Why do western women think that the world is like them?

Question

My puzzling question is why western women (U.S. and G.B. especially) who make up less than 7% of the world's population and less than that % of the world's women women actually think the world is a like theirs, where feminism and women's sexuality are openly embraced topics and women have the freedoms to do what they want?
The few women who seem to have this cultural awareness are the missionary women (christian), who understand that MOST women, from Central America to the Middle East, are confined and subjugated by the gender roles prescribed to them (chastity for women) while the men are free to sleep with/talk to and sometimes marry ANY woman they want. I've spoken to so many women who are shocked to realize that the men they are dating don't acutally consider them equals, and think that women have their 'place' in the home. As a western feminist and a man of international origin I find the stories of many enlightened U.S. women to be a breath of fresh air, women who actually understand that the MAJORITY of the women in the world DO NOT have a feminist voiceor a place to go if they are beaten, cheated on, or emotionally abused. Many women in the U.S. are pathertic, as they assume that men are like their own men every where in the world...they're NOT! Most men around the world see no problem with being with multiple women, or even telling women to 'shut-up' which shocks most U.S. women, as they are not used to men speaking to them in these ways.

What also continues to puzzle me is how these very same women will sleep with/marry/and promote these men not caring or realizing that most of these men have FAMILIES, children, and spouses BEFORE they come to the U.S (or even while they are here)., are EXTREMELY sexist and/or mysogynistic (players with great smiles=women with broken hearts) My own family experiences speak to this same issue, and i see a scenario in the U.S. alot where the women are so desperate and arrogant to be with men for their benefit that have families and other responsiblities in their own homes and communitiesm while the men go unpunished or even rewarded.


I was speaking with this U.S. missionary woman and she was one of the few women I've met who seem to have this world knowwledge about women. She went to a Central American country and discovered that many of the women where left pregnant and socially confined as the men moved on to the next woman or they left the country. From my dealings with friends and collegeas from Central America I had known this to be true, but what shocked me was that some of these women in class where shocked or even defensive, like they themselves wouldn't be next or that they were equaipped to discredit the suffering of these women. When i hear women say bad things about U.S. men I always wonder would they be ready if their men stopped defending them or put them in some of these other countries where murdering women is often not investigated or even cared about (stoning of women in Iran, barely made a rift in U.S.,juarez, Mexico-3,000 murdered women, barely made U.S. news) Many U.S. women seem to only care when it benfits THEM (sorry if you are offended, but it is the truth).

For all you men and women out there, what do you think of this? Have you experienced this yourself? Do any of you have crosscultural backgrounds that might help women understand that most women didn't/don't have the things/men they have? What do you think of this?


Sorry its rather lengthy compared to other posts, but I needed to but in the detail.

Si vous parlez francais, vous pouvez ecrivez vos opinion(es)/responses en francais ou espagnol.

Answer 1

You make valid points. What you will find though is most American women won't admit the validity in what you're saying. They like to piss on you and tell you it's raining.

Answer 2

I have traveled a great deal and the plight of the women in the 3rd world, especially, is an eye-opener. However, even in Japan it was hard to see and I have heard it's very hard for women in Russia too. People in the west seem to have no idea - you are right. I posted a question about the Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai who was shot for wanting to go to school to raise awareness - although this story has very much been in the news. To be fair, though, some of the stuff men say in GS is worse than what you would hear in the third world and they have education and no good excuse.

Answer 3

pfffft!



So western women are unaware of how it is for women in other places??



Well, I've lived overseas - and the women there have no clue what it's like for women like me.



It's not that I lament the lack of empathy for western women. But our live situations are just as obscure to THEM as theirs are to US.



Isn't that natural? Isn't that WHY people travel?



isn't that the reasoon that we are fascinated by other lands and other cultures - because of the myster of the other places and peoples? AKA - what we don't KNOW?



I agree that along with lack of knowledge - is the lack of awareness of how far the lack of knowledge goes. It's like walking into a pitch black room and not knowing just how big or small that room is.



Not only do you not see - you have no idea how much or how little we do not see. But I also see that as natural. There are times I can deal with ignorance and times that I can't. But in the end - it is a normal part of the human condition.



LIke it or not - we can't learn another culture in school. No matter how many academic essays, reports, news articles, videos we see - that's only the tip of the iceberg until you have a concrete experience.



Like you said, one of those experiences could be dating a person from another culture.

Answer 4

I don't think that way at all. You should probably think about the women you hang around.