Can women do the job of men?

[BOSSHOG]

Just stirring the pot. It was the question on a New Orleans radio station today. Its genesis: Last week a female police officer attempted to arrrest a man, they got in a tussle, he got her gun and shot her several times. However, they "tussled" for more then seven minutes, so she did a good job of holding her ground.

[RB TexLa]

1. Anyone can do whatever job they want

[BOSSHOG]

3. As Henry Ford said in 1903

Whether you think you can or can't your'e right.

[Taverner]

2. No, a woman cannot be a fluffer for an exclusively gay porn star

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. ...

:loveya:

[BOSSHOG]

15. I think I am of the mind

that if someone were "fluffing" me I would not be too concerned with exclusivity.

[Taverner]

21. But who would you get more ready to film?

Someone of your sexual orientation, or the opposite?

[demnan]

4. I don't think you will find an argument

that most women can be physically overpowered easier than most men.

[Stand and Fight]

5. Absolutely.

Some of the toughest soldiers I trained in the Army were women.

[Squatch]

6. 155mm SP Howitzer Cannon Crewmember

during a BN 6 DPICM firemission?

Hell, I'm 6'3", in great shape, and *I* can barely do that job.

[BlueIris]

7. The only jobs for which no man is qualified are human incubator and wet nurse. Likewise,

...the only job for which no woman is or can be qualified for is sperm donor. (Wilma Scott Heide)

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Of course. And the reverse is also true. n/t

[Angela Shelley]

9. Thanks for the "throw us back into the stone age" thread

[BOSSHOG]

12. Your Welcome

She had a very intense funeral.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. I know several women who could easily take out a 6'4'', 300- lb. guy.

[Cleita]

23. True. I used to be one of them.

I was a bartender at one time and I had to learn some martial arts, however, I didn't learn anything dignified like judo or karate. I had a customer who had a criminal past as a mugger in Boston and he taught me to street fight. It was dirty stuff and I'm not proud of it but I'm only 5'3" and 120 lbs at the time and it was what I needed against a 6'4" 300 lb. guy. You really have to be fast though or you've lost.

[devilgrrl]

13. Haven't there been incidents of male police officers being overpowered?

I believe there has. What a pointless topic of discussion.

[BOSSHOG]

14. Maybe pointless but definitely local

It was an extension of her story and in conjunction with the seemingly spike in crime around the city the last few weeks related to Mardi Gras. Jocks get up in the morning asking themselves what kind of crap can I stir up today.

[Canuckistanian]

47. I agree

I believe that your effectiveness (and survival) as a cop depends mainly on your wits, NOT your brute strength.

You're right. Single incidences like this prove nothing.

[Cleita]

16. Men sometimes can't either. I had a policeman friend

who stopped a guy because his license plate registration wasn't current. It turned out the guy was a criminal and misunderstood why he was being stopped. It was on a road that lined a cliff by the beach. The guy when ordered to get out of the car grabbed my friend and tried to throw him over the cliff. If civilians that were walking by hadn't intervened and saved my friend he would be dead now or badly injured anyway.

So it's basically a dirty job, and there is always danger in interacting with people, but mostly it's about negotiating and women can handle that quite well. One of my neighbors when I lived in Texas were a couple of deputy sheriffs, husband and wife, and quite honestly I felt more secure putting my life in the hands of the wife because she was a much better all around officer than her husband and she would put her life on the line for you. I had my doubts about her husband.

[treestar]

17. That could happen to a male police officer too

And it might have been bad training.

Should short men be cops? Bigger men out there might overpower them. Yet they could be trained.

[BOSSHOG]

18. Sure can

Their daily lives revolve around dealing with people we wouldn't want to socialize with.

[leftofthedial]

19. not in the NFL

[iamthebandfanman]

20. yup n/t

[Dawggie]

22. Not when it comes to impregnating women via au naturale.

(tongue in cheek. Forgive me)

Other than that, anything..

[Stinky The Clown]

24. BOSS, you old scab picker, you!

Stirring the pot, indeed!

Welcome to the club, bud! :hi:

[BOSSHOG]

30. I'm just sharing

the state of discussion in present day New Orleans. I'm a sharer.

[Stinky The Clown]

31. That was said with the utmost of innocence, no doubt.

[BOSSHOG]

32. You know

I'm totally innocent My Friend. I have spent part of my day stirring the pot in the Sports Forum "hating" New England and Billichick.

[zorahopkins]

25. For Crying Out Loud!

Oh, for crying out loud, why is this even still in question in 2008?

OF COURSE, a woman can do ANY job a man can.

And she would probably do a better job at it!

[BOSSHOG]

27. Don't shoot the messenger

I'm just sharing with you what I heard on the radio today. It has been a question in New Orleans for a week along with whether police officers should patrol alone, which she was doing.

[RedCappedBandit]

29. Hypocrite?

[SoCalDem]

26. Can Do..and HAVE done..

The assigning of jobs by gender is so 19th century.

Other than impregnating (by natural means) a female, or a female giving birth & breast-feeding a child,I cannot think of a "job" that could not be done by either sex.

[blues90]

28. I feel they can

I am a male , I have to say I have seen women who can do a mans job even physical labor jobs and there are many men who can't .

I also feel women should get paid the same as men , never had a problem with that .

[Nay]

33. Plenty of male cops get shot that way, too. And they don't last 7 min. nt

[Swamp Rat]

34. Yes.

Happy Lundi Gras! :hi:

[alarimer]

35. Most of the male cops here could not pass their original physical fitness tests now

in addition to not being able to hit the broad side of a barn with their weapons. So one incident should not condemn all women as being unfit for police duty.

[WinkyDink]

36. It's a good thing no male cops are ever killed.

[undeterred]

37. They want to hold on to some high paying areas.

[WinkyDink]

38. If they have low aspirations.

[jmowreader]

39. A few jobs women can't do...

Actor playing male roles

Gigolo

Sperm donor

Baritone, or lower, in lyric opera

[Book Lover]

42. I think Cate Blanchett would take exception to your first point

[kineneb]

40. the power tools are MINE! back away or I will hurt you!

I have a nice woodshop and lots of power tools; this impresses the local "guys" no end.

There was a traveling tool sale here the other day, so I picked up some goodies. I brought them home, handed the bag to Hubby and told him he should hand them to me and say, "Happy Early Valentine's Day", which he did.

[El Pinko]

41. Some women have physical strength.

If they can pass the same physical strength standards men can, I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to work as firefighters or cops.

There are more than a few flabby men lacking in physical strength whou also couldn't pass the standards.

Incidents like the one you mentioned might be prevented by more intensive and frequent training in matial arts and techniques to disarm a suspect.

Kudos to owmen out there doing the tough, underpaid job as firefighters and cops!

Kudos to the men, too!

[Book Lover]

43. Well, the question presupposes that all cops ought to be male in the first place

So if I were interested, I would tick off a generic cop job description and see what shakes out. Do cops have to use physical strength (the place where biological males generally have the advantage over biological females {though I say this as a woman who once made it to bench-pressing 200 lbs. Oh, to be young again!}) in every facet of their job? Clearly the answer is no. So does it follow that "cop" ought to automatically mean "guy"? No.

[Jed Dilligan]

44. Competence in general is on the decline

And "women's work" is gaining ground on "men's work" in the job market. Meaning more jobs that require maintenance/endurance, nurturing, nuance, and communication, and fewer jobs that require muscle, short bursts of stamina, and rigid black/white thinking. Economically we are on the way to becoming a female-dominated society unless males begin to develop "female" skills. The education system is failing all around.

As far as police go: They should be more "female," by which I mean less macho. Chances are the cop could have talked her way out of the tussle, but their training favors physical dominance over psychology and problem-solving.

[Orangepeel]

45. Jobs shouldn't be "of men" or "of women"

People should do the jobs they can do. Some jobs require strength or height. Those jobs should be done by strong, tall people. If a woman is strong enough and tall enough, she can do it (I'm assuming the standards are legitimate and not arbitrarily set to keep women out).

Male officers can be shot, too, so I don't think this officer's sad death should be used to make policy.

[JanMichael]

46. There were two male cops that got shot some 10-15 years ago...

...in Miami by one unarmed guy who took their guns and killed them.

Then in 1998-99 a similar situation happened in Tampa where two detectives got killed by a guy in their back seat who had a handcuff key sewn into his jeans.

Shit happens regardless of sex.

Except the other direction where the male cops kill suspects. Women cops rarely do so.

[mvccd1000]

48. Most people will acknowledge that...

1) Most men are physically stronger than most women.
2) There are many women who are stronger than most men.
3) There are many men who are not as strong as most women.

Obviously, numbers 2 and 3 show there's no hard and fast rule limiting physically demanding jobs to any particular sex. Number one above, however, will lead to the fact that men will outnumber women in physically demanding jobs.

The only part I have an issue with is artificially lowering standards to make jobs accessible to people who cannot necessarily perform them; that generally leads to dumping a lot of extra work on the remaining people who CAN perform to those physical standards. I've been on the wrong end of that one.