xkcd – Math and Gender Discrimination – By Randall Munroe – http://xkcd.com
Transcript
- Man to a man: Wow, you suck at math.
- Man to a woman: Wow, girls suck at math.
Vocabulary
- gender (n.) /ˈdʒendər/ the state of being male or female
- discrimination (n.) /dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃən/ when someone is treated unfairly because of their sex, race, religion, etc
- wow /waʊ/ something that you say to show surprise (or excitement, admiration, etc.)
- to suck at (v.) /sʌk/ (very informal) to be very bad at doing something.
Context
- Note that the man and the woman who are bad at math are doing exactly the same thing. However, when it comes to the man, the blame is put on him alone (you suck at math); but when it comes to the woman, the blame is put on all women (girls suck at math).
- This comic strip is making fun of the fact that people create generalizations very quickly when it matches the preconceived idea(s) that they believe in.
- Also, in this case, by showing that the only thing that changes is the gender, it shows that such generalizations/stereotype are not founded and are not based on valid arguments.
