This week in class we discussed gender differences between men and women. We watched a documentary filmed by ABC news that investigated some of the differences between men and women. A large portion of the differences that were discussed in this film were from the perspectives from both genders. Many arguments were made in regard to physical differences especially when strength was an issue. The documentary gave an example of how when women enroll in the military, there is a significantly lower ratio of women that are able to achieve the physical demands that are required to serve in the military. It is because of the lopsidedness of the ratio that the military then alters the physical requirement that women must meet, in order to qualify for service. Several arguments were made in both support and opposition to this alteration. Men tend to have more upper body strength than women which allows for men to achieve the heavier requirements. Another argument for a male dominated military was that war is a very violent and physically demanding profession so, having people with an ability to be physically active and strong would, dominate the field would lead to a higher rate of success in war efforts. Strength was a factor in regards to women applying for firefighting jobs as well. The strength needed to perform the tasks, were often out of reach for most of the women that were trying to qualify. The documentary finished with a statement that men and women are different, and this difference should not be condemned but celebrated. I could not agree more. I think all too often, people confuse the word different with the word bad. Different just means not the same. That is not to say, unequal. To use a mathematical reference in regards to this difference, x = y. While x and y are equal to each other, they are inherently different but both of the same value. Of course, the documentary stated that these observations were based on the averages of each gender. There were some individual women that were able to keep up with their male counter parts. The argument was based on overall gender differences. Another issue was raised concerning the possibility of gender discrimination when it comes to job opportunities. There was an individual that was interviewed that argued that women were being kept out of certain fields because of their gender. While I’m sure that this discrimination does exist in some small pockets of groups, I do not believe nor does the documentary state, that this was true. The counter argument was that there were fewer female engineers, because most women gravitate towards other professions. Not that they were being excluded because of gender, but because of their own individual lack of interest in the subject. The topic that was never brought up was the fact that men are not even equal to other men in terms of physical traits, so how can women be equal to men when they already have less body mass on average than the average man. Another argument for discrimination against women was the cost of services women had to pay. For instance, they had to pay higher prices to get haircuts and they thought this was unfair. The argument in support of the higher pay was because of the time it took to perform the same service. I’ve also heard people argue for what they called the pink tax. Stating that women were being discriminated when it comes to buying products marketed to women like women’s razors. The counter for that is more components go into making women’s razors than men. Plus, if women want to pay the same money as men for razors, they can then buy men’s razors. all in all, it was an interesting documentary. But the story was still the same. People complaining about their own misconceptions and trying to make everyone suffer because of it. While no one should be left behind, you cannot expect a society to advance and be as strong as it must be, if everyone is keeping up with the slow poke. That being said, women do have a lot of strengths to which men on average are weaker in. The focus should be to let our weakness be complimented by the strength of our peers and stop being glory hogs by trying to take all of the spot light. We are both halves intended to complete each other. Instead, people just complain and cry about trivial molehills that they demand be made into mountains.