Girls, Guys, and Gender Inequality

Today, we sit down to discuss the some of the ways gender inequality affects life in the States and abroad.

Episode 6: Girls, Guys, and Gender Inequality

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Chris brought to our attention the book The Underground Girls of Kabul, which details the Afgan practice of raising daughters as sons until they reach puberty. At that point they must begin to act, think, and function in society as women. It amounts to an externally enforced transgenderism that, we presume, must play havoc on the psychological and emotional states of these women. 

This is not a matter to take lightly, so we move on to discuss gender inequality in a few other arenas. Predictably, we veer off topic a bit.


Of note, we discuss some of the implications of the Ray Rice situation, GamerGate, abortion laws, and general gender roles.

There's just so much to discuss when it comes to gender inequality there's no way we could hope to cover it all. We're definitely going to be coming back around to the topic in future episodes. (Like religion, this will be a well we'll be likely returning to on a regular basis.)

The general disclaimer is still in play. We're three heterosexual, cisgender men. We're not experts and these discussions are not exhaustive. If you've got any questions, comments, or concerns, email us, find us on thefacebook(.com), or even Twitter. Please give us a reason to use Twitter!

Liner Links:
The Daily Show interview with Jenny Nordberg (Author: "The Underground Girls of Kabul")
Cracked Article about GamerGate
Article on woman jailed for giving daughter home abortion
Trailer for Nymphomaniac (NSFW)

P.S:
So, we'd be pretty surprised if anyone had not heard of the song Survivor, by Destiny's Child. Basically, we wanted to open up with something a bit more recognizable. It's a song about how the narrator doesn't need her ex-lover to be awesome and successful. It's also somehow way less corny, less on-the-nose, and less product-placement-y than their song Independent Women. We also heard The Ting-Tings' That's Not My Name, from their album, We Started Nothing. Especially after hearing about the stuff in Nordberg's book, a song about refusing to accept the labels other people put on women felt like a necessary palate cleanser. Then we had Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me. This song has probably the best and most modern sounding lyrics of any we've played this week--and it was recorded in 1963. It basically makes the the same point as Survivor, but with less of an assumption of gender roles. And we end with Stupid Girls, from Pink's album, I'm Not Dead. It's her appeal to girls and women not to act like stupid, vapid, and trend-obsessed just because that's what they think people expect of them. It doesn't make you cool. It just makes you stupid, vapid, and trend-obsessed.

Finally, there was also a song by Corinne Bailey Rae called Put Your Record On. Ed loves this song and sneaked it in when we weren't looking. To the point that he even forgot to mention it in the podcast proper.