Althouse: Harry Reid propounds a sexist stereotype: "Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive."

February 22, 2010

Harry Reid propounds a sexist stereotype: "Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive."

"I met with some people while I was home dealing with domestic abuse. It has gotten out of hand. Why? Men don't have jobs. Women don't have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time. Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive. Our domestic crisis shelters in Nevada are jammed."

65 comments:

rhhardin said...: They have more time for it.; 2/22/10, 10:03 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: He was home dealing with domestic abuse? Do we know what condition Mrs. Reid is in? Or maybe it was some Vegas Dancer. Check the hospitals and call Gloria Allred.; 2/22/10, 10:06 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: I thought it was the Super Bowl that made men abusive.; 2/22/10, 10:06 PM
Scott M said...: As a non-abusing male that's been between jobs twice in the past 10 years, this man needs to get he gone.

Not that I really believe that, but to hold the left to their own PC standards, that's what's got to happen.

Oh...and his premise is bullshit to begin with.; 2/22/10, 10:07 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/22/10, 10:13 PM
lucid said...: I think he is propounding a sex stereotype, but not one that is necessarily sexist. The stereotype is largely accurate. Men are different in how they handle depression and stress. Physical acting out is more common among men. They are much more commonly the perpetrators of interpersonal violence than are women, mostly against other men (the sexism is in the overemphasis on male violence against women--men are less likely to hurt a woman than they are another man--but we dn't feel that violence against men counts as much).

If you want a sense of the male-female differences with regard to violence, look at the sex ratio of prison inmates. Almost all violent crimes are committed by men, Amy Bishop notwithstanding.

These days, we have almost as much trouble thnking and talking about sex differences as we do about race.; 2/22/10, 10:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Is there a 1-800 number that disaffected Democrats can call to sign up as card-carrying Republicans?; 2/22/10, 10:15 PM
PoliShifter said...: What did Harry Reid say? I could barely hear him...; 2/22/10, 10:15 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive..

Does that include the light skin well spoken men?

Its not clear.; 2/22/10, 10:16 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The Americans are skating their little harts out.; 2/22/10, 10:20 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Well, is Reid right? What does the research say?

I'm a bit tired of politicians being punished for saying things that are true.

I've seen men do exactly what he's describing. How prevalent is it? I don't know. But unemployment is at the highest level in 50 years, and men are disproportionately affected, and we have a culture that connects a man's worth to his job. So, it seems to me, what Reid is saying could be true.; 2/22/10, 10:20 PM
William said...: If you wish to know if a statement is hostile in a stereotypical way insert " especially black ones" in the phrase. "Men, especially black ones,...." "Fucking retards, especially black ones" "Teabaggers, especially black ones" "Stressed out veterans, especially black ones"; 2/22/10, 10:23 PM
Methadras said...: Hey AlphaLiberal, you putrid piece of shit, tell me against why shriveled piece of offal like Harry Reid should find my fist going through his skull for saying something this unbelievably stupid. And I'm not even out of work. This moron just impugned every American Man who isn't working as nothing more than abusive brutes. Fuck him and fuck you for defending him. Yours and his ideology are as putrid as the people who practice it.; 2/22/10, 10:23 PM
Unknown said...: Peter V. Bella said...

He was home dealing with domestic abuse? Do we know what condition Mrs. Reid is in?

In a fight, my money's on his wife. Anybody that sour all the time is coming out second best somewhere.; 2/22/10, 10:28 PM
Wince said...: Wait until November, asshole!; 2/22/10, 10:30 PM
SteveR said...: Saying stupid things is pretty much in character for Reid, he, like far too many of these crooks, owes his seat to pork.; 2/22/10, 10:48 PM
David said...: It's a well known tendency.

I'm retired. I've had to quell the urge to abuse since I stopped working.

My word verification is (I shit you not) "menness." Notice how close that is to meanness? That proves it. Men are shit. We can't help it.

If Harry Reid were a Conservative and said all this stuff . . . .; 2/22/10, 10:49 PM
former law student said...: A woman without a job is a homemaker; a man without a job is a bum.; 2/22/10, 11:09 PM
Revenant said...: Well, is Reid right? What does the research say?

On the subject of unemployment increasing domestic violence? I don't know, but I'd assume it does. People are home more and they're under more stress.

But the "men are more likely to be violent" bit is bogus. Research indicates that both genders are about equally likely to abuse. The disparity in reporting is due to (a) the size/strength disparity between the genders, which make male->female violence more damaging than the reverse, and (b) men being less willing to report attacks on their person, especially if the attacker was a woman.; 2/22/10, 11:11 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Harry Reid is a corrupt politician. He was corrupt when he was on the Nevada Gaming Commission and he is more corrupt now.

Why would anyone believe anything he says? Oh, and he is a Mormon. We all know how bad Mormons are.

Remember the negative stuff about Romney.

Gee, oops. Romney was a Republican Mormon. Democrat Mormons are good. Republican Mormons are baaaad!

I wonder, does Harry Reid wear strange underwear or have multiple underage wives?; 2/22/10, 11:12 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Harry Reid is the Joe Biden of the Senate. A Mensa moron and a clown buffoon.; 2/22/10, 11:14 PM
Ralph L said...: Kind of neat to see the Canadians sing their anthem. Why don't the Americans?; 2/22/10, 11:16 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: But the "men are more likely to be violent" bit is bogus. Research indicates that both genders are about equally likely to abuse. The disparity in reporting is due to (a) the size/strength disparity between the genders, which make male->female violence more damaging than the reverse, and (b) men being less willing to report attacks on their person, especially if the attacker was a woman.

Anyone here remember the famous Tom Snyder interview of several abused guys? They were obscured so they couldn't be recognized. And then SNL had a parody on it, where the Tom Snyder player did everything possible to give away their identities. And, I think to poke fun at them for allowing themselves to be beaten.

But why should it surprise us that some men are beaten by women? After all, we are trained never to hit women, regardless of the provocation. And not surprisingly, some women do take advantage of that.

I will admit that a bit over a decade ago, a woman I was dating did slap me. Luckily we weren't married, and so I let the relationship drift away after she flew back to where she lived. And, of course, my programming did kick in, and I didn't respond.; 2/22/10, 11:32 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I do though think that Reid has a point here. Males typically do have more of their self-worth and identity tied up in their work than do women (statistically). And that is one of the things that suffers with unemployment.; 2/22/10, 11:33 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Ralph L,
The Americans probably do not know the words. It is no longer taught in schools. It is not progressive to be patriotic.; 2/22/10, 11:35 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: This is definitely important in the cultural wars sense, but perhaps fighting those might take a back seat to the fact that millions of Americans are out of work.

At the same time as millions of Americans need a job, the BHO admin is still allowing hundreds of thousands of people to get work permits each year and taking other steps that increase the labor supply. What Americans need is less competition for jobs; instead they're getting the exact opposite.

Even worse than that, no one aside from a few House members, me, and some other sources are willing to discuss that. The self-styled "patriots" in the tea party movement are completely ignoring the immigration issue despite how vital it is and despite how much the establishment is on the wrong side.

If you'd like to do something effective, help me compile a list of those who are turning their backs on unemployed American and help me hold them accountable. Let them know that they aren't going to get away with turning their backs on their fellow Americans, even if all you do is tweet things like this.; 2/22/10, 11:54 PM
Jason said...: Women are more prone to nag when their men were out of work. All else follows.; 2/22/10, 11:56 PM
Kirk Parker said...: You're all missing the point.

Senator Reid is just warning us what will happen if to many NV voters go for his opponent.; 2/23/10, 12:54 AM
Kakashi said...: lol. Yeah, vote for Harry in November, otherwise Mrs. Reid will get a shiner. And you, the voters of Nevada, will be responsible. So just think about having that on your consciences.; 2/23/10, 3:34 AM
Christian said...: I'd be more likely to blame rampant gambling for societal ills of Nevada than unemployment. Are men beating women like mad in the rest of the country?; 2/23/10, 3:48 AM
MarkW said...: If you want a sense of the male-female differences with regard to violence, look at the sex ratio of prison inmates.

But that misses the point. Yes, there are more men than women in prison for violent crimes, but it's also true that only a small minority of men and women ever commit violent crimes.

The reason for worrying about 100 men being unemployed is NOT that one or two of that hundred may abuse their partners because of added stress, the reason for worrying about it is 100 MEN ARE UNEMPLOYED.

The idea that male unemployment REALLY becomes a problem worth worrying about only when (and to the extent) that it affects women is obnoxious.

Reid is way, way past his sell-by date.; 2/23/10, 4:21 AM
Opus One Media said...: Is he wrong? I don't know one way or another. I'm just asking. I see a lot of claptrap anti Reid which would be said he came out with the sun rises in the east comments. So is he wrong?

Don't you think that is the point?; 2/23/10, 5:48 AM
Eric said...: Reelect me or I beat the wife.; 2/23/10, 5:54 AM
Franco said...: So are we going to get hiring preferences now?; 2/23/10, 6:22 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Is he wrong? I don't know one way or another.

I'm willing to bet Harry doesn't either and like most of the stuff he says, he probably pulled that out of his ass.

There's a lot of anti-Reid claptrap because like Joe the Biden, they provide so much material. The gifts that keep on giving.; 2/23/10, 6:35 AM
Scott M said...: But the "men are more likely to be violent" bit is bogus. Research indicates that both genders are about equally likely to abuse. The disparity in reporting is due to (a) the size/strength disparity between the genders, which make male->female violence more damaging than the reverse, and (b) men being less willing to report attacks on their person, especially if the attacker was a woman.

And what abuse are we talking about here? Is a former breadwinner female now out of work more or less likely than a male to abuse the children? Years ago we would scoff at abusive mothers. That is simply no longer the case.

This is Reid's version of "the Cambridge police acted stupidly". Perhaps we need a teaching moment.; 2/23/10, 6:41 AM
Scott M said...: Oh, and just to put a finer point on the issue...

When things like this creep up, the irk in my gullet is not necessarily from the substance of what has been said by a politician. It's the fact that politicians from one side and one side only get open season on a select group of people, namely physically capable, white, males. Add Christian to that list and you might as well be a wabbit on the opening day of wabbit hunting season.

We're not allowed to have open and frank discussions about other gender/racial groups, but anything negative about this one is just okey-dokey.; 2/23/10, 6:44 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: It's the fact that politicians from one side and one side only get open season on a select group of people, namely physically capable, white, males.

Its not just politicians. Take a look at tv advertising. The white male is typically portrayed as a buffoon/idiot/incompetent while the female is the capable wizened one.; 2/23/10, 7:17 AM
Scott M said...: Take a look at tv advertising.

Don't get me #$%@ing started. My current favorite is the Applebee's commercial of the dad and the teen-aged daughter (wearing some sort of jersey) obviously coming from some sporting event. As they talk about the menu, the dad orders some low-cal something-or-other and the girl mentions how smart that was. The dad says it was the mother's idea.

A perfectly good ad about a dad and his daughter...WITH NO MOM EVEN CAST AS A PART...and yet the dad isn't smart enough to get what he wants at a restaurant without the implied nagging of a smarter wife.

Almost as despicable as the Meineke commercial with the guy on his back under a car with the mechanic. The mechanic gives him a range of options and as the man is about to say, "okay, I'll take the..." in slides the wife, "we'll take the basic package". After some obligatory product showcasing, they come back to the same view, sans wife, and the mechanic says "there's some doughnuts in the waiting area," to which the man gets a big smile. In slides the wife again, "he doesn't need any doughnuts".

Pure bullshit and symptoms of a much larger problem in our culture.; 2/23/10, 7:23 AM
Joaquin said...: Bravo Harry!
I love this guy!
Please Harry, don't ever shut up!; 2/23/10, 7:24 AM
Joaquin said...: Scott M, it's the systematic pussification of America.; 2/23/10, 7:26 AM
Anonymous said...: I agree that Sen. Reid probably is just speaking out of his ass as he is apt to do, but I'd be awfully surprised if this is not true, when it comes to people who are out of work.

FLS made a good point: Men are just less socially able to deal with being out of work. Women who are out of work (and there are fewer of them now, because the job deficits have been particularly hard on men) generally have friends who are also not working (often by choice) and a lot of things that they can do to keep busy while not working.

Men generally make more (causing more stress to the family if out of work), have a greater identity tied to work (the woman is less likely to be tied to one career), and feel less able to handle the down time because they don't have as much of a socially recognized role in the home.

Nothing there is saying that all, or most out of work men are likely to abuse, just that those that would would be worse when out of work. None of that discounts women who abuse men, it just says that, when it comes to people who are out of work, it's worse if it's men (in a very broad generalization.)

-Lyssa; 2/23/10, 7:28 AM
Rialby said...: Men should be able to abuse women as much as they want as long as they don't slip into a negro dialect... am I right Harry? Am I right?; 2/23/10, 7:39 AM
Joaquin said...: Let's not forget that this is only unique to American men. What brutes!; 2/23/10, 7:50 AM
Joaquin said...: Stop axing those silly questions, Mr. Rialby!; 2/23/10, 7:51 AM
Shanna said...: Ralph L,
The Americans probably do not know the words. It is no longer taught in schools. It is not progressive to be patriotic.

Most of them mouth along with the anthem, but they probably don’t sing out loud because it’s actually a hard song. Nobody wants to crack on singing “free”.

And of course, Shaun White did the air guitar thing during part of it.; 2/23/10, 9:22 AM
Unknown said...: Who will protect his wife after November?; 2/23/10, 9:49 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I do though think that Reid has a point here. Males typically do have more of their self-worth and identity tied up in their work than do women (statistically). And that is one of the things that suffers with unemployment

I tend to agree.

However, once again Reid is stuck in a time warp and channeling the 1950's. He is also being class-ist, in that I think he is referring to the great unwashed masses of "lower class" workers sitting at home wearing their 'wife beaters' drinking beer; the Archie Bunkers; certainly not such elevated and educated people as he knows.

Yes, when people are out of work, struggling to make the bills, buy food, survive...... their self image as being a productive human is tarnished, they will tend to be cranky, verbally abusive and in a few situations resort to physical violence.

FLS is correct. Women who are out of work are not viewed as negatively by society as men who are out of work. The burden is more on men.; 2/23/10, 9:54 AM
MadisonMan said...: Well, here's hoping that Reid has a tendency towards abuse after the coming election. His wife can't say she wasn't warned.; 2/23/10, 9:59 AM
Pig said...: Harry is onto something.

When you're out of a job, the wife is less attracted to you (who wants to fuck a bum?). Long enough with only Mr. Hand for relief and you're ready to kill anything that moves, or fuck anything that stands still long enough.

Harry should be out there promoting regular marital nuptials. Even if it's just a reach-around, it will go a long way to keeping your man under control.; 2/23/10, 10:02 AM
Jason said...: This word, "reacharound." I do not think it means what you think it means.; 2/23/10, 10:27 AM
Pig said...: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=reach+around

i guess i was thinking of everything up to "usually"; 2/23/10, 10:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann,

I find it distressing that you are giving a platform to folks who are so fascinated with other people's underwear.; 2/23/10, 10:49 AM
steve manning said...: Reid makes me so mad with his stupidity I could punch him, but only if he was my domestic partner, not that I'm gay; not that there's anything wrong with that, just saying.; 2/23/10, 10:51 AM
Joshua Macy said...: Most murderers know their victims. True.

Most people murder people they know. False.

See the difference?

What could be true is that abuse is more common among men who've lost their jobs than it is in the general population, but that's not even close to what Reid said.; 2/23/10, 11:21 AM
The blogprof said...: The video of Harry Reid making his comments can be found here:

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/02/video-of-harry-reid-men-when-theyre-out.html; 2/23/10, 11:22 AM
Joe said...: I am not remotely abusive, but did drive my wife crazy when I was unemployed in the middle of the dot com crash and again when the local high tech economy did a rebound crash about four years ago.

If there is increased use of shelters, I wonder how much of this is in play.; 2/23/10, 11:39 AM
Justin said...: The only aggression that out-of-work men and women should have is against the sniveling Mssr. Reid.; 2/23/10, 11:42 AM
rhhardin said...: My guess is that male unemployment leads to wife amuse.; 2/23/10, 11:52 AM
algie said...: I think that what we may be dealing with
here is a case of projection.

Now when I'm afraid I get sad
And then I say things that are bad
But it's not my fault
Just blame John Gault
These thoughts make me just raving mad

....uuuu..'o^o'..nn!n....algie
Illegitimi nOn carborundum; 2/23/10, 12:06 PM
the wolf said...: For all those who think instinctively that there is some truth to what Reid said, read his statement again carefully:

Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive.

Do you really believe that all men tend to become abusive when they're out of work? Because that is precisely what Reid posited.; 2/23/10, 12:31 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: And no matter what happens in their lives - whether it's a man's fault or not - women fart tulips.

Thanks, Harry.

This reminds me of that old joke:

Why do (however many million women they're now claiming) get beat up per year?

Because they don't listen!

Yea, it's The Macho Response.; 2/23/10, 1:27 PM
submandave said...: Scott M, I reflexively shut out any advertising that includes the smug/all-knowing/smart-asses woman and the dense/doltish/parrot-like man. Unfortunately, advertising firms know that the majority of purchase decissions are made by women (since they have no power?), so they will continue to wear this insulting stereotype into the ground as long as there are enough in their marketing demographic who get a vicarious ego boost from this drivel and insufficient numbers who turn them off in disgust and let them know why.; 2/23/10, 4:38 PM
Howard said...: Most commentators here, as per usual, are a:
"cunning array of stunts"

HR is right. It's a natural male erection to lash out when out of work. I luv how you birthers are all over political correctness when it suits your latent...

Speaking of not so latent comments, Ann looked very hot in the bloghead. The soft focus and cool illumination works wonders when you have the moxie coupled with fidget restraint.

Those PJTV morons should learn from it.; 2/23/10, 8:56 PM
Scott M said...: @submandave

advertising firms know that the majority of purchase decissions are made by women

That is no longer true. It was a Boomerism for a couple of decades, but the middle-aged Xer's are sharing far more household chores, including bank balancing, grocery shopping, kids, etc, then previous generations. This also, research bears out, includes purchasing decisions. I was heavily involved in radio advertising for the better part of a decade and know this first-hand. What the ad agencies are doing is working from an out-dated playbook and it's going to cost them.

@Howard

It's a natural male erection to lash out when out of work.

You make no sense and have nothing to back up anything you are saying. People hereabouts only get pissed off about political correctness when the side that invented that obscene censorship of thought and speech doesn't apply it evenly.

People said as much upthread, but you're apparently too concerned with erections to notice.; 2/24/10, 8:30 AM