Transcription
Am I sexist? When I look at men and women, I see differences beyond the obvious physical ones. But when I was young, I was taught those don't exist. Experts said, "Except for a few physical traits, there's no difference between men and women."
"Aren't women in general better nurturers?"
"No."
"Next question."
Feminist leaders said the only reason men are in charge of most things is sexism.
"What's wrong with her? She's a woman, isn't she?"
And there was plenty of that.
"Who does it all? The laundry, the dishes, and tropical fishes."
"Gosh, that's what mommies are for."
"Sisterhood is powerful. Join us now."
Thank God for the woman's movement. And I believe that when they said, "If we raised kids in gender-neutral ways, men and women would behave similarly." I believed that until I had a boy and a girl. Now, I understand that most boys and girls are just different, and our attempts at gender-neutral parenting didn't change much.
"Tonight, a touchy subject."
Years ago, I produced this ABC special about that. Eye-opening research suggests more women can read feelings, more men can read maps. Should gender influence our place in society? Kids know boys and girls are different.
"Girls are glory. Boys are a pain in the butt."
But many adults do not want even scientific research talked about.
"This is harmful and damaging to our daughter's lives and to our mother's lives. And I'm very angry about it."
Years later, I still find most people, men and women, avoid talking about differences. But not Heather McDonald. You got half a million views on Twitter saying, "It is not a product of systemic misogyny that males brought us the scientific revolution that they circumnavigated the globe. If we weren't so insane, it would be perfectly obvious that there are innate differences between males and females."
She says it's why men explored the world, not women. But that was because their societies wouldn't allow it.
"That's true. But they haven't been doing much in the interim, frankly."
"Yikes. That's a strong statement. But it is true that most startups are run by men. Most world leaders are men. Maybe the world would be more peaceful if women were in charge."
"Women and children have long paid the price for wars started and waged by men."
"Women leaders must step up. Women want peace."
"The world would be better, safer if women..."
"...if women ruled the world. And that hasn't really proved to be the case."
Here's Hillary Clinton talking about the killing of Gaddafi.
"We came, we saw, he died."
Men drove the 30 Years War. Men drove the Hundred Years War. Women aren't responsible for the endless Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Maybe it would be better if women managed governments.
"It's very curious. You know, some of these the Green parties, the female-dominated parties in Europe, they're the war parties, you know, they're they're all for continuing to arm Ukraine. They were all for the involvement in the Serbian conflict. So, it's curious. A lot of the female EU politicians are no more pacifistic than some of their colleagues, male colleagues. It's men, McDonald points out, who..."
"...developed ideas of constitutional government, of due process, of human rights. Those are much more powerful than the 30 Years War. Yes. There's endless savagery in Africa between tribes."
"Violence driven by men."
"By men. That's right. But I I don't see what the alternative is. Men, she says, have more..."
"...passion for novelty, competitiveness, aggression. You have to be a very ideologically dominated parent not to notice that there are differences between male and female children almost from the start as far as levels of aggression, the types of toys that they gravitate towards. Males have a greater predilection towards insanity, towards like really stupid behavior. I hear these motorcycles outside of my apartment in New York. I know with the the sex of who's riding those, you idiots."
"There's obviously individual exceptions. There's highly aggressive, competitive females who has..."
"...and highly nurturing, empathetic males, of course, taking a step back from their own careers to care for their families."
"But we're talking about averages and the average male, there's a greater chance that he's going to be a risk-taker and a seeker of knowledge."
That's why men run most companies, she says. Not because sexism prevents women from advancing.
"Nobody's keeping females out. They just aren't interested. Google is desperate to hire more females. Nobody's preventing females from doing an AI startup. And nobody's stripping females of venture capital funding as we saw with the fraudster Elizabeth Holmes who had everybody under the sun shoveling billions of dollars at her. Everybody wants there to be more female entrepreneurs in whether it's bio-medicine or whatnot, but they're just they don't have that same drive to stay up till 3:00 a.m. eating cold pizza coding that drive to conquer facts and data is disproportionately male."
"I bought this strange Zara dress. I'm trying on six spring dresses at Kohl's."
"Hey guys, I have another really big shopping haul."
What do I see females doing these days? They're influencers.
"I love to use a really fluffy brush."
They're talking about makeup.
"These are the colors. They're so pretty."
They're talking about fashion.
"Okay, let's talk about this lace leather skirt."
"Whoa. Is McDonald saying women are inferior, less useful for society?"
"They are very useful for raising children."
"Well, that's obvious. She also notes many women have accomplished remarkable things. Mary Anderson invented windshield wipers. Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes for her work on radiation. This woman became a billionaire starting the bedding site Cali. McDonald cites women in the arts."
"Edith Wharton, one of the great novelists. We've got some great female composers, Fanny Mendelssohn, Cecil Lee Coe. I want to hear all of them absolutely. But I am not going to try to tear down an institution because it is predominantly male."
One such institution is the university which she says has been taken over by women claiming victimhood.
"I want to make sure..."
"I understand."
"WHAT ABOUT OUR PROTECTION RIGHT NOW? THE CLAIMS of unsafety, of danger, of jeopardy are completely hysterical neurosis in the first place. You now have portraits of the greatest white male scientists being taken down because it might make female medical students feel unsafe to look upon the greatest minds of medical science."
More women, she says, are against free speech. When you ask people which do you value more, academic freedom, there's no overlap. The vast majority of males choose the pursuit of truth, academic freedom, whatever the cost. The females favor emotional safety and equity.
"So what? Both are good qualities."
"No, they're not. The university exists for the pursuit of truth."
Men and women, she says, should fight this trend. It's going to take more parents willing to stand up for their sons who are getting screwed at academic institutions after academic institution. Uh it's going to take more CEOs not to be browbeaten by their wives.
"...by their wives."
"Females are are overwhelmingly far more left-wing and they push their husbands to buy into the poison of identity politics. We have to get gender equality here in the United States. It is imperative and there are several barriers that hold women back. Um, and we have to really, if we're going to bring women up, we have to invest in things to help them with their power and their influence."
"So, why is that?"
"Why are females more left-wing? I can't tell you, but it is absolutely the case."
Do you disagree with McDonald or with me? Please write us about that. Heather McDonald had many other provocative things to say about gender, race, policing. We'll release her full interview in a few weeks.