the answer is: only on mondays, and with your left hand.
This morning, I was on Battle of the Sexes on 95Crave (95.3 FM) in Vancouver. Before I’D EVEN HAD MY COFFEE.
I co-hosted with radio ninja Buzz Bishop (also available at Cyberbuzz.) Buzz lets me jabber on the radio now and then — partly because he’s a nice guy, and partly because he enjoys listening to me sound like a complete ass “in front” of thousands of listeners.
(You can hear more of our antics by clicking on the “radio radio” category down there to your right.)
The point of the game is for both hosts — a male and a female (usually Nat and Drew, the usual morning drive folks) — to choose three questions to stump the opposite sex.
In fact, on Nat and Drew’s page, it says something about Battle of the Sexes deciding which gender is “smartest.”
But I definitely don’t think that’s what Battle of the Sexes is all about. Doing well at trivia contests is much more about exposure to culture (and memory) and a certain kind of upbringing/nurture than actual intelligence.
I mean, I know a lot of trivia, but that doesn’t make me brighter than anyone else… I just tend to fixate on random details, rather than large, useful concepts.
(Just ask my PoliSci profs.)
I asked the following questions this morning of my “stumpee” (poor guy probably wouldn’t like THAT title too much…) Chris:
1. When a woman gets “threaded”, does that involve:
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a) Getting something sewn for her wardrobe
b) A sort of hairstyle
c) Getting hair removed
Chris, to his credit, got it right (c). I was impressed! And that’s all he needed to do, apparently, because his female counterpart, Janelle, batted .000 on Buzz’s questions. The only other question I got to ask was about Mr Big’s real name on Sex and the City (he didn’t know: John.)
(I knew all of Buzz’s answers, by the way.)
We had an ongoing competition like this at camp, and I used to be called in as a ringer to help the junior girl staffers, since the boys couldn’t knock me out with their questions.
I think I was successful in part I have a brain for randomology… but I was also raised by parents with diverse interests.
My dad loves sports — which is apparently “guy knowledge” — but he also loves fashion (A topic that eludes a lot of men. A LOT OF MEN. GET LONGER PANTS NOW.)
My mom can knit or sew circles around most people (do you need a knitted circle? let me know), but she can also wield a power tool with extreme proficiency (back off, boys… she’s taken.)
I don’t think either of them fits any kind of gender stereotype very well, even if my dad DOES love his car to be obsessively clean and my mom DOES bake a mean pie.
Ew… even TYPING those stereotypical roles made me cringe.
That’s why this whole thing has me thinking: Is there really such a thing as “gender-specific” knowledge? Or does it just have to do with how you grew up? How “cross-gender literate” is any of us, overall?
So here are my questions for you:
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1. Do you think your knowledge base is gender-specific?
2. Do you ever refer to certain information as “girl stuff” or “guy stuff”?
3. What is the most stereotypical “gender topic” you know well?
4. What subject area do you know a lot about that might surprise people, given your gender?
4. Were you raised with ironclad gender roles? Or were the people in your life “generalists” of a sort?
5. Got a “boy question” to stump me? I promise not to Google.
(And try to make it something that most guys would know, not just something you happen to know at the same time as you happen to be a guy… like the serial number on a small part in a Nissan RB engine, or your middle name. Yeesh. Unless you’re like… Richard Dean Anderson.)
December 4th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Cool Meg! Argh, I listed to Battle every morning but of course, today, I was sick and slept in. GRRRRR. Missed it. I love Battle of the Sexes. I don’t think it’s about one gender being smarter than the other either, I think it’s all sort of tongue-in-cheek but it’s fun.
Answers to your questions:
1. Erm, I know a lot more about topics that would be considered girly than I do about topics that might be considered manly. By girly, I mean: cosmetics, weddings, fashion, celebrity pop culture, baking. By manly, I mean: sports, techie gadgetry, beer, burping contests, video games, cars, facial hair. Yes, I’m a gigantic walking stereotype.
2. See above. Although, often, if I refer to something as “girl stuff” I’m probably referring to THAT time of the month, or related topics.
3. Makeup.
4. Yup I was pretty much raised by parents with ironclad gender roles. I don’t have a problem with it, but I don’t have a problem with non-traditional situations either.
5. No boy questions. That requires brain power I do not currently have available.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
this is a question i generally think of as being in the “boy realm”… when you smash your thumb or a fingernail with a hammer, what do you do with it once it turns black? how do you get rid of the black?
and of course i only ask this question because i currently have a black moon on my right thumb because i smashed it with the hammer whilst hanging my pink christmas lights in my bedroom window.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
1. Oh no. I know a very, very little about a lot of crap.
2. Only when I’m flirting. :)
3. I don’t think I know a lot about any one girly thing…I don’t like to shop, I don’t sew, I can cook but I’m too lazy, and I hate cleaning and therefore do a half-ass job at it. I wear little makeup, I consider a lot of frou-frou stuff just frivolity…maybe I’m a dude and I didn’t know it. Hell.
4. The ability to listen to the noise your car is making and diagnose the problem. I get it right about 80% of the time.
4. Oh no. Both parents worked, both cooked, both cleaned…well, Dad was the only one who worked on the cars. :)
5. No, because that would be perpetrating the gender bias! hahahaha!
December 4th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Notice I numbered mine the same way you did. :D
December 4th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Numbered lists = too close to math, apparently.
December 4th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
1. Do you think your knowledge base is gender-specific?
A little of both- I think I grew up with some gender specific, but my job is very male-dominated.
2. Do you ever refer to certain information as “girl stuff” or “guy stuff”?
Yup, all the bloody time.
3. What is the most stereotypical “gender topic” you know well?
Baking.
4. What subject area do you know a lot about that might surprise people, given your gender?
Welding, power tools, carpentry.
4. Were you raised with ironclad gender roles? Or were the people in your life “generalists” of a sort?
A little of both. My sister is very ‘girly’ She wants nothing to do with bugs, or tools or ‘boy things’ but conversly I grew up as daddy’s little girl(aka boy).
5. Got a “boy question” to stump me? I promise not to Google
Hmmm- How fast can an eraptor run (the dinasaur whose claw was used to scare people in Jurassic Park. Also the dinasaur whose egg they almost took…)
December 4th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
1. Do you think your knowledge base is gender-specific?
Yes. Mostly guy stuff ’cause my pansy-assed ex-husband wouldn’t do stuff. (Did I just say that? Oops. Sorry. I’m a bit cranky tonight.)
2. Do you ever refer to certain information as “girl stuff” or “guy stuff”?
I don’t refer to it as such. I do treat it as such though. I’m not likely to talk to a guy about how a hand bag is made. Nor am I likely to talk to a girl about fixing the snow blower.
3. What is the most stereotypical “gender topic” you know well?
Child rearing
4. What subject area do you know a lot about that might surprise people, given your gender?
Plumbing. Construction.
4. Were you raised with ironclad gender roles? Or were the people in your life “generalists” of a sort?
My father did much of the cooking. My mother did the household repairs. You decide.
5. Got a “boy question” to stump me? I promise not to Google.
What is the optimal age for the, ahem, bend-and-cough appointment?
December 4th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Hmmm, good questions, Meg.
1. It’s probably more biased toward male issues but I’d like to think that I have a clue on some ‘girl stuff’.
2. See above, lol.
3. How to be wrong about everything according to a woman? [insert very cheeky grin here…]
4. Hmmm, female body image issues, perhaps.
4. Generalist.
5. What does a double-pumper refer to on a car?
December 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
1. I know a lot about baseball, which is traditionally a boy thing, but that’s mostly because I’m a genuine baseball fan. Other than that, my stuff is mostly gender-neutral, with the exception of some seriously girly shit from time to time. (MAKE UP. I LOVE MAKE UP)
2) I don’t, usually, but that’s not to say I’m just not remembering.
3) Perfume. I know a lot about perfume. A WHOLE LOT.
4) My mom was an SAHM, so it was mostly gender-traditional, but also surprisingly egalitarian, as my dad cooked, too. So, I don’t know.
5) I’m only asking questions I know the answer to, and wow, am I perpetuating gender bias, but here goes: What’s a ground-rule double? What’s the hidden ball trick? Name one baseball player known for the trick.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:26 am
To follow-up my question number 5. I had to put out a call to my brother to get a different perspective of the guy question. (I felt mine was way too weak.)
So here goes: Who was the winning quarterback superbowl XIII?
December 5th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
http://whatthehellwasthat.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/a-question-of-gender/
December 5th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Well, now I’m going to feel like a complete knob, because I don’t KNOW THOSE QUESTIONS. Yeesh. You guys did well. And went esoteric on me.
BUT… Richgold… Terry Bradshaw? And if I got that right, it means I remember answering that question in Trivial Pursuit. If not, then I am zero for all. Thought I’m guessing men should turn and cough by 35?