Probably the most frustrating aspect of being caught up in a legal battle is the waiting.

I'm not good with waiting. The delays are in-built to the system so different parties can build their case, prepare a defence. But when the prosecution has no case at all, and I'm just waiting for a chance to point this out, and have the whole thing dismissed, the delays just serve to drive me slowly crazy.

A week or so ago, a blogger I read, Clay Shirky, wrote a piece comparing the different interpersonal styles of his male and female students. I was being slack at the time, and took a few days to discover his piece. By the time I did, it had been caught up in the online feminist circles with banshees screaming "He's saying women can only succeed if they behave like men" and decrying him.
In an act that proves I know nothing about how to participate in an online lynching, my reaction was to read Clay Shirky's article. When I did, I discovered that what he was saying seemed to be:
  • male and female students approach self-promotion differently
  • male students are more prepared to take risks and "fake it till you make it" in scenarios like job interviews etc
  • our society rewards this behaviour
  • female students who were prepared to put themselves forward and say "My work is good" find they get ahead more
  • it's a pity the world works like this, but maybe there's lessons to be gained from it.
I can see where the feminists get the "We can only succeed if we're more like men" line. But to take that to criticising Clay Shirky for stating such realities is just bizarre. It also makes the connection that "being more like men" means "being a worse person". Perhaps they needed to replace "being more like men" with "taking on successful strategies for self-promotion", and leaving gender out of the equation (after all, the feminist ranters are always telling us gender should not be a factor in non-gender issues).
On the way to work the other day, I was thinking their position is even worse. It's parallel to criticising someone for saying:
  • different people approach self-promotion differently
  • taller people are more confident, and speak up for themselves
  • society rewards confident people
  • short people should be more confident
And making the conclusion that the person offering advice is saying short people should walk on stilts.
Sexism is a problem. But finding it in places where it isn't, and crying wolf does your cause more harm than good.

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