Re: Stereotypes

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. T. questions my reply:

>Why divisive stereotypes?  There must be some explanation behind
>these trends... There is no doubt in my mind that the ratio of 
>women collecting VM reels vs. stereo views is much higher than
>the same ratio between men.  Instead of rejecting these observations
>as "less than useless", why don't we think of an explanation?

What I'm saying is that your "data" is invalid, and therefore it is
not only pointless to draw any conclusions from it (and then manufacture
"explanations" for them), it could be harmful (or at least insulting) to
the segment of the population that you claim is under-represented.
You can't possibly know every collector of either VM or stereoviews
(no one could; those two groups must encompass millions of people).
The only valid conclusion we can reach from your observation, assuming
it is correct, is that "Dr. T. knows more women collectors of VM than
he does of stereoviews".  To presume that this generalizes to the
entire population (even if just the U.S.A., and collectors of VM and
stereoviews are by no means so restricted) is, to put it kindly, silly.

Now, if you want to restrict yourself to, say, the NSA membership
directory listings for what people (say they) collect, we would at
least have a semi-objective data source (but still self-selecting
and self-reporting).  There's the question as to whether people who
have few reels consider themselves "collectors" or not, and whether
people actually bother to list everything they (and their spouses)
collect...

	-Greg W.

"Back off, man.  I'm a scientist." -Dr. Venkman


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