Incidentally, agreed about the generational influence and social meme. "Girls are bad at math" in particular has been clearly demonstrated as cultural, by comparing different countries, and there's further evidence to suggest that female elementary school teachers are very likely to say in front of their students that they themselves have trouble with math, which measurably depresses their female students' (but not their male students') math scores. That's a lot of why I want to kill this meme; it has collateral damage.
I feel like the second-wave feminist push to say "let's celebrate the feminine as equally valid" has value in many areas, but did us a disservice in other places, and math is one of them. Most of the people I see celebrating their lack of math are women or gay men, and it's almost like they're saying "I'm proud I'm not a straight man." Which in this case embraces rather than subverts patriarchy, by locking us out of vast spheres of influence and understanding, not to mention a lot of good-paying careers.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-03-03 10:54 pm (UTC)I feel like the second-wave feminist push to say "let's celebrate the feminine as equally valid" has value in many areas, but did us a disservice in other places, and math is one of them. Most of the people I see celebrating their lack of math are women or gay men, and it's almost like they're saying "I'm proud I'm not a straight man." Which in this case embraces rather than subverts patriarchy, by locking us out of vast spheres of influence and understanding, not to mention a lot of good-paying careers.