This video focuses a lot on the gendered division of labor and the fact that women largely dominate the field of child care. The speaker uses this fact to form the argument that since women are most involved in the formative years of a child’s life, they are the ones to blame for men’s aggressions and tendencies towards to violence. He does not take into account the fact that it is easier for men to balance a career and child raising at the same time, leading to more stay-at-home moms and working dads, but instead finds ways to trace the blame of anything bad that happens in a person’s life back to women. The thing that bothered me the most about this video was the argument that since women are the ones who do the choosing in the relationship between a husband and wife, anything that goes wrong in their relationship can be blamed on her. While the speaker focused most of his argument on the statistic that suggests women beat their children more than men, when it was suggested that men could be involved in the violence he was quick to argue that since the women chose the men they wanted to have children with, it was their fault for choosing badly. No blame was placed on the men for being bad parents. Rather than choosing to address bigger issues like a family’s financial or social position that could affect parenting, he continued to blame everything on mothers and female childcare workers.
I thought his stance on child care and abuse was very interesting - that children, like adults, reserve the right to a violence-free life. This normally isn't focused on (unless it involves extreme cases) due to the fact that the general public usually believes that a little punishment is needed every now and then. However, I do agree with Hannah's statement that the speaker tended to put the blame on the mothers, due to the fact that they were the ones home alone with the children. He also made a point that "women choose the men that they want to marry and have children with." It puts all the power in the women, even though this is clearly not the case. It fails to take other circumstances into consideration. For instance, it does not take into account the possibility that the woman got pregnant (without meaning to) and thus had to end up marrying the man. Many other factors need to be taken into consideration before we can start putting all the blame on the mothers and not the fathers. Also, the following quote might be able to shed some insight into these particular cases: "Attitude is a reflection of leadership." Assuming the speaker believes that the husband is the "breadwinner" and dominant person of the house, this grants the husband more power over the wife. The wife is dependent on the man, and regardless of his character, she needs his financial support. Whatever stress or violence that the husband places onto the wife could then be transferred to the child. In summation: we cannot guarantee that there isn't a third variable to account for when we look at case studies of mothers and their abuse towards children.
In this video, I found it absurd how he compared circumcision in male infants to rape in young women, stating that, since a woman may be passed out and not remember the incidence, then there shouldn't be a problem with the act. I find this comparison not efficient in justifying the rape culture we live in today as a mother may not have been the one to solely decide on whether to circumcise her son and she may have agreed to it due to a variety of factors that are not related to deterring her son's sexual life in the future. Additionally, a woman has a strong relation to her child whereas the rapist of an unconscious woman may not. I also noticed how he blamed all issues on the women and took the blame off of the men in that way, failing to ever mention that men may also be at fault for many of these issues. What I found most absurd, however, is how the audience seemed very upbeat about the issues he presented by cheering, applauding and laughing after some of this man's very highly opinionated remarks and comparisons.
It was also very interesting that it is thought that women have a large input in the upcoming of boys because most day care and grade school teachers are females. So therefore there is this thought that women have this "universal control" over childhood. In this video it is said that women often point out the aggression and behavior of men that is out of control. The video then goes on and assumes that women are responsible because violence comes from childhood. And like I started before, women are thought to control childhood. Not only in the schooling system, but at home when women raise their children. The solution that was bought up in the video was a time frame of 5 years to be "nice" to kids during their childhood so that there are not issues in their teen and adult life. The idea that the whole would would be a better place if this idea was put into place is ridiculous. There is no way that every problem in society would be eliminated because of a 5 year period of being "nice" to children during childhood. I'm sure many nice parents have children who are trouble makers. And vice versa. I found the remarks and assumptions made in this video to be inaccurate in my point of view.
I found Stefan Nolyneux's speech to be extremely pretentious, biased, and ignorant. Despite his repeated emphasis on fact based, logical knowledge, his entire argument about male aggression was irrational and unsupported by actual facts. He drew sweeping generalizations about parenthood, claiming that women are solely responsible for the mental health and development of children. He based this on his own (biased) observations and one study by a male psychologist on a day care center. While women constitute the majority of childcare work, men play an equally crucial role in child rearing as fathers, brothers, relatives, and teachers. Their influence on children cannot be ignored. In addition, Stefan claimed that because women are solely responsible for childcare, "the patriarchy" plays no part in children's' development. He argued this on the assumption that women are separate from the patriarchy, and as a result child rearing remains untouched by patriarchal values. Stefan then contradicted his own statement about the isolation of childcare from patriarchy by stating that day care center workers hit boys more than girls. Chapter 2 of Women's Lives discusses how one can never truly "escape" the patriarchy, as its influence pervades every aspect of social life. This means that the values of patriarchy, which rewards male aggression, extends to day care centers and children's homes as well. Martin also talks about this gender socialization in her study on preschool and day care centers, finding that teachers tended to use physical discipline on boys more than on girls. While Stefan uses this differential treatment to blame women for instilling violence in boys, he failed to mention that day care workers operate under patriarchal values as well. Patriarchal values favor male strength and aggression, and this gender socialization begins from an early age from all those who come in contact with the baby, according to Judith Lorber. As the patriarchy is a system dominated by men, Stefan's argument that women are solely responsible for teaching boys to be violent holds no water, as it is the values that lead women and other role models to expect and reward aggressive behavior in boys. In addition, Stefan bases his argument on the misguided assumption that childhood experiences determine adult personality and behavior. In reality, development continues throughout one's lifetime and that adolescent and adult learning is equally important on development as childhood experiences.
ReplyDeleteThis video focuses a lot on the gendered division of labor and the fact that women largely dominate the field of child care. The speaker uses this fact to form the argument that since women are most involved in the formative years of a child’s life, they are the ones to blame for men’s aggressions and tendencies towards to violence. He does not take into account the fact that it is easier for men to balance a career and child raising at the same time, leading to more stay-at-home moms and working dads, but instead finds ways to trace the blame of anything bad that happens in a person’s life back to women. The thing that bothered me the most about this video was the argument that since women are the ones who do the choosing in the relationship between a husband and wife, anything that goes wrong in their relationship can be blamed on her. While the speaker focused most of his argument on the statistic that suggests women beat their children more than men, when it was suggested that men could be involved in the violence he was quick to argue that since the women chose the men they wanted to have children with, it was their fault for choosing badly. No blame was placed on the men for being bad parents. Rather than choosing to address bigger issues like a family’s financial or social position that could affect parenting, he continued to blame everything on mothers and female childcare workers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGcpdjVY1FI&feature=youtu.be
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ReplyDeleteI thought his stance on child care and abuse was very interesting - that children, like adults, reserve the right to a violence-free life. This normally isn't focused on (unless it involves extreme cases) due to the fact that the general public usually believes that a little punishment is needed every now and then. However, I do agree with Hannah's statement that the speaker tended to put the blame on the mothers, due to the fact that they were the ones home alone with the children. He also made a point that "women choose the men that they want to marry and have children with." It puts all the power in the women, even though this is clearly not the case. It fails to take other circumstances into consideration. For instance, it does not take into account the possibility that the woman got pregnant (without meaning to) and thus had to end up marrying the man. Many other factors need to be taken into consideration before we can start putting all the blame on the mothers and not the fathers. Also, the following quote might be able to shed some insight into these particular cases: "Attitude is a reflection of leadership." Assuming the speaker believes that the husband is the "breadwinner" and dominant person of the house, this grants the husband more power over the wife. The wife is dependent on the man, and regardless of his character, she needs his financial support. Whatever stress or violence that the husband places onto the wife could then be transferred to the child. In summation: we cannot guarantee that there isn't a third variable to account for when we look at case studies of mothers and their abuse towards children.
ReplyDeleteIn this video, I found it absurd how he compared circumcision in male infants to rape in young women, stating that, since a woman may be passed out and not remember the incidence, then there shouldn't be a problem with the act. I find this comparison not efficient in justifying the rape culture we live in today as a mother may not have been the one to solely decide on whether to circumcise her son and she may have agreed to it due to a variety of factors that are not related to deterring her son's sexual life in the future. Additionally, a woman has a strong relation to her child whereas the rapist of an unconscious woman may not. I also noticed how he blamed all issues on the women and took the blame off of the men in that way, failing to ever mention that men may also be at fault for many of these issues. What I found most absurd, however, is how the audience seemed very upbeat about the issues he presented by cheering, applauding and laughing after some of this man's very highly opinionated remarks and comparisons.
ReplyDeleteIt was also very interesting that it is thought that women have a large input in the upcoming of boys because most day care and grade school teachers are females. So therefore there is this thought that women have this "universal control" over childhood. In this video it is said that women often point out the aggression and behavior of men that is out of control. The video then goes on and assumes that women are responsible because violence comes from childhood. And like I started before, women are thought to control childhood. Not only in the schooling system, but at home when women raise their children. The solution that was bought up in the video was a time frame of 5 years to be "nice" to kids during their childhood so that there are not issues in their teen and adult life. The idea that the whole would would be a better place if this idea was put into place is ridiculous. There is no way that every problem in society would be eliminated because of a 5 year period of being "nice" to children during childhood. I'm sure many nice parents have children who are trouble makers. And vice versa. I found the remarks and assumptions made in this video to be inaccurate in my point of view.
ReplyDeleteI found Stefan Nolyneux's speech to be extremely pretentious, biased, and ignorant. Despite his repeated emphasis on fact based, logical knowledge, his entire argument about male aggression was irrational and unsupported by actual facts. He drew sweeping generalizations about parenthood, claiming that women are solely responsible for the mental health and development of children. He based this on his own (biased) observations and one study by a male psychologist on a day care center. While women constitute the majority of childcare work, men play an equally crucial role in child rearing as fathers, brothers, relatives, and teachers. Their influence on children cannot be ignored. In addition, Stefan claimed that because women are solely responsible for childcare, "the patriarchy" plays no part in children's' development. He argued this on the assumption that women are separate from the patriarchy, and as a result child rearing remains untouched by patriarchal values. Stefan then contradicted his own statement about the isolation of childcare from patriarchy by stating that day care center workers hit boys more than girls. Chapter 2 of Women's Lives discusses how one can never truly "escape" the patriarchy, as its influence pervades every aspect of social life. This means that the values of patriarchy, which rewards male aggression, extends to day care centers and children's homes as well. Martin also talks about this gender socialization in her study on preschool and day care centers, finding that teachers tended to use physical discipline on boys more than on girls. While Stefan uses this differential treatment to blame women for instilling violence in boys, he failed to mention that day care workers operate under patriarchal values as well. Patriarchal values favor male strength and aggression, and this gender socialization begins from an early age from all those who come in contact with the baby, according to Judith Lorber. As the patriarchy is a system dominated by men, Stefan's argument that women are solely responsible for teaching boys to be violent holds no water, as it is the values that lead women and other role models to expect and reward aggressive behavior in boys.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Stefan bases his argument on the misguided assumption that childhood experiences determine adult personality and behavior. In reality, development continues throughout one's lifetime and that adolescent and adult learning is equally important on development as childhood experiences.