There are a few jerks on either gender, but the feminist movement has stretched this way out of proportion. While there may be some bullying, but honestly, all the examples given are rare ones of complete idiots picking on others. Does this mean that the behavior on one team should reflect on that gender?
Heck no.
The examples given may be terrible, and I’m sorry that y’all went thru it, but that should not be a basis to generalize any group. Don’t twist my words and say that terrorism must not be bad then bcuz 9/11 was just an example, use common sense. Power thru it, and move on. Do not project your experience on the millions of people on earth.
I’ve coached in middle school, EDR and IQ, for 7 years. I’ve coached all boy teams, mixed girl and boy teams and this year an all girl team. I don’t believe I’ve seen sexism so much as it is that 6th-8th grade is an awkward time for kids and it comes out in weird ways.
My daughter had a hard time on as the only girl on a team, but I bvelieve it was because she was also the only 6th grader with boys who had 2 or 3 years experience. The truth was, though, she turned a wrench better than any of them. This didn’t turn into a Hallmark movie ending though. There was no great enlightenment on the boys part though. But they’re kids.
Here’s what I got. While i recognize that there are some males who are sexist and who do not treat women in the proper fashion they deserve, that doesn’t represent the majority of guys. Speaking on behalf of myself, my classmates, and many guys I have talked to, we don’t care if you are a girl. We are here to do robotics and compete. For a lot of us, performance is the only goal. I have been on an all guy team and two mixed teams and every year the only thing that has shaped my teammate decisions was pure robotic skill and whether or not based on previous seasons I felt like they could contribute. I do believe that guys and girls are inherently equal in skill however I personally did not have a pleasant experience with the one female builder I did have on a team.
TL;DR Not all dudes are bad most just don’t care. not all girls are great but they are still equal to guys and should be treated as such.
This is based on a social issue:
I have realized that females are held on a massive pedestal in competitions, and at the same time I have realized that many females found themselves feel not as accomplished (This has been supported by a Stanford study even in regards to grades). But to be frank, I have noticed the massive amount of immaturity of guys calling girls h… and b… Even in MCJROTC, many guys were calling females “objects.” This happens, but we need to understand that we will be offended if we seek to be offended. It’s impossible to completely remove sexism, otherwise it would be very difficult to have freedom of speech. If someone says something bad to you, just ignore it and laugh at them when you realize you are their boss in your future job.
I have mixed feelings about the Girl Powered movement. On one hand it does encourage people to invite girls on to teams, but the having girls on your team so you get 1400 dollars of grants is a little unfair on the surface. If you think about it, It makes teams want girls, but it’s a little sexist in it’s own way even though it isn’t really supposed to be. I don’t agree with the system, but I understand why it exists. Is there a better alternative?
I agree with that. Giving a team a money just because they have women on their team is entirely sexist. How is that fair to an all boys team? All it’s really saying is, “Girls generally suck at VEX, so we will give them money to essentially buy their way to the top.” I don’t get why it exists because it’s only saying, “If you join VEX, your team gets money to win.”
That’s one way to interpret it. Another way is: “I would like to have an equal number of boys and girls in VEX. Currently, girls are under-represented. If I provide these grants, I can attract more girls.”
And I think we all know that by just providing money to teams it doesn’t guarantee teams will win. The robots don’t build themselves.
I don’t feel like teams with females should be given money just to encourage them to do it. You also have to think, too, some fields just attract a certain demographic. Statistically speaking, engineering attracts more men than women, hence foundations like REC trying to recruit more of them. It’s not that women feel like they can’t do it, it’s just that majority of women aren’t interested in engineering. Yes, I do know that some women do not participate because they feel discouraged from doing it. But think about it, with all of the female empowerment movements, you’d think that it would even out a bit more and that is why I feel comfortable in saying that some people just aren’t interested.
This issue is just complicated. For me, I can say that I do not need or want any special treatment because I can confidently say I do not suck at VEX. But the thing is, I’m the only girl in the 3 teams affiliated to my organization. A girl showed up a couple times and said “I’m not smart enough for this”, then she chose to quit. On one hand, I want to be treated no different than all the male competitors because I’m as capable as them , but on the other hand I do wish more girls can participate in this competition.
I have to agree, particularly with the later part of what you said. On the one hand, women/girls, are strong, fierce, independent, capable. On the other hand, women/girls don’t go into STEM because the stupid, smelly boy sitting next to me in 7th grade said girls can’t do engineering, so I gave up what I really wanted to do.
There is a much more complicated, nuanced explanation. I really wish we’d start searching for it, and be allowed to talk about it in polite company.
So a way I have seen this used before is that teams are getting girls on the team just purely to get the grant. This leads them to get girls who aren’t interested in it, and are there just for show, or the team starts and the girl is interested, but once the team gets the grant, the girls are left out. This makes the divide between the boys and girls in VEX worse more than anything. The intentions behind the grant are good, but in the end it is a counter productive system.
Now with that being said, I built my HS team up from the ground, and am currently doing the same with my VEXU team, and I find that the experiences and skills I get from the process is irreplaceable. When you give the girl team what they need you rob the from the experience they would get from building it themselves, you rob them of the journey.
Yes some women don’t join because they are intimidated by it, but that’s their choice, we can’t force them to do it, all we can do is say how much we would appreciate their skills on the team and let them decide for themselves.
om my old team we had one girl and she was pretty much the backbone of the team, she did the notebooking helped out withh the robot and helped discuss strategy and was a constant help. the only thing she didnt want to do was drive but our coach wanted her to because she was good ( and we did too) but she didnt want. so i think as long as you are a help to the team and speak up for yourself (not in an annoying way), you’ll not only gain respect but friendships as well
I don’t see where it got out of hand. It’s been civil from the start and I think that there are great arguments on both ends. I agree with you. Hopefully we can rake in more opinions.
