Why are 99% of the contestants on Regis’ Millionaire show men?
I am an active member of the academic competition community (think like those “High School Quiz” shows, but on a MUCH bigger level) and have been for many years, and one of the big problems there is that it is HEAVILY male dominated. The further down the skill ranks you go the less females you run into, even. It’s pretty depressing, and many quizbowlers (as we call ourselves) have pondered extensively on the subject of why you rarely, if ever, see women in academic competition, including such shows as WWTBAM and Jeopardy. (These shows do draw a LOT of contestants from the Quizbowl/Academic Competition community. I know dozens of competitors who have been on one or the other).
One theory is that women aren’t socialized in our culture to be confident in their intellectual abilities. Now, the women that are successful in academic competitions ARE confident in their abilities, but I have seen MANY a brilliant female disapear from play very early because they didn’t “trust themselves.” Plus, women aren’t socialized in our society to be into competition. Men are taught to enjoy competition, which is why you see far less females at neighborhood “pick-up” sports (There are lots of organized women’s sports nowadays, but you see far less often a bunch of women hanging around shooting hoops) Please pay close attention when I say the words LESS and that this does not mean NONE.
So put these two factors together: Women are taught to question their own academic ability, and trust themselves less then men (even when they are “right” just as often) and that women aren’t taught as much as men to enjoy competition for competition’s sake, and it helps explain why you see so few women in quiz shows or other forms of academic competition. Pleas also note that when I use the word “taught” I don’t mean “explained explicitly” I mean “can be infered from sociocultural sources” that the person is exposed to.
You make an interesting point although you approach it from the side. You are saying that just because women THINK they know everything from having spent their entire lives talking incessantly instead of listening once in awhile, in point of fact their crown of absolute infallability does not necessarily function outside of their immediate family.
My girlfriend Lorena says that you are a sexist pig, but she also says that women do not fart, burp or sweat and the only explanation I see is they never close their mouths long enough to build up any pressure.
Of course, the above two paragraphs are jokes. I note the need to be explicit about that for the reasons stated in those same paragraphs.