I don't see how acknowledging and using differences in psychology between men and women would be problematic. Could you please explain why you believe it would be?
To the extent they are describing observed behavior, it's not problematic. However, stating generalizations in a flip, cliche-confirming way _can_ be problematic, inasmuch as it reinforces the negative stereotypes.
In this particular example, I certainly have no problem believing that it's true that among contemporary college-aged individuals from American and European cultural traditions, that on average the men would be more motivated to work out harder by the chance to see scantily clad women in a jacuzzi than the reverse. But that's extremely unlikely to be true for _all_ men or _all_ women. I would doubt that it's true for homosexual individuals. I would doubt that it's true for people raised in cultures that aren't so open to the display and ogling of near-naked humans, or contrariwise, cultures wherein the display of near-naked human form is not so sexualized.
This statement would be a cute aside between two people who share a similar cultural background. But in a semi-scientific article describing a utopian vision of power generation, it feels out of place to me.
From a global point of view, it's narrow-minded. The generalization given is not true of all cultures. From an individual point of view, generalizations about men and women who do share our culture tell us nothing about the individual in front of our face, who may or may not personally fit in with the profile. From a camaraderie-building point of view for residents of the building, making decisions about how to run the residents' responsibilities based on sexual objectification of other residents is probably not going to build a healthy local culture. And from a purely practical point of view, ignoring individual preferences and motivations is a great way to get substandard performance from everyone. Maybe the chance to see the girls in the jacuzzi would motivate the guys more than the girls, but I am betting it's unlikely to be the best strategy to get the best performance out of each individual man and woman.
The point is, it's a mistake to embrace these generalizations as universal truisms. They are anything but. And relying on them leads you to make poor and sometimes hurtful assumptions about other people.
The poster isn't talking about absolute truisms, but generalities. And generally, men tend to be less selective towards their mates than women due to sexual dimorphism. And yes, those differences extend into psychology[1]. Acting like there are no norms between the sexes in an attempt to placate those outside the norm goes too far. Yes, we need to be accepting of those who aren't normal, but that doesn't mean we need to ostracize the majority of normal people in the process.
Because it's adversarial? Because not all men want to flex their muscles for women? Because it makes assumptions about group psychology that don't hold true? Because it turns an entire gender into a carrot on the end of a stick? Because people can be lazy or tired? Because you can get laid easier without expending energy? Jesus christ this is a stupid thread.
I hope you are kidding. If you aren't, then you're falling into the same us-vs-them mentality that led to the persecution of Jews during WWII and racism against blacks in America. This method of pushing against literally half of the entire population will lead to backlash against those who think like you, distracting from real social problems that could actually be addressed.
My statement was exaggerated to make it obvious that I was employing humor. I'm doing exactly the thing that you are claiming isn't problematic, and yet you somehow don't like it.
And now you are complaining about people falling into an us-vs-then mentality while at simultaneously falling into an us-vs-them mentality yourself.
What I actually think is that current social justice thinking is as harmful as you seem to imply but that the way you are responding to it is literally just as bad.
We need an advance in our ways of thinking about this - not just un-thought-out reaction.
I see. Just so you know, it's tough to portray subtle humor like that while being so succinct. There are many people who legitimately feel that way.
I would like to point out that what I said and what you said were different. I spoke of norms and tendencies, while you took a black-and-white approach. I agree that there needs to be a middle ground found. Extremists on both sides make progress difficult.
What I did was to use a difference in psychology based on gender. Sure it was blunt and inaccurate, but psychology is generally pretty weak like this - see the replication crisis - so it is important to be careful not to use it out of context. You didn't speak of norms and tendencies.
I'd like to point out that you have doubled down on the us-vs-them mentality.
Extremists are doing absolutely nothing to prevent you from coming up with a better way of looking at this problem.
