• commentary
  • MONDAY AUGUST 6 2007 4:00 PM

This Shit Fucking Pisses Me Off

Submitted by Bitch_PhD

Edited by erin_broadley

Tags: pay equity, feminism, anger



Yesterday, Rahodeb posted about the forthcoming study of how Angry Women (aka "bitches"wink make both men and women feel all insecure and threatened, and how insecure threatened men and women punish Angry Women by paying them shit.

It gets even better, though. Women, you see, know this--what with our not being idiots and all--and as a result, we often don't ask for what we're worth because--surprise!--negotiating our salaries is one of those things that makes Other People think we're bitchy!

Folks in the "institutionalized sexism's all in your head, dearie, and maybe if you didn't hate men so much you'd realize that" camp are fond of pointing out that the pay gap may be attributable to women not asking for as much money as men. Which we don't, on average.

The traditional explanation for the gender differences that Babcock found is that men are simply more aggressive than women, perhaps because of a combination of genetics and upbringing. The solution to gender disparities, this school of thought suggests, is to train women to be more assertive and to ask for more. However, a new set of experiments by Babcock and Hannah Riley Bowles, who studies the psychology of organizations at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, offers an entirely different explanation.

Their study, which was coauthored by Carnegie Mellon researcher Lei Lai, found that men and women get very different responses when they initiate negotiations. Although it may well be true that women often hurt themselves by not trying to negotiate, this study found that women's reluctance was based on an entirely reasonable and accurate view of how they were likely to be treated if they did. Both men and women were more likely to subtly penalize women who asked for more -- the perception was that women who asked for more were "less nice".

"What we found across all the studies is men were always less willing to work with a woman who had attempted to negotiate than with a woman who did not," Bowles said. "They always preferred to work with a woman who stayed mum. But it made no difference to the men whether a guy had chosen to negotiate or not."



I assume that a lot of nice women are threatened by us bitches because of that whole guilt-by-association thing; I bet there's not a girl on this board who hasn't had, at some point, to play the "aww, baby" reassurance game with some jerky guy who couldn't tell the difference between his Bitchy Ex and the woman in front of him. The catch, of course, is that the nice girls get fucked over too because hey: if you don't ask for what you want, ain't no guy (or girl, she murmurs reassuringly) in the world that's gonna just hand it to you.

The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.

Bitch_PhD is a bitch, and damn proud of it.

  • PERMALINK
  • PRINT
  • Digg This
  • Email To A Friend
 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

 ... 13

Next

Comments
woweezowee

woweezowee

Denver, CO
November 2003

AUG 06, 2007 04:29 PM

at least there is always sleeping your way to the top!

Gringo

Gringo

Spokane, WA
May 2006

AUG 06, 2007 04:29 PM

Bitch_PhD said:
The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.


You've just gone from expecting to be treated as an equal to expecting special treatment.

Unless I misread your intent with that staetment.

PatrickY

PatrickY

Vancouver, WA
December 2003

AUG 06, 2007 04:34 PM

TheGringo said:

Bitch_PhD said:
The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.


You've just gone from expecting to be treated as an equal to expecting special treatment.

Unless I misread your intent with that staetment.



The guys don't have any excuse for being threatened by "bitches".

DownNeck

DownNeck

Jersey City, NJ
March 2006

AUG 06, 2007 04:34 PM

TheGringo said:

Bitch_PhD said:
The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.


You've just gone from expecting to be treated as an equal to expecting special treatment.

Unless I misread your intent with that staetment.



when has she ever even hinted that she wants to be treated as an equal?

Saraphine

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

AUG 06, 2007 04:36 PM

I work in a field that is run and operated predominantly by women, and yet men have the upper hand and make more money on a regular basis than we do. I have nothing but 14 years experience to back this up, but in every salon I have ever worked, the guy was the big shot who charged ladies out the ass to do their hair. I have never had the balls to do that-- some women do, but the majority give discounts and let our clients bully us. I find it unfair, but I know it's my own fault, coupled with the general dynamics of a female hairdresser: female client vs. male hairdresser: female client relationship.

Not sure if this is relevant, but it's the first thing that came to mind

PatrickY

PatrickY

Vancouver, WA
December 2003

AUG 06, 2007 04:36 PM

DownNeck said:

TheGringo said:

Bitch_PhD said:
The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.


You've just gone from expecting to be treated as an equal to expecting special treatment.

Unless I misread your intent with that staetment.



when has she ever even hinted that she wants to be treated as an equal?



I don't know. When was her first column? I'd guess it was right about then.

GuiltShow

GuiltShow

Riverside, CA
May 2005

AUG 06, 2007 04:39 PM

Women make less money than men because they don't ask? And this is because they're worried about image? Come on.

Come on.

So gender inequality in wages is women's fault after all? frown

FilmZ0mbie

FilmZ0mbie

Torrance, CA
March 2006

AUG 06, 2007 04:41 PM

I guess I'll be the one to do it... institutionalized sexism's all in your head, dearie, and maybe if you didn't hate men so much you'd realize that.

Gringo

Gringo

Spokane, WA
May 2006

AUG 06, 2007 04:45 PM



EDIT: Post retracted. "Futile Meter" was redlining.

Skywisdom

Skywisdom

Portland, OR
December 2005

AUG 06, 2007 04:47 PM

GuiltShow said:
Women make less money than men because they don't ask? And this is because they're worried about image? Come on.

Come on.

So gender inequality in wages is women's fault after all? frown



I...can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not...I'm going to assume that you are, and that you've read the article correctly.

Saraphine

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

AUG 06, 2007 04:54 PM

Skywisdom said:

GuiltShow said:
Women make less money than men because they don't ask? And this is because they're worried about image? Come on.

Come on.

So gender inequality in wages is women's fault after all? frown



I...can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not...I'm going to assume that you are, and that you've read the article correctly.



Ha. Doubtful.

And I believe, but could be wrong, that downneck was insinuating that Bitch Phd isn't for equality, she's for woman having beyond equality. Or maybe I was wrong?

Palo

Palo

SUICIDEGIRL

Massachusetts, USA

AUG 06, 2007 04:54 PM

I just asked for more money after a job offer. Am I a bitch?

Probably, but unrelated. I still deserved more money.

Pilkington

Pilkington

USA
October 2005

AUG 06, 2007 05:14 PM

I'm thinking this is more an opinion piece than news....

however, an opinion piece usually has a rationalized rhetorical bend and is composed of more than aimless, overly emotional declarations.

jason

jason

USA
August 2002

AUG 06, 2007 05:27 PM

id rather see an "article" about how and why the pay gap is shrinking (across the board) and how young women in major cities are making more than young men. maybe i missed it.

Formus

Formus

Milwaukee, WI
May 2007

AUG 06, 2007 05:32 PM

DownNeck said:

TheGringo said:

Bitch_PhD said:
The guys don't have any excuse, though. Fuck 'em.


You've just gone from expecting to be treated as an equal to expecting special treatment.

Unless I misread your intent with that staetment.



when has she ever even hinted that she wants to be treated as an equal?



Jesus fucking Christ. That's the response to all kinds of feminism. "They want to be given preferential treatment." Let's fucking give them preferential treatment then. Because "equality" as being dictated right now isn't fucking working. And somehow her demanding more than what "equality" is giving her is a threat to your manhood, and makes your balls shrivel to the size of raisins, so you feel an uncontrolled, irrational need to defend yourself by accusing her of being a feminist, which, SURPRISE, she is. Get a fucking grip.

What is being done right now isn't working. It's not. If it was, there would be more female CEOs, and wages would be equal. More must be done to counter this maintained status quo. But whenever someone thinks of doing more, they are somehow accused of wanting unfair preferential treatment for women, when all that the status quo "equality" in the law is doing is keeping the gap where it is, not closing it, and certainly not eliminating it. To make things equal, men must admit that they are not superior. Somehow, to most of us, this is an admission of inferiority. IT'S FUCKING NOT.

How about this, fellow males: make new efforts to get women equal status, and put aside the whining for just a few years. K? K. Then, when pay gaps are close to gone, go back to the old ways that maintain pay gaps, and voila! A solution! But men can't put aside their testosterone-ridden overreactions for just a few seconds to analyze the problem instead of whining incessantly like 12-year-olds. 12-year-olds with penile insecurities and matriarchal issues.

(PS: and of course Bitch_PhD thinks she's superior. EVERYONE thinks they're superior. It's called fucking self-esteem.)

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

 ... 13

Next

featured interviews