The basic idea: women are valued less than men and not given the power that they deserve.

Women are valued less than men because...

1. Women are intimidated, beaten, raped, and killed by men all the time.
2. Women get all the bad jobs and men get all the good ones.
3. Women aren't taken seriously by the legal system.
4. Women are given harsher sentences than men for the same crime.
5. Women earn less money for the same work than men do.
6. Women are given fewer opportunities than men.
7. Women do the housework and raise the kids but receive none of the credit.
8. Women's qualities are considered to be worse than men's.
9. Women's education is considered less important than men's.
10. Women are less important in a lot of movies and shows which cater to men.
11. Women's health is considered less important than men's.
12. Women who get murdered or go missing are ignored.
13. Women get blamed when men assault or kill them.
14. People believe that violence against women is normal.
15. People believe that being a man is better than being a woman.

Women aren't given the power they deserve because...

1. Women were not allowed to have abortions.
2. Women were not allowed to have jobs.
3. Women were not allowed to own property.
4. Women were not allowed to get a divorce.
5. Women were not allowed to get an education.
6. Women were not allowed to choose who they married.
7. Women were not allowed to play sports.
8. Women were not allowed to vote.
9. Women could legally be raped by their husbands.
10. Women could legally be beaten by their husbands.
11. Women have fewer privileges than men.
12. Women are forced to serve men.
13. Women are forced into low paying jobs.
14. Women aren't allowed to speak.
15. Women's opinions are considered less important.
16. Women weren't allowed to have sex before marriage.
17. Women aren't allowed to explore their sexuality.
18. Women are sexually harassed by men all the time.
*19. Women are forced by men into inferior roles.
20. Women have less authority than men.
21. People believe that men have a right to women's bodies.

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Identify the distortion(s)

19. Women are forced by men into inferior roles.

What are these roles?

Boys are taught to value:

1. Competition
2. Power
3. Innovation
4. Success
5. Confidence
6. Logic
7. Bravery
8. Protecting others

Girls are taught to value:

1. Child-rearing
2. House-work
3. Popularity
4. Beauty
5. Emotions
6. Nurturing others
7. Relying on men for help

What is wrong with these gender roles?

1. Girls get the worst roles.


2. They make girls less valuable than boys.



3. Girls suffer from the pressure to live up to these roles.

How so?

- Girls are told they have to be thin so many develop an eating disorder.

(a) Magnification: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the lifetime prevalence of Anorexia among women is only 0.9%, Bulimia is 0.5%, and Binge Eating Disorder is 3.5%. Even if all of these cases were unique (and they aren't) it only adds to 4.9%. 1 in 20 women suffering an eating disorder at some point in her life is NOT an epidemic. So even if the feminists were right, so what?

(b) Jumping to conclusions: Just because women with eating disorders are affected by body image doesn't mean that chauvinist "brainwashing" is the cause. First off all, eating disorders are on the OCD spectrum meaning that sufferers have a compulsion, and compulsions are known to be neurologically based. Second, at a prevalence of under 1 in 20 there aren't enough cases to arbitrarily rule out OCD as the cause for most sufferers. There is no reason at all to assume that "body image" is the main factor when the evidence points to a neurological problem affecting a small number of women.

a1. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1EAT_ADULT_ANX.shtml
a2. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1...ULT_RBUL.shtml
a3. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/1EAT_ADULT_RB.shtml

- Girls are told they have to be beautiful and popular so many get depressed and kill themselves.

(a) Magnification: The actual rate of female suicide is only 4 in 100,000. That means that for every 100 women alive today after 1000 years 4 will have killed themselves!
(B) Minimization: Four times as many men kill themselves than women each year. Whether women are oppressed or not is irrelevant since men are the main victims of suicide.
(c) Jumping to Conclusions: The main causes are known to be psychiatric disorders and there is no evidence that suicide is due to oppression.

a1. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...dex.shtml#risk

4. They take away authority, choices and opportunities from girls.

Why?

Because they don't allow girls to be who they really are.

Why not?

Because they are made up.

How do you know they are made up?

If gender roles were natural then people would follow them on instinct. Roles have to be taught in order for people to follow them so they are not natural.

(a) All or Nothing Thinking: Gender roles could be both instinctive and learned at the same time.

* Counter examples:

- Children are taught that they should make friends and how to do it, but making friends is inherent in our biology.