| It looks like you've spent the last few months ignoring all but the worst arguments against your position. That sort of insularity doesn't help you understand the other side. > I mean, do these guys think that they are such brilliant thinkers that they are the first ever to try apply symmetry to an asymmetrical context? You need to read more charitably, because I can safely say that everyone recognizes the asymmetry. There are a couple of issues here, the first of which is that contextual asymmetry doesn't always matter. One example: Sarah and Amy walk up to John and Christopher on the playground at school. John is enjoying a strawberry ice cream cone. The two girls slap Christopher, who retaliates by slapping them both back. John, ice cream cone still in hand, yells for the teacher to come over. "Christopher!", scolds the teacher, "Slapping is wrong! Come to the office with me." "But Sarah and Amy slapped me first! Why aren't they getting in trouble?" "Because John has an ice cream cone, and you're both boys." Second, some of the asymmetry in this context is actually inconvenient for your position. A few examples: 1. Society is far more sensitive to the plight of girls than to the plight of boys. As such, it's often politically unfeasible to ever reverse a program that elevates girls at the expense of boys. For instance, there are still far more scholarships available to girls than are available to boys, despite the fact that women have outnumbered men in college for decades. 2. Boys and men are less risk-averse than girls and women, and as a result, they find themselves more numerous at both the top and the bottom of society. Programs that ignore the men not at the top of society, in favor of elevating women toward the top, end up hurting disadvantaged men. 3. STEM jobs are perhaps the only good realistic job prospect for young boys today. Programs that whisk girls ahead of boys for STEM jobs end up leaving those boys with nowhere to turn, because there is insufficient (not non-existent) political pressure to open up other opportunities for them (as point #1 above demonstrated). |