Not really sure that gender equality exists anywhere to be perfectly honest. Even in developed countries there remains a 'glass ceiling' and all the misogyny and sexism anyone can ask for. Whatever one may think of the old 'Eastern Block' they did make some efforts to improve matters on an official level although societies are hard to change.

As the Vietnamese poster rightly states it can be hard in some countries, even if women do get into influential positions they are still expected to be submissive, feminine in behaviour and dress and often bow in greeting. Just the slightest deviance from dress code, hair style or even the way a woman walks or sits can raise suspicions. I well remember my ex mother in law getting furious with her daughter for not sitting sufficiently 'primly' in an office at the ministry of religious affairs. This was in a Muslim SE Asian country where norms are even stricter perhaps than Vietnam.

It's hard to be either a man or a woman where gender codes are strictly enforced, have met many Gay and Lesbian Muslims from across the world, have been married into a couple of their societies as well and there are heart rending stories out there.

I kinda thought the Vietmanese people would be somewhat like the Thai people in regards to the "live and let live" attitudes. Are Vietmanese mostly Budhist, like the Thai?

Quote from: mimpi on September 13, 2011, 09:25:51 AM
Not really sure that gender equality exists anywhere to be perfectly honest. Even in developed countries there remains a 'glass ceiling' and all the misogyny and sexism anyone can ask for. Whatever one may think of the old 'Eastern Block' they did make some efforts to improve matters on an official level although societies are hard to change.

I think a lot of "glass ceilings" and missed oportunities in the US have more to do with non-gender issues. CEOs work ungodly hours and often do so decades before getting the CEO titile. They don't take a few years off to raise kids or miss work when their kids are sick. They are machines that pay a terrible price for their success and I wouldn't take take their path for anything. Women who don't have kids do just as good or better than men, in most businesses.


I see more and more jobs that favor women including very good sales jobs. It's hard to even get a interview as a pharma rep if you aren't an attractive female.

They are machines indeed and according to recent research a good number are psychopaths with it!

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice,
That's what little girls are made of.

Take your pick

Personally, I don't believe that I'm trading one problem for another. Truly, what could be wrong with being pretty? When you're a masculine looking man (opposite to the androgynous model males of today's world), people expect you to work in a factory, no one ever cuddles with you, no one ever likes you when you act like your true female form. However, looking and being female allows people to see you more clearly for who you are, they expect female behaviors and a soft personality, and don't say "Oh, just work at a factory like the manly man you are." when you say "I'm having trouble finding a job." I mean what's one negative of being female? Being raped? That's already happened to me as a male. Not being a CEO of a corporate business? Whoop-dee, I own my own companies and corporations. Even half the politicians and doctors out there are female.

But the negatives of being a burly, masculine man? Not even the business world wants me in it. Things may be truly beneficial for the males who look like Justin Bieber or Bradley Cooper, but if you look like an ogre or a viking, society expects you to be at the bottom of the barrel and will not let you do much of anything beyond manual labor jobs. My own family even treated me that way the most. No one pities you, no one sees you as the scared, helpless, needy, pretty girl that you are, they see you as someone who doesn't even deserve hormone therapy because you're "made how God intended." No one finds you pretty, no one finds you sexy, no one finds you cute. No one even wants to be friends with such a walking contradiction. It creeps people out, especially the people who are of my young age who have the same ability to process a personality and a soul different from a person's appearance as about as much as a rock does.

I would say the same about a woman who could not at all pass as a man if she wanted to. Say you're an heavy-set, curvy woman with breasts the size of watermelons and a butt as large as Venus. You're stuck in female form, and all the negatives that go with being overweight and "ugly and/or female" to many people as well. You won't become a star actress or a breakthrough politician like attractive Sarah Palin. You'll be stuck at the cashier at Wal-mart. I personally believe the benefits of Transitioning heighten triple-fold the more attractive a person is in the opposite sex. For me, I know I'd be 10x better looking, more natural, and prettier as a girl when the overall surgical and hormonal process is complete, and it's one of the many reasons I think transitioning would improve my social and business life. I mean, I have a horrible life right now, it can't get worse. At the very least, I'll be happier on the inside with a transition, and that alone is worth the entire journey.

In North America, you hear a lot about gender equality, Feminism is rampant and excessive. There will always be "good ole' boys clubs", the stereotypical southern male opinion. In the U.S., white hetero males still have the advantage, though reluctantly lessening. Women and minority ethnic groups have so many legal options that discrimination is almost a non-issue. Even without that, power in numbers works surprisingly well. The more concerning issue is of course those that fall outside of the social norms. Unlike having purple skin, in most cases we have the ability to hide our abnormal lifestyles. This means that you don't have as much support from like-minded individuals, who are likely afraid of being discovered and discriminated themselves. In this regard, North America is far less accepting than either Europe, or the Far East.

Quote from: Zoë Natasha on September 11, 2011, 10:00:19 PM
It's easier being a woman who lives as a woman than it is to be a woman forced to live as a man.

That's the only experience from which I can speak.

This +1.

The hardest part about being a me is I have to do it as a man every time I leave the house.

Even half the politicians and doctors out there are female

Say what?
US House of Representatives = 435 members, 75 are female, so about 17%
US Senate = 100 members, 17 are female, so exactly 17%.  California, Washington, Maine, and New Hampshire are the only states where both senators are female.

So, 17% is now half?

In medicine there are still more men than women, but the numbers are approaching half.  Then again medicine was the first real profession to open to women, in part because it conforms so closely to the 'nurturing/care giving' roles that the stereotype holds out.  The fields that are dominated by women are dead on the stereotype, being pediatrics and OB/GYN.

Personally I'd say it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other....

Except that guys have a better chance of getting away with not giving a s*** about what others think.

Karen.