Men and women are not the same

I think women should deserve more respect, and appreciate the fact that they are women for a reason

I don't know. I don't think in many areas men and women are treated equally, even today in developed countries. For the most part I see nothing wrong with not being treated equally, rather we should treat people so that they are equals (slight difference).

A simple example is women's sport. If we were to treat them equally then surely they should be included in the male leagues. In many sports they would be totally outclassed while in others, like rugby, they would be severely beaten and physically damaged. So in this case, today, we do not treat them equally but instead so that they are observed to be equals. Women have a series of divisions in their leagues and can get the most prestigious prizes in their versions, while men have theirs.

See, when you bring the word "equally" into the discussion, it makes it sound like I don't want men and women to be treated as equal beings. We're both equally important, deserve equal rights, etc. What I'm saying is men and women are not the same. Those "different genitals" that you guys are trivializing actually do make a difference.

The known differences I've observed in men and women tend to be more pronounced masculinity (boldness, assertiveness, aggression, etc) in men, and more pronounced femininity (gentleness, sensitivity, "girly"ness, quiet grace, etc) in women. Sounds sexist or stereotypical, but it's true to some degree in every case. Men and women also have unique sense of humors with obvious overlaps. I act differently around fellow females than I do around males; I can talk about certain topics I wouldn't usually bring up around guys. Do you act exactly the same around girls as you do around guys? Honestly curious; I'm not trying to attack you in any way.

None of this means I think one gender is superior to the other, or that one should be able to hit the other without consequences. It just means I feel we are different - and we are. It's not a bad thing.

This was inspired by the "Men: If a woman hit you, would you hit her back?" thread.

Mainly because the typical response to this question was "Yeah, if they want equal rights then they got 'em!!"

Is it so hard to understand that equal rights under the law does not mean that men and women are exactly the same? Please note, I'm in no way saying that women should be allowed to hit men without consequence - that's ridiculous. I was just a little disheartened to read how eager males (and females!) were to treat women exactly the same as men. Disregarding chivalry and propriety and all those niceties which I suppose are dead - women are weaker than men, statistically speaking. I would refrain from hitting anyone, male or female, if he/she could not take a hit. Most women cannot take a hit from a man; most men can take a hit from a woman.


But that's really beside the point. None of us should worry about striking a member of the opposite gender in the first place. What I'd like to know is, do you truly consider men and women exactly the same? Do you consider a woman who swears and boasts and swaggers any more uncouth than a man who does the same? Do you believe in treating young girls exactly the same as young boys, teenage girls just the same as teenage boys, etc?

tl;dr - Do equal rights for men and women mean that men and women should be regarded as exactly the same? (Not under the law; in society/interpersonal relationships.)


EDIT: Guys, I'm not really too focused on men hitting women and vice-versa. If you notice, I said nobody should be hitting anyone. Please address the bit in bold? And Merry Christmas

I think the OP's logic is bad. If a scrawny guy hits a massive guy and gets knocked out many people would say that it serves him right. So your average girl hits your average guy - the difference in strength between this example and the previous one may be the same - but if the guy defends himself it is seen as bad. What's the difference?

Ideally, I think men and women should be treated as similarly as possible. A lot of gender differences are at least partially down to different social norms, expectations etc for each gender, and I think these differences should be kept fairly low.

However, I realise that men and women fundamentally aren't the same. Like you've already said, nobody should be hitting anyone, but you should use the force needed to defend yourself regardless of gender, race etc. Less force is needed to defend yourself against a woman, so you shouldn't be using the same as you would for a man.

For the most part though, men and women should be treated the same. Yes, men and women are different, but there's a hell of a lot of overlap. On average men are more physically aggressive than women, but that doesn't mean there aren't aggressive women. These women shouldn't be seen as worse than a male with their level of aggression just because they are female. Yes, men on average are physically stronger than women, but that doesn't mean that if a certain woman is just as strong as the man, he still has to treat her like the average woman. She shouldn't be seen or treated as weaker than a male with her strength just because she is female. Following that, men on average do swear and boast more than women. However, if a woman does that the same amount as a certain male, she shouldn't be viewed as worse than him just because she's female.

Anyway, I'm not saying that's how people view men/women. It'd be a bit naive to think men aren't judge worse for some things and women aren't judged worse for others. I'm just saying I don't think this should be the case.