wilbjammin

Except... yourself. And, well, lots of things. We aren't formed in vacuums.

And you realized that there are reasons that opportunity laws have been created - because our culture has explicitly and implicitly limited the ability of people of different groups to do things. You mentioned "builder" earlier for a specific reason - building is a particularly male-oriented field. Interests are shaped by what we're exposed to starting at a young age. Why do you think that about 50% of young black men are in prison? Is it because blacks are naturally predisposed to be criminals? Before you start freaking out again, I'm going to stop you before you go any further and let you know that the last question was rhetorical. The point is that cultural expectations and our environments dictate a lot about what we do, what we want, and what we don't do and don't want. Just because there is supposedly no barriers to doing anything we want legally, there are many barriers to doing certain things because of our social consciousness that is <i>created by all of the institutions of society which <b>we use to create our values</b></i>.

We aren't formed in vacuums.

Our desires to not do things and to do things are created by the contexts of our lives, our environments. This can be easily proven by looking through historical phenomenons thematically. How did we get from valuing the love between men in Ancient Greece as being the most valueable kind of love of all to an era of homophobia? How have we gone from differentiating sexual preference and gender roles to making them essentially the same things in the last century? Why did the practice of courtly love come into fashion, and why did it melt away?

There is a context to all decision-making.
We aren't living in vacuums.

Have you ever thought about why you like some things and dislike others? Have you ever caught yourself buying something that you don't need or even have a use for because of good marketing? Have you ever been inspired by a story in the news, by a novel, by a movie, or by something else you've seen on TV? Have you ever seen someone act in a way that you would consider to self-destructive or immature that reminded you a little too closely of something you've seen on television lately? Have you seen stupid fads catch on and wondered why so many people suddenly flocked to this new thing? Have you, or someone you know, been a part of something and then felt a twinge of embarrassment after realizing how stupid that was at the time and then wondered what caused you, or that person, to do it in the first place?

The structure of society as an institution that shapes decision-making is a total institution. Very few people escape its grasps, and those who do are considered oddities. We can't escape having our consciousness shaped in a large part by society because we are actively engaged in society on so many levels.

So, respectfully, I ask you to consider that even though there are technically no legal barriers to having absolute freedom of choice, that our social contexts create what are seen as viable and desireable choices for us that quite often match gender and other stereotypes - and that it isn't coincidental, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with "natural predisposition".

There is something highly problematic about talking about the way people "naturally" are - people are so highly adaptable. You may think of women as naturally being great mothers, and yet I know many people that would be considered awful with children. Whatever that "natural predisposition" is that you think women have is making a no-show in these people. With so many exceptions and differences in outcomes, coupled with explanations that can be linked to social contexts, how does talking about "natural predisposition" help us in these kinds of discussions in any way. At best, the argument will be weak because it is basically impossible to scientifically research what "natural predisposition" is. At worst, it will enforce stereotypes needlessly and continue the cycle of social construction that disenfranchises some people in some ways for no good reason. In less than a month, there is a good chance that here in Oregon a ballot measure could pass that will make it illegal for homosexuals to get married according to our state constitution. If this passes because of beliefs about certain kinds of people being inadequate for no reasons other than misinformation and assumptions that are totally unproven, then it will be a sad time for many people which will show how social contexts shape decision-making in a limiting fashion and in a detrimental way.

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Innominate.