Oct 18 2012

The trouble with women

Categories:

Equality

by PZ Myers

You ladies have been causing trouble since the 1950s.

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58 comments

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1

dianne

18 October 2012 at 11:37 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Only since the 1950s?
2

Pierce R. Butler

18 October 2012 at 11:39 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Those who cause trouble are, by definition, not ladies.
3

Brett McCoy

18 October 2012 at 11:48 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ah, your typical Reddit MRA member, that guy is…
4

darwinharmless

18 October 2012 at 11:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sure is embarrassing looking back to the fifties. But it’s nice to see that as a whole we’ve made progress. At least in the part of the world I get to observe.
5

suzysalaksartok

18 October 2012 at 11:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Theres a riffrax for that, incase anyone likes MST3k.

http://www.rifftrax.com/shorts/trouble-women
6

chigau (棒や石)

18 October 2012 at 11:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That’s a pretty enlightened video for the 1950s.
7

Alverant

18 October 2012 at 11:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It must have been the weeks long marathon of MST3Ks I’ve been watching, but now black and white films seem wrong without silloetties of a human and two robots along the bottom.
8

OverlappingMagisteria

18 October 2012 at 11:56 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Apparently getting married is a problem that only effects women. I wonder who they’re marrying…
9

Holms

18 October 2012 at 12:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“What is Brad’s trouble?”

“He’s a wanker.”
10

unclefrogy

18 October 2012 at 12:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

answer to question at the end = he is a knuckle head, who also projects some
uncle frogy
11

Pyra

18 October 2012 at 12:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh, no, not me. I’ve only been around since the 70′s. You won’t get more than my 4 decades out of me for all that trouble with “absenteeism, marriage, and personality problems.” Funny how it always comes down to “there isn’t a man available” to the supervisor… Glad to have moved on from that. Though I’d have though by now, we’d be much further along.
12

chigau (棒や石)

18 October 2012 at 12:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Apparently getting married is a problem that only effects women.

A man used to go from his parents house (where his mother did everything for him) to his own house (where their his did everything for him).
The transition was barely noticeable.
13

brasidas

18 October 2012 at 12:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Mr Chalmondley-Warner (Harry Enfield – easy to find on Youtube)would have something to say about this – Women, know your limits.
14

Sastra

18 October 2012 at 12:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“What is Brad’s trouble?”

Well, to give some credit to the film’s intentions, this does seem to be written and filmed in order to provoke a discussion of some kind (maybe in a classroom?) Brad’s previous complaints about women-workers-in-general are all shot down by the supervisor: they don’t apply to the newly-hired female ball-bearings inspector. So, all things being equal, should you STILL be against having this particular woman in the office, just on general principles?

It wouldn’t surprise me too much if the accompanying discussion guidelines (if there were any) encouraged steering the answer towards “no.” No, if a woman manages to go through a whole lot of extra hoops and scrutiny and a man isn’t available — well then,it just might work out anyway. Ya never know, do ya, Brad?

Of course, given the comic-music background and general atmosphere of stock-character sexism, it also wouldn’t surprise me much if the real take-away answer was that yup, fire her! You just can’t count on th’ wimmun nohow. (I loved how the blond using the machine put her finger in her mouth like a toddler when getting instructions.)

Personally, after watching the film carefully, I think Brad’s real problem was that he has a crush on the new girl. He gets uncomfortable in her presence cuz men and women — well — you know. Next film in the series has the female ball bearings inspector leaving to get married after all — to Brad!

Then we leave the workspace and follow the merry hijinks of the newlyweds.
15

Gregory in Seattle

18 October 2012 at 12:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Pierce R. Butler #2 – You reminded me of a play spoofing the anti-feminist attitudes of “proper” ladies, Ladies Against Women. The characters were based, supposedly, on the leading lights of the rabidly Talibangelical (and alas, all too real) group, Concerned Women for America.
16

chigau (棒や石)

18 October 2012 at 12:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sastra for shame!
The female bearing inspector is already married!
Are you suggesting that our Brad is a home-wrecker?
17

Louis

18 October 2012 at 12:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m sorry but this video does not go into enough detail. There are far more problems with women. For example, they engage in, and are subject to Women’s Things.

The topic of Women’s Things is not to be discussed ever. But I have it on good authority it involves…{looks shiftily side to side}…hoohoos.

There is also the problem of hair, and, you know, possible Thingy.

Frankly they should all be shot.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Louis
18

anteprepro

18 October 2012 at 12:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This video may be all we in order to fully understand why conservatives think of the 50′s as the ideal America.
19

Beatrice, anti-imperialist anti-racist Islamophobiaphobic leftist

18 October 2012 at 12:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Film’s intention seems to be promotion of ~~equal~~ ~~fair~~ tolerance of women in the workspace. While women are ditzy, you just have deal with them. Hard work, but with ladies wanting equality, you gotta make some allowances for their silly quirks.
20

New England Bob

18 October 2012 at 12:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The supervisor sounded just like Mitt Romney in his tone – arrogant.
21

Sastra

18 October 2012 at 1:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

chigau #16 wrote:

The female bearing inspector is already married!
Are you suggesting that our Brad is a home-wrecker?

Oh, I missed that. Maybe the female ball-bearing inspector is already married … to Brad! And perhaps Brad just can’t come right out in front of his supervisor and admit that he’s not man enough to provide for his own family. Brad’s problem is he needs a raise!!

Brad’s real problem is that he’s going to get his ass fired if he doesn’t stop thinking about women, women, women all day long.
22

chigau (棒や石)

18 October 2012 at 1:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

How can poor Brad stop thinking about women when they are right there in his lab all day long being women‽
23

twincats

18 October 2012 at 1:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That’s a pretty enlightened video for the 1950s.

That was my first thought, too.

But then, I couldn’t help thinking that the personnel director was way more concerned with poor Brad’s wounded fee-fees than he likely would have been with any of the wimminz.
24

unclefrogy

18 October 2012 at 1:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

one of the differences I saw between Brad and the personnel director was that the personnel recognized what he was there to facilitate the production of the products of their employer so in order to keep production flowing he gets the best he can and has to lead the foreman gently along toward that end.

is it or was it a real representation of conditions then or any time I have no idea. It did remind me of one of those films you see in traffic school though.

uncle frogy
25

arcumentix

18 October 2012 at 1:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

feels more like an effort to get awkward men to put up with the harsh reality of having to accept women in the workplace due to shortage of higher quality male workers.

in one place i worked in the 90s, maybe 100 employees working there, one female candidate for an engineering role was asked if she planned to get pregnant anytime soon. her name was Debbie, she was soon nicknamed “Debbie D-cups” and it caught on. About a year later they needed to get rid of the last person to join, Debbie it was, so a director called up her previous employer looking for dirt on her.

even where i work now, i can see that men’s attitude to women needs work. but it is more the older generation, on average.
26

busterggi

18 October 2012 at 1:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The whole world went straight to hell after Laura Petrie wore those capri pants in 1960.
27

ladyh42

18 October 2012 at 1:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I get the ‘women have their foibles but we’re stuck with them so deal’ vibe coming from this, so yeah, seems a bit more progressive than I thought before I watched it. It seems they definitely didn’t want to step on anyones toes in the process.
I like how Brad has a problem with the one womans attitude to being moved, but he has an even bigger cow when his boss asks him to do something. Why are you acting like a woman Brad, isn’t that a bad thing?
28

Ing:Intellectual Terrorist "Starting Tonight, People will Whine"

18 October 2012 at 1:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brad does not feel comfortable having a woman insect his ball barrings
29

NitricAcid

18 October 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t blame him, Ing. I don’t want anyone insecting anything of mine.
30

lordofsporks

18 October 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Those darn uppity wimmins, I tells ya.
31

congaboy

18 October 2012 at 2:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I thought that any question about the effectiveness of women in the work place was laid to rest by the montage scene from the 1980 smash hit “9 to 5.” Just as all bigotry in the U.S. was eradicated with the election of Barrack Obama.
32

bluescreenlife

18 October 2012 at 2:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s Rebecca Watson’s fault.
33

nms

18 October 2012 at 2:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Bradshaw will carry a permanent grudge against someone for having a cluttered workbench, yet he allows the male employee’s incredibly loud shirt to pass without comment.
34

Pierce R. Butler

18 October 2012 at 2:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Gregory in Seattle @ # 15 – Ladies against women!

Or just search (’cause I donwanna trigger moderation with another link) for videos of Richard Dawkins interviewing Wendy Wright at the CWA national office.
35

TonyJ

18 October 2012 at 2:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

In the late 80s and early 90s, I worked at a place that built fiberglass boats. One day a meeting was called, and we were told that a woman was going to be joining the fiberglass crew. We were told not to say suggestive things to her, and then the foreman giving the meeting basically said it’d be best if we just avoided talking to her altogether, what with the propensity of women nowadays to sue for sexual harassment over every little thing.

The troglodytes I worked with immediately branded her a lesbian and/or a slut because she was “doing a man’s job”. Another woman started in the welding department shortly after, and I overheard some guys saying she’d “probably be good in the sack because welding is a dirty job”.
36

Ing:Intellectual Terrorist "Starting Tonight, People will Whine"

18 October 2012 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@TonyJ

To be fair MST3K shorts clearly established sex and joy are the leading causes of horrific blinding blow torch accidents on the job
37

mythbri

18 October 2012 at 3:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Ing

Those shorts are depressing. There’s one about car/train safety that is completely awful, and I know exactly which one you’re talking about, too. Not only does sex and joy cause blindness, but also being crushed by railcars, if I recall.
38

Ing:Intellectual Terrorist "Starting Tonight, People will Whine"

18 October 2012 at 3:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Mythbri

Also don’t forget the one old guy in that short who wound up crushing his friend to death
39

xmaseveeve

18 October 2012 at 4:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Anyone thinking of voting for Mitt-the-Mutt-Racker should watch that superb film by that gay director whose name escapes me: ‘ – oh no, what’s it called? It’s an homage to Sirk. ‘Far Away’? Julianne Moore played a fifties housewife.

Have they not seen ‘All that Heaven Allows’, anyway? Rock Hudson was an abomination for falling in love with a woman no longer young enough to give him children. Sirk connected all prejudice to the subordination of women.

Gay men are hated because they are seen as closer to being women. Black men are seen as infantile, like women. With Romney, the acceptable would keep reducing until everyone should be white and Mormon, with no women’s rights and therefore, no humanity.

Sexism demeans men as well as women. I never had children, and never wanted them. Some women are motherly types, and some are like me, only with kids. We are all people, just like men. Sexism does not compute. Let’s not go back to ‘all that Romney (backed up by his One God) allows’.

Oh. That film was ‘Far From Heaven’. Watch it. While you’re at it, watch ‘Provoked’, about the Kiranjit Alluwallia case. How can women vote for the crazy, creeping carpetbagger with the apologetic smile, Vlad Mitty?

I thought he wanted to hit Obama in that debate. But he needs votes.
40

Alethea H. "Crocoduck" Dundee

18 October 2012 at 4:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

1950s?

Try 1400s.
41

Rutee Katreya

18 October 2012 at 4:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Gay men are hated because they are seen as closer to being women. Black men are seen as infantile, like women. With Romney, the acceptable would keep reducing until everyone should be white and Mormon, with no women’s rights and therefore, no humanity.

Attn: White Women
All oppression does not flow from the oppression of women. Racism or heterosexism or w/e is not going to go away if women stop being oppressed.

I’m pleasantly surprised Ladies against Women is a musical as well. Making flippant feminism to fight foolish foes, um, I’m no good at alliteration. But I do like clever snark, and making it big and loud.

I don’t blame him, Ing. I don’t want anyone insecting anything of mine.

What about arachniding them?
42

F

18 October 2012 at 5:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I think Brad’s real problem was that he has a crush on the new girl.

You can keep reducing this until you have a sauce.

Brad’s problem: She’s not wearing a burqa.
Brad’s problem: She’s not a man.
Brad’s problem: Neither the apparently nameless ball bearing (no puns, please) inspecting woman, nor anyone else, is Brad.
Brad’s problem: Brad.

I’m certain their are different routes to a similar end. Could be a parlour game.
43

Janine: Hallucinating Liar

18 October 2012 at 5:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It is almost like women did not work in heavy industries in the early forties.
44

Ing:Intellectual Terrorist "Starting Tonight, People will Whine"

18 October 2012 at 5:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What about arachniding them?

You assholes really tick me off. We mite have a problem here
45

borkmcfink

18 October 2012 at 5:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w
46

Stardrake

18 October 2012 at 6:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Janine: Hallucinating Liar @43:

You really are a hallucinating liar, aren’t you? Next thing, you’ll be saying American farmers grew Hemp for Victory in the early 40′s.

Or worse, that the U.S.A. allied with the Commie Red Russkies!
47

otrame

18 October 2012 at 6:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I should know better than to eat while reading anything by Louis.

Louis, I am madly in love with you, but now I have to wipe pork chop frags off my monitor.
48

dearania

18 October 2012 at 7:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hello All,

I know its YouTube and I shouldn’t expect any intelligent commentary there, but does anyone want to help me skewer the MRA douche on this video who is claiming that all rape statistics come from a “feminist” study?
49

dearania

18 October 2012 at 7:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ok…. I was not expecting it to embed the video. I really thought it would just post the link. My apologies.
50

Akira MacKenzie

18 October 2012 at 10:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ing @ 36

Actually, if I remember the short it was thoughts of sex and joy that led to spending your life in a back brace and stuck in a now-miserable marriage. It was childbirth that led to getting your eyes burned out with a acetylene torch.
51

Akira MacKenzie

18 October 2012 at 11:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

mythbri @ 37

There’s one about car/train safety that is completely awful…

“Why don’t they look, Ralph? Tell me, why don’t they look?”
52

latsot

19 October 2012 at 2:48 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

*I* want to work on the oscilloscope.
53

blf

19 October 2012 at 2:54 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s not females who are a problem. It’s the cooties they carry…
54

coyotenose

19 October 2012 at 6:19 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I think Brick Tamland can help us all understand the real problem here:
55

drxym

19 October 2012 at 9:17 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Another “Women Know your Limits” skit – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkTko4&feature=related
56

Jadzia626

20 October 2012 at 6:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

You ladies have been causing trouble since the 1950s.

Well, I was born in the 70s, so it’s not my fault >.>
57

John Phillips, FCD

20 October 2012 at 10:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Jadzia626, that’s no excuse.
58

totalretard

22 November 2012 at 1:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Brad’s trouble? He’s just too perspicacious.