Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Those She-Devil Bosses... Tsk, tsk.

"Nearly 75 percent of men said they would prefer to work for a man than for a woman. One reader's explanation: "They die sooner."" Reported by Jackie Farwell in "Business Watercooler Stories" AP.

Hmmm, ha ha ha funny, but I wonder why. Could it be because we are pms'ing every minute or is it because guys want mommies to cuddle and give in to their whims? Or is it a long-established habit to look down upon and discriminate against women in general, even if--as a society--we deny our prejudice against those (!) second class citizens?

Interesting questions like these keep coming to mind, but then, this is nothing new, and old wounds need to take their time to have their scars erased. Sometimes, the scars stay for good. Actually, the deeper the wound the more adamant the scars. Maybe that's it. The depth of our prejudices is directly proportional to our scars.

A Harvard researcher and Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University, Mahzarin Banaji, discovered that people are more prejudiced than many of them think they are. The bias shows in their brains. It is actually there in the make-up of the mind because the fear center is activated. Moreover, discrimination shows itself in the brain scans of people

The Harvard Gazette says:
"The research, done in collaboration with William Cunningham and Marcia Johnson at Yale University, suggests our conscious brain can lead us away from the prejudices of our unconscious mind...
"A liberal scholar of Indian background, Banaji was shocked when a computer test she uses to uncover prejudice in others revealed her own unconscious bias toward black Americans and elderly people...
"Another unexpected finding reveals an unconscious feeling about women pursuing careers rather than staying at home. You'd think that would be strictly a male bias, but men and women show it equally. And to a startling degree. Eighty percent of test takers associate men with a "work" category and women with a "family" category."

We should all watch ourselves with that discrimination, prejudice thing. We might actually be inflicting a serious disease on our minds.