Ep.18 How is this Question Viewed?

Chicken Mind Nuggets.

Hosted by Wifey

Chickenmindnuggets.com

[email protected]

@mindchicken

References for this episode

None (my thoughts)

Introduction music graciously provided by

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Thinking Music" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Show script: (may differ slightly from spoken word)

I don’t think caring is specifically a female trait, however, I think nurturing is more feminine and more biological because we are designed to make humans. From a young age women and men are taught about emotions, but men are taught to handle them more internally and women are taught to handle them more externally. I was watching my young nephew a few years ago and one of his relatives told him to “toughen up” when he cried about a toy. He was only about 5 years old, but I remember this being a moment where he is going to start internalizing the messages of don’t cry, be tough, don’t show emotions, and “man up.” I think that caring is a human emotion because there is compassion in everybody, but I think the amount that we show to others is determined by nurture not nature. There are many generations that are brought up on the stereotype of “men are tough” and “women are soft” and I think that this encourages gender stereotypes because we grow up with expectations of the opposite sex. An example would be it might appear unusual to an older man if a woman doesn’t show her emotions and has stonewall expressions because an expectation would be that women are supposed to be soft, full of emotion, and talkative. There has been a movement recently to blend the genders into non-binary categories to be more inclusive. I think that this is going to raise a generation of beings that will not believe the stereotypical traits for men and women. When we have an expectation of how the other sex should behave or be, we hold those stereotypes as beliefs and become shocked or disappointed when our expectations are not filled. I think the question of evaluating an ethical approach has to do with what generation is approached with this question. If this question was asked to young people under the age of 10, we may not have a direct answer because ethics classes are generally not taught in classes for this young group. They might indirectly answer the question by saying, “If it doesn’t hurt me and it is how they want to be and it doesn’t hurt anyone then why does it matter.” If the question was asked to people several generations ahead of them, they might think more deontological with thoughts such as, “It’s a man’s duty to provide an income and a woman’s duty to provide for the household and family.” Although different generations and different people in these generations will respond differently, why can’t we look at character as a ship built on experiences which has kept them afloat just like the rest of us? There may not be anywhere safe to go where judgments and interpretations don’t exist, but what can be done at a YOU level is remember everyone carries different tools in their emotional tool bag that has helped them throughout the years...and even though a woman...like me...maybe viewed as an emotionally distant hag....I still praise you for all the tools you have gathered which has brought you here 😊 And the good news is, you can always swap out one tool for another and try it out for size. Maybe...a new tool will help you to answer the question differently.

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