Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!aero-c!nadel From: panix!mara@cmcl2.NYU.EDU (Mara Chibnik) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: social pressure fallacy Message-ID: <1991Apr6.134911.17339@panix.uucp> Date: 6 Apr 91 13:49:11 GMT References: <1991Mar25.115828.1@dev8.mdcbbs.com> Sender: news@aero.org Organization: (getting there) Lines: 39 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org In article <1991Mar25.115828.1@dev8.mdcbbs.com> rivero@dev8.mdcbbs.com sketches what he considers to be the lives of two quite different women and from that concludes: >For two American women to have had such similar starts and such >diverse endings points out the fallacy of the 'social pressures' >argument. Of course it doesn't. It might actually be the case that enough detail on these two women would constitute a compelling argument, but none was presented here. Among the "social pressures" each woman faced were the specifics within her family, presence or absence of adults around her to provide encouragement and example for following or avoiding a clearly marked route, and the appearance or otherwise of distractions from pursuing a goal already in mind. I see no reason (on the basis of details presented) not to make the following interpretation: Woman A is someone who is an excellent team player, doesn't like making waves, falls in with what's around her. Woman B is someone who does a good job of bucking a trend-- likes fighting her way through obstacles, adapts against rather than to what's there... These are both personality types that under appropriate circumstances can do well for themselves and lead to happy and productive lives, but that can fail under other circumstances. Both are evidence of the importance of social pressure, not of its lack of importance. -- cmcl2!panix!mara Mara Chibnik mara@dorsai.com "It can hardly be coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport." --Douglas Adams