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[return to "Sex and STEM: Stubborn Facts and Stubborn Ideologies"]
1. scarmi+t5[view] [source] 2018-02-15 10:10:26
>>andren+(OP)
This reminds me of something I was thinking about earlier today.

It's well known that men generally are stagnating economically, while women are catching up. In many metro areas, single women out earn single men.

And so I came across this paper[0], which had some interesting research about that. And what struck me was this: there's an explicit assumption that men have worse socio-emotional skills than women, and that can be used to explain the gap.

By itself, I don't take any issue with it. It's true. But if you turned it around and explained the CS gap starting from the assumption that men are disproportionately represented among the upper levels of spatial and mathematical abstraction skills, there'd be an uproar. Petitions would be signed, scalps would be taken. I say that as someone who thinks much of those differences can be explained by childhood socialization.

And you're not even allowed to talk about it. I'm hesitant to post this comment, for fear someone might hunt me down and dox me to my employer. (Even now, I ponder if I should be making a throwaway account.)

In real life, I had been willing to have conversations about this because I find it an interesting and nuanced topic. But now both sides have taken to treating anyone who doesn't take a stance of complete agreement with their respective ideologies as the Enemy.

It's creating a class of people who know just to shut up and withdraw from any discussion about the topic, because there's clearly no good that can come from it, either socially or professionally. Even academics. And I genuinely don't get why anyone would want that.

[0] http://www.nber.org/papers/w24274

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2. hacker+rs[view] [source] 2018-02-15 14:47:32
>>scarmi+t5
I think it is well-known that men as a group have more degrees and education in STEM fields, have higher numbers in STEM careers, and perform better in the subjects according to testing measures. As you say, it is also well-known that we view women as better adjusted socially. And as you say, it can be taboo to make this point. I think when making this point, the important thing to realize or clarify is that it doesn't have to be this way! There is no reason to think that women will necessarily not take to mathematics or that men will necessarily be socially stunted. We can create better environments for children so that both issues can improve. I think part of the taboo about making your point stems from a fear of a biological-determinism argument about math ability. Which may not always be the case.
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