Has your background helped you in areas women typically struggle with?

[jenny_]

huh you mean math is plural in British?

Of cause.  We have soooo many more maths than you americans! 

[Nero]

lol but is it really plural?

[Buffy]

Yes!

Its proper title is Mathematics, hence MATHS for short.

lol

Buffy

[jenny_]

Notice that its still called mathematics when used in full in english-speaking countries

[Sarah Dreams]

Yet the shortened form is math - singular and plural. Ah, English.

[Gabrielle]

I have found that I am assertive when I need to be and I can sit back and watch how things happen other times.  But my parents taught myself and my sisters to be very independant and to stick up for ourselves.

On body image, well yeah as others have said, I've hated how I look, I've always had this image of who I was supposed to be in my head and I am not sure I will ever get that but I think I am slowly coming to terms with that.

[DarphBobo]

My past WAS a waste of time... i spent 20 years in limbo now im living, did i learn anything? men smell.

I'll second this, particularly for the first 20 years of my life.  I needed the next decade to deal with all the messed up stuff constantly thrown at me then.

[Princess Katrina]

My past has enabled me to change a tyre without flagging down a helpful male to assist me in my time of maidenly distress.

Darned Skirts *huff*

Mum and I got a flat tire last semester at school. I was still pre-HRT at the time. We worked together to change the tire, but most of the work was done by mum. I mostly just read the instruction manual on how to change a tire on *that* car. >.>

Posted on: October 19, 2008, 07:28:45 pm

Yes!

Its proper title is Mathematics, hence MATHS for short.

lol

Buffy

Since when is it proper to abbreviate a word by taking the first four letters and then sticking the last letter on there? By that reasoning, Abbr. should be Abbre.

Likewise, there is no singular...you don't have a single mathematic. You have mathematics.

[tekla]

Since when is it proper to abbreviate a word by taking the first four letters and then sticking the last letter on there?

Because it's English, a living language, one of the few languages that is not bound by some arbitrary set of rules set up by people who can't even speak it.

[Princess Katrina]

Since when is it proper to abbreviate a word by taking the first four letters and then sticking the last letter on there?

Because it's English, a living language, one of the few languages that is not bound by some arbitrary set of rules set up by people who can't even speak it.

Sorry, while they may not be completely clearly defined in all respects, there very much are "rules" to the English language.

The only "rule" that "Maths" would follow is "There's an exception for every rule in the English language."

[tekla]

That's rule enough for me. 

[Kaitlyn]

I don't think my background helped me at all, not in any area.

Even before I accepted that I was female, I felt a lot of empathy for women on the basis of having my opinions ignored or dismissed by men.  I knew exactly what it was like to speak my mind and get shot down, only to have a MAN say the same thing a minute later, win praise and attention, and act like it was his idea all along.  It's an emotional Death of a Thousand Cuts.

And no one ever understood when I tried to talk about it, since MEN shouldn't have that problem.  I was always told to "be assertive", but what they really meant is "be aggressive", and I can't be aggressive like a guy.

That's not the only thing I didn't pick up from living as a man - I'm not strong in any of the stereotypical male areas, beyond IT.  I struggle to memorize theorems in math,  I dislike violent sports, know very little about automobiles or power tools, hate the thought of getting into a fight (physical OR verbal), and have all the assertiveness of a kicked puppy.

When I think about all the things I need to know as a woman, but don't... things that I could have spent time learning instead of throwing myself against this brick wall of masculinity... I can't see any advantage at all.

[KarenLyn]

Evening dolls.

I was wondering about something. Do you think your background (being raised as male, treated as male, etc) has helped you in areas women typically struggle with?

For instance, a lot of women struggle with assertiveness and to some degree this is enforced by the 'proper feminine decorum' police. Assertive or confrontational women are often labeled bitches. So some women shrink back from speaking their mind in order to appear more 'pleasing' to others.

Believe me, I struggle with this every day.

Another typically female struggle is body image and the pervasive belief among young girls and women that one need be pretty and thin to be worth anything. So many women measure their worth by their looks consciously or subconsciously. And if they fall short of the feminine ideal, they need to be working to achieve it.


I've been on a diet forever. I'm still shaped like a potatoe and I hate mirrors.
The above issues and others wreak havoc on women's self image everywhere.
I'm sure there are hundreds of other mostly female struggles. If you can think of them, I'd be grateful.

So do you feel your background has enabled you to escape these female mind traps or are you just as susceptible?

Not a chance. I worked as a mechanic for years but when I offer suggestions, they're dismissed automatically because I'm a woman and I can't possible know what I'm talking about. And I just let it go rather than argue.

Karen Lyn

[tekla]

I worked as a mechanic for years but when I offer suggestions, they're dismissed automatically because I'm a woman and I can't possible know what I'm talking about.

Then you work with retards, or in an idiot industry, we listen to our women with as much contempt as our guys.  You just have to make your point.  But, then again, we are very real about what we do to.

[cindybc]

I get dizzy as a s**t house rat trying to figure out English spelling.

Cindy

[soldierjane]

Evening dolls.

I was wondering about something. Do you think your background (being raised as male, treated as male, etc) has helped you in areas women typically struggle with?

For instance, a lot of women struggle with assertiveness and to some degree this is enforced by the 'proper feminine decorum' police. Assertive or confrontational women are often labeled bitches. So some women shrink back from speaking their mind in order to appear more 'pleasing' to others.

Another typically female struggle is body image and the pervasive belief among young girls and women that one need be pretty and thin to be worth anything. So many women measure their worth by their looks consciously or subconsciously. And if they fall short of the feminine ideal, they need to be working to achieve it.

The above issues and others wreak havoc on women's self image everywhere.
I'm sure there are hundreds of other mostly female struggles. If you can think of them, I'd be grateful.

So do you feel your background has enabled you to escape these female mind traps or are you just as susceptible?

Regarding assertiveness, I think that it's transition that helps, rather than the dreaded "male past" (which I'd contend for most of us never felt like that, more like a disconnected jumble of conflicting information). It's one of those trial-by-fire things, like someone whose sanity survives an earthquake or a war or a hurricane will not be scared by a little rain.
In other areas... I don't know. I think that if I had been born a girl in body I would have been frowned upon for being a knowledge nut, reading the encyclopedia and watching documentaries as a child (even more than I was as a "boy"). Girls are often raised to be superficial and not to ask a lot of questions, they are raised to care about pleasing and fitting, to be mothers and cooks and cleaners. Boys usually have more leeway in this respect and I guess it was a factor in my parents leaving me alone to figure out the world and myself.










Posted on: October 20, 2008, 08:53:19 am

My past has enabled me to change a tyre without flagging down a helpful male to assist me in my time of maidenly distress.

Darned Skirts *huff*

Mum and I got a flat tire last semester at school. I was still pre-HRT at the time. We worked together to change the tire, but most of the work was done by mum. I mostly just read the instruction manual on how to change a tire on *that* car.

LOL I feel your plight. I was always such a huge dork in that respect. I mean, I know the theory in regards to changing a tire but the strength for it and the practice always escaped me, even before HRT and being 5'11". If I had an air gun to spin out the nuts I guess I could do it, nothing to be ashamed of. Trial and error FTW

[Rachael]

you needed a manual?

here was me thinking a wheel was a wheel...

[Kaitlyn]

She's not the only one.  I needed the manual to change my flat tire, but I wasn't strong enough to do it myself.  AAA had to send someone with an impact wrench.

[Princess Katrina]

you needed a manual?

here was me thinking a wheel was a wheel...

Well, we mostly just needed the manual to help us figure out where to place the car-lifting thing for lifting the car, but yeah, we needed the manual. >.>

[Hypatia]

Hypatia's Law of Tire Changing:
Lugnuts that were applied by hand can be removed by hand.
Lugnuts that were applied by impact wrench must be removed by impact wrench.