Gender stereotypes in SL: "Real" women

Is "opposite sex" like doing it in reverse?

I was going to comment that "real women" tend to have excellent taste.

Pep (Although I am not sure if Chris would enjoy being bracketed with me. )

Once again, I haven't a clue what you are talking about.

Pep (has no alts posting in that thread)

I suck at multitasking. My wife chides me about it all the time.
Me too.

Multitasking simply seems to be a female quality (in general that is), one female quality I would, as a man, love to have myself. I fully admit to that

meh

I know far too many folks that are outside the stereotypes...

So I don't worry and go by individuals.

I've seen boys that define girly... and girls where tomboy just isn't a strong enough description.

And add in regional speech variations...


Here it's common for a person to say hon, others say that is a dead giveaway they ain't female...

What is this "bracketing" of which you speak? Some kind of B&D thing?

this came to mind for some reason.hehehehehe

I really and truly believe that multi-tasking is a myth - that or else it is frequently confused with attention deficit disorder.

I has to be a myth.

Here I am in RL, simultaneously
- typing in the forums
- listening to the radio
- talking on the phone
- in SL doing a bit of tweaking to a build, and in IMs
- working on a project

I really don't see how anyone would be able to find the time to multitask if they have to deal with all that first.

Ephraim Kappler shakes his head ruefully: neither do I, neither do I.

I made fun of my RL boyfriend because he only ever does one thing at a time.

"Ah but unlike you and your multitasking" he said, "I do one thing but do it properly."

I then disproved his point by simultaneously pouring myself a glass of wine and slapping him round the head with a rubber glove. Properly.

Females don't multi-task; they just get distracted very easily from the thing they *should* be concentrating on.

Pep (eg "the ceiling needs painting"

*hands Pep a paint brush*

Get on it!

Let's just finish what we are doing first, dear.

Pep (Otherwise it would be such an anti-climax. )

PS Already on it; that's the whole point.

re multitasking:

some of us guys can do it... usually those like me that have been tech support

editing VBA code in one window, checking updates on 3 computers in other offices where auditors took them home on scheduled update nights, answering questions on the phone and from walkins...

That was my usual friday mornings...


forgot to add: and having a partner ask what was taking so long on the laptops...every 5 minutes

I think that very neatly sums up the practical effect of multi-tasking: it's all very well doing this, that and the other at the same time if you must do it all yourself but it is a complete pain in the neck to have to rely on someone who is doing so in the workplace. Such bottlenecks in production used to be known more accurately as bad management.

I'm not sure that "interrupt driven" work is quite the same as multitasking. Multitasking to me is being able to watch TV while remembering to keep an eye on whatever's cooking on the stove. It's the opposite of ADD hyperfocus.

Yes. If you're simply responding to events, then it's not really multi-tasking. It's more like a potential mess.
If you are taking in and/or driving a number of things along *simultaneously*, that's more like it.

Well it was more 3 windows on one monitor with updates going, editing code on the other monitor (with testing, etc), and then opening more remote sessions as I went.

but yeah, lots of interuptions and several tasks going on at once

Yeh, I can work that way no problem, Mort, because the computer takes care of managing my attention. It's when I have to manage my attention myself that I fall flat on my face.

What on earth is "interrupt driven" work?

Just to clarify: I pass many a day doing more or less what Sling described on the previous page (#210) but I don't see that as multi-tasking so much as me mucking about and even being dilatory, which attitude I can afford to entertain because my time is my own.

I associate the term "multi-tasking" with working life where it has become a common if somewhat vague feature of cvs and job descriptions. In this context it appears to mean that an individual is capable of doing several things skillfully or that a post requires the successful applicant to be able do so. In practice it dignifies a sloppy tendency to divide attention over several functions at once, saving time at the expense of concentration and competency, even when the results are usually disastrous.

I don't believe women are any better than men at this, which is no bad thing in itself since the very idea of it being a professional 'bonus point' is utter bs to begin with.

'multi-tasking' to me means saturday night service with a packed restaurant. a full pass of 6 and 8 top tables, 8 pans on the stove, two fryer baskets down, three things in the oven, pasta or veg in the water, etc.
this is something that i reckon all chefs can do on some level, and maybe 50% do exceedingly well at.
and most chefs are male, so im not sure how that works with the stereotype. one stereotype that is pretty valid is that which states that a female in a kitchen is more likely to be the one doing pastries and deserts.

I agree, the term is badly overloaded. It's used both to describe work habits that are typical of ADD, and also to describe being able to have a "background" task (cooking dinner) going on while your foreground attention is on something else... which is not something the "ADD multitasker" is good at.