Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs • Hacker News Board

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#11

Post by _delirium » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 6:17 AM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #6

houseabsolute wrote: post #3

Considering Freud's theories have never been proven to have a basis in reality, and considering this woman is an entrepreneur and has no apparent expertise in the field she's commenting on, I'd advise you not to give her conjecture much weight.

How about the unconscious mind? Psychiatric therapy? Freud wasn't just "sexsexsexsexsex".

Yeah, especially given the common conceptions of mind at the time he wrote, I see one of his main enduring contributions being the idea that the mind is not something we have full, transparent, introspective access to. A few other philosophers around the time were getting at similar ideas (Nietzsche and Schopenhauer were both interested in the hidden influences that caused people to think and want what they thought and wanted), but the mainstream view was that the mind was fully accessible to itself, i.e. that all thought was conscious.

Of course, that isn't necessarily an endorsement of his much more specific views on male and female gender roles.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#12

Post by hakl » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 6:21 AM UTC

sprout wrote: post #5

Curious that xkcd commented on this sort of thinking just Wednesday: http://www.xkcd.com/775/ Though most of the article remains very relevant when you take it out of the "this is the way it has been for thousands of years" mold which doesn't really have incredibly ironclad evidence and recognize that our present society does present these barriers for women. But I do think that overcoming our perceptions is not a ma…

A Freudian explanation isn't the same as an based on "evolutionary histories". Her last paragraph is about changing perceptions of attractiveness.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#13

Post by hakl » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 6:26 AM UTC

Good article. But I have to admit I was a little disappointed: with Freud in the title I was expecting, at the very least, something involving penises.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#14

Post by omarchowdhury » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 6:52 AM UTC

elbrodeur wrote: post #10

kiba wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will just say the politically incorrect things: Women are in general more interested in having babies than men. Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially. We should close gender gap where possible, but we shouldn't insist on equal gender balance if women really don't like to go into the same career that men goes into.

What do you mean by "more interested in having babies than men"? Do you mean that, because women are capable of carrying a child to term that they are more interested in copulating? Do you mean to say that women want to have and raise children more than men? I'm not sure I understand your point. As to "Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially", all I can say is this was mu…

I think what kiba and Beatrice Pang are saying is that it is biologically ingrained in the psyche of women to want children.

The same way a hot woman is universally attractive to heterosexual men. It's how we are. I guess my second point is a bit irrelevant but I'm adding on to what Beatrice is saying: much of our behaviors follow a certain template to ensure the continuation of the species, there's a special synergy between men and women.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#15

Post by dtf » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 6:55 AM UTC

This is (pop) evolutionary psychology, not psychoanalysis. Freud's reasoning on why men are driven to become entrepreneurs, magnates, architects, artists is that the boy, sensing that he has been robbed of the organs required to procreate internally, is driven to create externally to assuage his loss. It's the male equivalent of Freud's theory of "penis envy".

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#16

Post by chisophugis » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 7:02 AM UTC

elbrodeur wrote: post #7

Interesting take on things, especially from a woman. Typically, this stance: "How can we make more women successful? Without fundamental changes in how men and women perceive attractiveness, it will be difficult to change the status quo. ... what about making the next "Carrie Bradshaw" a hardworking tech entrepreneur?" is taken by men. I think that the "reason" that there are fewer female entrepreneurs and hackers th…

>Why must it be attractive for a female to be powerful in order for her to succeed?

There is an undeniable biological tendency to want to attract a partner. Hence, any human's behavior will tend (in varying amounts) toward striving to be attractive to a partner. This foments a tendency for men to seek "Success, wealth and power" while fomenting a tendency for women to seek "beauty and femininity" (to use the article's wording).

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#17

Post by chisophugis » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 7:06 AM UTC

ScotterC wrote: post #8

I feel that this it ignores the greater purpose that mankind has. Greater then finding a mate. Creating and building. That is universal and is gender neutral.

It ignores it only as much as the average person does.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#18

Post by kiba » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 7:08 AM UTC

elbrodeur wrote: post #10

kiba wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will just say the politically incorrect things: Women are in general more interested in having babies than men. Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially. We should close gender gap where possible, but we shouldn't insist on equal gender balance if women really don't like to go into the same career that men goes into.

What do you mean by "more interested in having babies than men"? Do you mean that, because women are capable of carrying a child to term that they are more interested in copulating? Do you mean to say that women want to have and raise children more than men? I'm not sure I understand your point. As to "Women are also just different than men in some way, not just physically, but socially", all I can say is this was mu…

Who is advocating forcing people to do things?

I felt like that there is an assumption of male sexist bias against women or something. So I feel something like "assumption of female ability in all area, regardless of reality".

I also feel the ideas of "males are sexists and evil and the like".

Then they forget that males are disproportional one of the most violent offenders, but also overachievers.

So I spoke the truth as I see it.

Don't be so offended, I would like a hacker woman to marry and love. I wish there were more of them around and I wish I have the skills to date them. However, I also recognized, that women are women, and there will never be a 50% split gender tech population.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#19

Post by rtomayko » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 7:20 AM UTC

That's fucking ridiculous and the stupidest thing I've ever heard of in my life.

Re: Freud explains why there aren't more women entrepreneurs

#20

Post by dmor » Sat, Aug 07, 2010, 7:29 AM UTC

I don't ever want to take funding from something like XX Combinator, its just insulting to think I'd be getting money because of something I have no control over like my gender.

I want to earn my success because of the things I can control and what I create with my own mind and hands and hard work.

Btw ladies, there are men out there who admire a woman who is strong and successful - and they're worth searching for. Some of them even work for startups, too