# Women are more privileged than men (At least, in the West) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076 "2016-07-16T21:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/21 "2016-07-17T12:56:30Z")
> [@StrangeBird](#): > > … > > Currently? I have never heard women go first in an emergency drill, only in stories about the past (women and children first on the Titanic). Fire drills & other disaster preparedness are regular occurrences where I work. We’ve got no kids there–but lots of women. I’ve never heard a word about letting us go first! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/22 "2016-07-17T13:30:36Z")
Them bitches… what’cha gonna do, eh OP? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/23 "2016-07-17T14:13:53Z")
Either the OP is sitting back and chuckling at us from his cave under the bridge, or he didn’t get the support expected. Whatever the answer I’m not holding my breath waiting for him to come back and stir things up. That seems to be their pattern, poke the nose out every two or three months, say something outrageous, then sit back. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/24 "2016-07-17T14:43:27Z")
60% of black women in the US are raped before their 20th birthday. 33% of white women in the US are raped in their lifetime. Girls in many parts of the world have their genitals cut off so men can control their behavior. Women in many parts of the world are killed by men because they don’t like the woman’s behavior (honor killings). Women in the middle east are treated like subhuman slaves. In the US, a significant proportion of the male population is trying to turn women into subhuman slaves. Men subject women to constant sexual harassment and act like they think we are idiots. My very much former boss told me they were only promoting people with balls because the clients wouldn’t listen to anyone without them, even if the person with balls had zero qualifications. Most women are somewhat afraid of men, and rightly so since they seem to have something against us. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/25 "2016-07-17T15:18:46Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > “…and what does the man get? The big piece of chicken. That’s it. He gets the big piece of chicken.” …and the smaller pieces are more juicy and flavorful. Yet ANOTHER example of the perfidy of the bevaginaed! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/26 "2016-07-17T15:50:56Z")
Yes, there do exist specific ways in which women are more privileged than, or have unfair advantages over, men—although not all specific individual women are able to benefit from these. And vice versa: there do exist specific ways in which men are more privileged than, or have unfair advantages over, women. I’m not sure how you could determine which sex was _more_ privileged in a society—is such a claim measurable, or falsifiable? But I do invite the OP to try the following thought experiment: Suppose you had to be reincarnated as some other person somewhere in Western society. You get to choose whether you will be male or female, but all other details (race, socioeconomic status, location, physical appearance, etc.) will be determined randomly. Which sex do you choose, and why? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/27 "2016-07-17T16:00:44Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Either the OP is sitting back and chuckling at us from his cave under the bridge, or he didn’t get the support expected. Whatever the answer I’m not holding my breath waiting for him to come back and stir things up. Do not accuse other posters of trolling outside of the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/28 "2016-07-17T16:28:11Z")
> [@ILikeForeignLanguages](#): > > It is politically incorrect for a male character to rescue a female in film, but a female rescuing a male is okay. What movies have you been watching? I have never seen nor heard anything like this, from anyone. Maybe this will become more of a point if there’s more movies with women as protagonists, but that seems unlikely, since most movies today are pitched toward audiences of fourteen year old boys. Sounds to me like the OP is still pissed off about **Ghostbusters** being remade with yucky girls. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/29 "2016-07-17T18:30:16Z")
You left out the fact that if you discuss women’s shortfalls people will agree with you and sympathize while demanding action, if you discuss the opposite (the benefits of being female or areas where men fall short) people will insult and ridicule you as this thread shows. If someone discussed areas where men are ahead and women fall short (like income) nobody would say in a condescending tone ‘I’m sorry your boyfriend broke up with you’ but reverse the genders and that is this thread in a nutshell. Granted there are drawbacks to being a woman obviously (higher rates of sexual abuse, higher rates of eating disorders, lower incomes, higher fear of strangers, etc), but there are also a lot of benefits, at least in the west and in developed nations. I fail to see why discussing them is so horrible. Here are some other examples: [ul] [li]Women earn 3 college degrees for every 2 earned by men. Women make up 60%+ of all college students. [/li][li]Women receive something like 30-40% more health care spending over their lives, but thy pay less in taxes and in private payments to cover the insurance. So over a woman’s life she may get $150k+ more in health care spending, but pay $100k less to cover it since women earn less than men (and therefore contribute less to employer based health care, pay less in taxes). [/li][li]Women are less likely to go without health insurance (in the US). However they are also less likely to get employer based insurance, but overall their uninsured rate is lower. [/li][li]Domestic violence laws are heavily biased. Men do not have shelters or police protection if they are victims of DV. If anything, they cannot call the police for help because they will likely be arrested for being a crime victim. [/li][li]Laws regarding divorce (how assets are split, child custody, etc) have a heavy gender bias. [/li][li]Women only make up 5-10% of people who die in workplace accidents or in military combat.[/li][li]There are 10 men incarcerated for every 1 woman[/li][li]About 3/4 of long term homeless are men.[/li][li]Female life expectancy is longer[/li][li]Female cancers like breast cancer get more attention than male cancers like testicular or prostate. [/li] [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/30 "2016-07-17T18:35:37Z")
No more babies until we get women’s health care costs under control! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/31 "2016-07-17T20:17:51Z")
> **[The Lifetime Distribution of Health Care Costs](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361028/)** > > To estimate the magnitude and age distribution of lifetime health care expenditures.Claims data on 3.75 million Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan members, and data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey,... > [@](#): > > Data were aggregated and summarized in year 2000 dollars by service, age, and gender. > > Principal Findings > > Per capita lifetime expenditure is $316,600, a third higher for females ($361,200) than males ($268,700). Two-fifths of this difference owes to women’s longer life expectancy. Nearly one-third of lifetime expenditures is incurred during middle age, and nearly half during the senior years. For survivors to age 85, more than one-third of their lifetime expenditures will accrue in their remaining years. Those were in 2000 dollars. In 2016 $ those numbers are pretty much doubled sadly. So a woman may get 720k in health care costs while a man may average 538k over a lifetime. A woman earns on average about $400,000 less over a lifetime than a man (in large part due to working shorter hours at less lucrative jobs). So she will pay less in premiums, and less in taxes to cover medicare and medicaid. So it is a net benefit about being a woman, irrelevant of whether it fits the popular narrative or not. Women probably pay 100k+ less in taxes and premiums to fund health care and probably get close to 200k more in health care over their lifetime. Health care costs do need to be fixed in this country. I have no idea if that is politically possible though. Neither party wants to do what needs to be done to fix this issue. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/32 "2016-07-17T23:11:10Z")
This topic, more than any other other, seems to draw ad hominem attacks. Instead of addressing the points in the OP - which may or may not be factually true - many posters here have simply resorted to ad hominem. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/33 "2016-07-17T23:39:07Z")
Both genders have advantages and disadvantages, no doubt, although I would argue that in the overall balance of things, men still come out slightly ahead with an advantage. But some MRAs minimize the disadvantages that women face, and some feminists aren’t even willing to acknowledge that there are some advantages to being a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/34 "2016-07-17T23:49:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Both genders have advantages and disadvantages, no doubt, although I would argue that in the overall balance of things, men still come out slightly ahead with an advantage. But some MRAs minimize the disadvantages that women face, and some feminists aren’t even willing to acknowledge that there are some advantages to being a woman. When looking at non-developed countries or what life has been like historically, yeah men have come out ahead. However when looking at the modern west, IMO, women have a slight advantage regarding benefits, at least the social benefits. There are also health differences between the genders. Women have more autoimmune diseases, men have more autism, etc. I don’t know if you can really categorize those. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/35 "2016-07-17T23:55:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > When looking at non-developed countries or what life has been like historically, yeah men have come out ahead. However when looking at the modern west, IMO, women have a slight advantage regarding benefits, at least the social benefits. There are also health differences between the genders. Women have more autoimmune diseases, men have more autism, etc. I don’t know if you can really categorize those. I think having to go through menstruation for decades, once a month (that adds up to several hundred times in a lifetime) is a pretty big inconvenience. Some of women’s problems are women-created, though. A lot of gossip, judging, bullying or shaming of women comes from other women; some women are each other’s most vicious rivals or enemies. I don’t hear feminists addressing that often. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/36 "2016-07-18T00:07:05Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I think having to go through menstruation for decades, once a month (that adds up to several hundred times in a lifetime) is a pretty big inconvenience. I was in a class once, in the mid-80’s, when a guy expressed the opinion that women in management might not be a good idea, because, and I quote, “There’s this …thing… that happens to them every month.” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/37 "2016-07-18T00:11:08Z")
TPS reports? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/38 "2016-07-18T00:13:19Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > TPS reports? Those are forever. For every gender. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/39 "2016-07-18T00:36:08Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > This topic, more than any other other, seems to draw ad hominem attacks. Instead of addressing the points in the OP - which may or may not be factually true - many posters here have simply resorted to ad hominem. Yes, and it’s tolerated even on an otherwise civilized board such as this one. “You’re an MRA because you’re a loser who can’t get laid” is tolerated and is the standard response to man talking about men’s rights or arguing with feminists, while the equivalent “you’re a feminist because you’re an ugly hag who can’t get a man” would be considered extreme misogyny and would probably result in a ban. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076/40 "2016-07-18T01:03:41Z")
Don’t forget men have higher (successful) suicide rates and are much more likely to be victims of violence in general. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-are-more-privileged-than-men-at-least-in-the-west/760076.md?page=3)