Guys, Here's What It's Actually Like to Be a Woman | Hacker News Reader

Guys, Here's What It's Actually Like to Be a Woman

observer.com

6 pointskafkaesq6 comments

I skimmed it. I skimmed the previous comments on the previous submission of this piece 11 hours ago. This is really awful stuff.

Yes, women live with threats to their welfare from all sides. So do men. Sex is inherently risky. A baby could result. You can catch an STD. Women can get knocked up and abandoned. But, hey, men are sometimes trapped by women who got intentionally pregnant by them while claiming to be on the pill and IIRC it is estimated that around 5% to 10% of babies have a different biological father than the man who raised them and honestly thinks it is theirs. One study apparently concluded that women who were having affairs were engaging in sexual practices that would make it more likely they got pregnant by their illicit lover than by their SO.

In my opinion, this is an incredibly crappy piece of writing. It in no way helps women and if you are a guy hoping for tips on how to better understand women so you will have an edge in dating, this is not good advice.

From what other people here are saying, the author of the piece started as a pick up artist. This piece reads to me as "pick up artist, trying to sound PC." Pick up artists also try to "understand women" -- in a totally shallow fashion so they can better manipulate them. This article similarly treats women as a monolith, as if all women feel exactly the same way about men, dating, sex, you name it.

If you want a better relationship to a woman, take some time to get to know her better and skip reading crap like this.

/opinionated old woman

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10424623

"By Tucker Max and Geoffrey Miller"

At the risk of getting piled-on here, I'll say this: the last thing the world needs is another dude speaking for women.

One of the first thing the world needs is to get past the idea that when someone speaks about sensitive issues facing group X, that they're automatically attempting to speak "for", or "on behalf of" group X. And that the import of what they're saying can be weighed (and/or dismissed outright), accordingly.

The issues addressed in the article are complex, and sadly, quite pervasive; we could benefit from multiple perspectives, in seeking ways to address them.

Man genuinely speaking for women would be OK in my books. But this "Listen up dudes, you don't understand women. We do!"

I'd rather pick someone transgender to tell me about it. Or read books written by different women. Or have women as friends.

...and when it's Tucker Max, my first suspicion is that he's trying to get laid more.

Unfortunately I suspect this only reflects a small part of what it's like to be a woman. This doesn't cover any of the experiential disparities between men and women in the workplace, which I imagine are equally great and perhaps even more oppressive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com