dankrsta

As I understood from your last two paragraphs, under 2) and 3), it all boils down to numbers - how many guys have good taste and how many girls. That line of thinking will inevitably lead us to the conclusion that there are more men in the majority of activities that demand passion, obsession and time. I think you mentioned in one of your previous posts that men are more obsessive in nature. I might agree with that. Or I might say that men tend to be mentally more easily liberated from the confinements of everyday practical life and thus have more energy for obsessions. That's the main difference for me. It may be biological or sociological, but probably a bit of both.

But, when a woman has the will and energy to invest time in developing an extensive musical taste, do you still think her taste will be inferior to that of man's? Or in other words: Do you think that a true female music lover's taste is inferior to that of a true male music lover? That is the real question of taste: Are women just as capable in having a great taste as men? 'How many' is a different kind of question. It asks us why aren't women more obsessive and why aren't they willing to invest time?

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ImmortalDiotima

I'm not really sure what you are arguing here. I agree with the claim others have made that in general, fewer women have good taste in music than men. So yes... it's a numbers game. It was never anything else.

I'm confused by your final line... are you saying that thinking in terms of numbers will inevitably lead us to the conclusion that there are more men in the activity BECAUSE it is an activity that involves obsession and men are obviously more obsessive?
Or are you saying, literally, what you said, which is that thinking in terms of numbers will lead us to the conclusion that men are more involved in activities that demand obsession.
Because thinking in terms of numbers does not reasonably lead to the conclusion that men are more involved in activities that demand obsession... the conclusion and premise of that argument have nothing to do with each other.

I was referencing a previous poster's claim that men are more obsessive. I wasn't claiming that. It was an if/then.

I never claimed that when two people of good taste are compared the man will always beat out the woman. I'm not sure where you're getting that from. All anyone said was that there are more men with good taste in music than women. As I said before, taste is subjective so I'm not sure how you would determine that anyway. But if we're talking about two people with passion for music, no I don't think that a man's passion is always deeper than a woman's and I don't think that that should be inferred from what I have said.
What has been clearly stated is simply that there are more men who are passionate about music than there are women. The possible explanation has been offered that men are simply more obsessive in nature. Nothing else.

ImmortalDiotima

Looking back I can see how you might have derived your interpretation from my statement in the beginning of 2) that "women generally have worse taste in music" but I think I made it clear that I meant in numbers and not comparatively on an individual basis.

homesick.alien

I'm an ABC (Australian Born Chinese) and people are always really surprised when they find out what I listen to. They think that I listen to either emo/pop punk (ew), Top40 ew), or classical (I like classical though but its not my favourite genre). When I tell them I love Pink Floyd or Tool or even Radiohead they are always taken aback.


I think it may be because mainstream pop is generally targeted at young women. Women are more likely to follow trends then men (just look at the fashion. Women's clothing can have complete 180 turnarounds and mens fashion stay pretty constant.) therefore, they are easier to market crap to.

I don't want to sound sexist, but thats really how it is.

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"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names"- J.F. Kennedy

fritter

Musical stereotyping is inconsequential. What's the worst that could happen if you assumed a gay person likes pop divas, a black person likes rap, or a hot girl likes Top 40?

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Some songs I made: Yo Mama Tom-Toms

ImmortalDiotima

You don't listen to William Hung??????

Very astute and almost too obvious! I can't believe no one has said this before. I'd say you're pretty accurate.

ImmortalDiotima

On that note, I am a die hard metal head who loves my music as heavy as possible and the man I'm dating loves what he calls "electro-rock." It's sort of... rock style electronica like ratatat.
He and some of our friends are always remarking on how much "gayer" his choice of music is than mine. Especially since he and our other friend actually prefer bands with female singers (Metric is my friend's fave band).
Bustin stereotypes left n right

Sansa Stark

The sexism against our own gender is absolutely appalling.

ImmortalDiotima

The point of this thread is to discuss common stereotypes. You don't see a black person in here going "I can't believe you're saying that people think most black people listen to hip hop!" or "I can't believe you're saying that it's probably true!"

Seriously... if you have an alternate argument to give as to why we are incorrect in suggesting that not only is there a stereotype that more men are passionate about music and therefore more men have good taste in music (since so far we have offered two possible arguments for this conclusion: one being that men are possibly more obsessive overall than women and two being that popular music is directed more toward young women than men and that women are more likely to buy into trends (both of which I find to be true)) then you should offer it. But if you have no argument to make as to why our "sexism" (which it is not) is appalling then I don't really see the point of your statement nor do I think it has any merit.

If I were to suggest that more women care about their appearance than men and that therefore there are probably more women with overall attractiveness (whether natural or helped along by push up bras and make-up etc) than men*, would you be offended by my "sexism" against men? Or are you only offended by "sexism" against women?

*This is a hypothetical statement so I haven't given much thought as to how true it might be. Feel free to discuss if you like.

Dr.Seussicide

Well, I'm from the Caribbean, Trinidad to be more specific, Indian in descent. And my taste in music ranges from indie rock, to screamo, to sludge, to gothic doom, to DSBM, to emo, to hip hop, to thrash. I guess stereotyping works sometimes, just not always.

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