountered in their lives will venture no opinion unless the interviewer is attractive.

The doughy hipster's rambling monologue about Darth Vader's disdain for a basketful of puppies as a metaphor for the Presidency had me in stitches, precisely because it's so representative of the degenerate state of contemporary political discourse. Probably the guy was on his way to class at a public university, where such intellectually pedestrian pomposity is no doubt rewarded.; 4/10/08, 12:40 PM