[Molten]

To Jaine:

"Sexism is the institutionalized (i.e. widespread and prevalent throughout all aspects of our culture) favoring of one gender over another."

dictionary.com makes no reference to the institutionalized part. I guess part of our disagreement is based on a difference of definitions.

"Your contention that they would linger solely to oppress men is ridiculous."

Please read my words before ridiculing them. I didn't suggest once they'd linger to oppress men. Whats more, I've not once suggested they oppress men in the least. Just that they, in themselves, are a form of sexism as long as they have a gender requirement to be a part of the team.

"I for one would feel pretty discouraged if the only news stories about women in STEM fields were about our failures and difficulties."

I completely agree. I'm not suggesting showing these failures and difficulties to little girls. I suggest showing them to their parents in hopes that it would motivate them to raise their kid in a more unisex manner so that one day such failures and difficulties won't have to be faced.

"You are still living in a dream world, my friend. Trust those who have actually had real-world experience trying to contend with discrimination."

Please don't make assumptions about other people's pasts. I've been through discrimination. I was the only guy clarinet player out of 30 for my freshmen year not to mention being severely outnumbered in that respect for the 3 years prior to high school. Often it was regular for the marching band coordinator to not notice me and refer to as a group as "ladies". As you can imagine I was placed in many awkward situations while being the only guy, and when with the other parts of the band I'd always be told how "lucky" I am. They'd make suggestions that were completely inappropriate. I know what its like to go through discrimination. I completely admit that I don't have to deal with this every day of my life as women in professional engineering do. I have however had "real-world experience trying to contend with discrimination".

As you continually reference to my living in a dream world...Yes I dream big. So has most of the people who have had real impact in this world. Martin Luther King Jr is most famous for his "dream" speech. I imagine many people back then thought he lived in a dream world. That was less then 50 years ago today. In the grand scheme, 50 years for a dream world to come to reality...that's pretty fast. Maybe if more people shared my "dream world" we could live in it in another 50 years.

Final message: Please don't put words in my mouth or make false assumptions about my past. I feel you have made great contributions to this thread, but I can't help but read your posts as being rather condescending. You've been through and seen things. We all have. Please post your thoughts without belittling mine in the future.

Thanks,
Jason