I'm not really sure this is a question that can be answered by two women. Feminists aren't really the final arbiters of sexism, and not everything can be viewed in gendered terms.

The mere fact that someone would ask this question proves they have some innate hostility towards men. Well, they could just be an idiot I suppose. Sometimes I have to ask myself wtf is wrong with that boy.

This feature seems almost hilariously ill-conceived to me. Almost.

The long discussion of how male-dominated Wall Street is presupposes that the financial crisis can be blamed entirely on Wall Street.

That Erin Callan's tenure as Lehman's (pron. LEE-man) CFO can be attributed to having fallen into "typically male" behavior seems very convenient.

The conclusion that "hyper-masculine" behavior was to blame for the financial crisis seems at least arguably sexist.

I was going to jokingly ask "is it sexist to find these women attractive?" But after stupid comments above, I'd just rather toss in my support. I found this interesting.

If your going to blame men for the financial crisis, then women should be held accountable for the problems in the education system considering they make up the vast majority of school teachers -- especially at the elementary level. This is where it gets sticky. In my experience, feminists are adverse to accountability because there movement is based partly on victimization. Basically, there must be a man to blame. So blaming women for the problems in our school system would seem sexist to a feminist. Another thought. When listening to these women speak, they have no problem mentioning female attributes and go as far as suggesting women are superior in certain areas. Here's the hypocrisy. If your a man, never, ever mention any positives virtues about masculinity.

If your going to blame men for the financial crisis, then women should be held accountable for the problems in the education system considering they make up the vast majority of school teachers -- especially at the elementary level. This is where it gets sticky. In my experience, feminists are adverse to accountability because there movement is based partly on victimization. Basically, there must be a man to blame. So blaming women for the problems in our school system would seem sexist to a feminist. Another thought. When listening to these women speak, they have no problem mentioning female attributes and go as far as suggesting women are superior in certain areas. Here's the hypocrisy. If your a man, never, ever mention any positives virtues about masculinity.

I'm confused. Is the individual in the yellow shirt a male or female?

I'm confused. Is the individual in the yellow shirt a male or female?

What an awful thing to say.

Seriously, the fact that any time females do any sort of video commentary on issues, people are thinking and sometimes verbalizing thoughts about their looks is one of the reasons why we need "Ask a Feminist" in the first place.

And I'm guilty of it too (at least thinking about it)-- but I try to get beyond that and focus on what these women are SAYING.

Feminists aren't really the final arbiters of sexism

The mere fact that someone would ask this question proves they have some innate hostility towards men.

The conclusion that "hyper-masculine" behavior was to blame for the financial crisis seems at least arguably sexist.

If your a man, never, ever mention any positives virtues about masculinity.

Please keep doing "ask a femnist;" it's obviously needed.

Sheesh! What morons those commenters are. Men would be better off to read and learn something before pissing all over a page.

The guy in the yellow shirt needs to lift some weights. His arms are like tooth picks.

Its refreshing to see a couple of feminists taking a break from forcing abortions on teenage girls to enlighten us on the economic failures of the 'evil' white man.

What mean- spirited comments some guys leave. The real issue here is that yes, indeed, "hyper-masculine behavior" in the form of overconfident risk- taking behavior is to blame for the financial crisis.

It's also to blame for almost all of our problems this decade, really. The war in Iraq, at the end of the day could not have happened without a gung-ho, cowboy attitude on the part of the Bush administration. Just charge in guns blazing, and brawny confidence will cause victory. Never reach across the aisle or change course because that's "weak" or it would make Bush a "girlie-man". That was the philosophy there even if it wasn't spelled out explicitly.

Every regulatory failure that caused this financial crisis, and every time the previous administration ignored its own Generals, scientists, and lawyers, it all goes back to one question: Where were the adults? We will never recover as a country until the people in charge start acting like adults again. That's not an inherently feminine thing, but it does involve rejection of the alpha male cowboy ethic of the past 8 years. It looks like we'll get there eventually.

Actually, on the merits of the issue, I am a little uncomfortable labeling the reckless tolerance of risk as a "male" characteristic. It sounds to me like it is something we certainly socially condition in our males, but this sort of gender essentialism is really dangerous and not really true. (E.g., Tony mentions military belligerence, but Margaret Thatcher was just as militaristic as Ronald Reagan, for instance. And there actually are plenty of women in the finance world, as Dana and Ann point out, who were involved in the reckless behavior that led to the crisis.)

I think we do feminism a disservice by talking so much about stereotypically "male" and "female" attributes. (But we do it even more of a disservice by harping on Ann's and Dana's looks.)

Good point, Dilan. On second thought, I' say you're right that that kind of behavior is stereotypically male in our culture, but not inherently male.

By the way, the creators missed one very important woman who contributed to the financial crisis- Blythe Masters.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/20/wallstreet.banking?gusrc=rss&feed=business

I could not understand the old man in the yellow shirt.

I wonder if the guy in the yellow shirt has a hairy ball sack.

I wonder if the guy in the yellow shirt has a hairy ball sack.

How has this joke been made four times in ten comments? Maybe you guys should start mocking the other woman in the video, just to mix it up. It will still be misogyny, but at least it will be more interesting to read.

Interesting post. I think the individuals v. structure distinction is one that is hard to quickly articulate in a way that is clear, but I thought you both did a nice job of navigating it. Exposing events as consequences of hypermasculinity is not the same as blaming men for these events, nor is it saying that all aspects of masculinity are awful.

Is it sexist to say this comment thread's descent into an Andrew Dice Clay comedy routine circa 1985 was caused by men? Seriously, all you have to do is question a male culture that makes decisions based on whether a decision will give a man the opportunity to show he has man parts and not lady parts, and the sexism trolls come out in full force. Isn't there a "Man Bits Database" these guys can register with so they don't have to drop their pants and point every time a woman says something smart? It would save everyone concerned a lot of energy and heartache.

Is it wrong to assume the girl with no boobs is a man?

Is it wrong to assume that all men are risky? Is it wrong to assume that all men are greedy?

Feminists stereotype men and men stereotype feminists.

Feminists stereotype men and men stereotype feminists.

Uh, no.
Feminists draw conclusions about sexism from evidence,
and YOU have a problem with that, imagining instead that your shortcomings are being pointed out.

Looking at male actions without looking at male socialization is pretty pointless. Check this article about Somali pirates: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7650415.stm

This states that basically Somali pirates are the equivalent of American sports stars or celebrities. As long as women (or at least a significant minority of women) place a premium on the size of men's wallets, then EXPECT men to do what is necessary to achieve female companionship. Why is looking at male socialization of women so popular (when women f*ck up), but when men f*ck up they're just evil (no excuses, no socialization).

Also, as an aside. The natural end-point to stating the financial melt-down is rooted in male-ness would be to state that to fix things men need to be more like women.

Nation-wide there is almost 1 million volunteer (i.e. uncompensated) firefighters that are 99% male. I'm sick of all the "man attacks, man slays, man rapes, man abuses stories out there". The simple fact is this: for every man who harms (even if only financially) there are at least 100 who voluntarily risk their own lives to save total strangers. Not only does the quantity of men who save far out-number the number of men who harm, but it far out-numbers the number of **WOMEN** who save.
Let's please stop with the demonization of men. And the corrolary message that men need changing. Because the simple fact is "testosterone poisoning" is what let's men run into burning buildings. There is nothing "here" needing changing.

I find it interesting that at this point in history, women are outperforming men when it comes to the public sphere (investments, finances - as is evidenced by the study), and men are outperforming women when it comes to the private sphere (family - as is evidenced by an 80% female No-Fault Divorce rate and the epidemic of single motherhood as a "lifestyle choice").

Bottom line: I will admit masculinity can be destructive, but according to Camille Paglia, we're also the most creative social force. Feminists try and redefine masculinity -- which is utterly absurd. I weep for the next generation of men if a bunch of hyper sensitive feminists try and tell us what it means to be male. I'll go a step further as I shrug off the inevitable homophobia bull shit. The woman in the yellow shirt is definitely a lesbian. With that said, man hating lesbians are far too common and tend to migrate towards the feminist movement. My suggestion to her is simple, pick the vaginal pubes out of your mouth and shut the hell up!

Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin (which gave birth to all of the modern variants like amoxycillin etc..). Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine. Both of these men gave their discoveries to the medical community for free with no patents. Anti-biotics and vaccinations have probably saved well over half a billion lives worldwide over the past 30 years.
Two men, zero women. That's a GREATER gender slant in favor of men than the the disparity in banking (where in many many cases women were also present and cooperated in rubber-stamping bad business practices for easy money).

Soooooooooooooooo.......
If men get credit for ruining the economy, do they also get credit for saving a half billion lives over 40 some odd years?
Not to mention the dozen's of thousands of men who have died carving highways and railways through majestic mountains or building huge suspension bridges (not to mention all the men who died from black lung for the materials). Feminists are such a poor specimen of human beings. Feminism is built upon (false) female supremacy, and hatred. Too bad feminists can't be more like men and actually roll up their sleeves and get things done for the betterment of all.

I'll go a step further as I shrug off the inevitable homophobia bull shit. The woman in the yellow shirt is definitely a lesbian. With that said, man hating lesbians are far too common and tend to migrate towards the feminist movement.

What an amazingly offensive comment.

I guess it's educational in one sense-- a good reminder of the crap that Dana and Ann and other intelligent women have to put up with in a patriarchal society.

I am a man-and I do think women have the right to wear what they want at the workplace, I do believe in equality between the sexes, but some women do use their sexuality to their advantage at work. some women deliberately dress sexy to distract men at work - they enjoy using that power they have and now that men are even afraid to stare or make any comment about it because of sexual harrassment laws women nowadays are free to wear whatever they want in the office and that is why much more women now are showing more cleavage, tight blouses, push up bras - they are flaunting it - - what am I supposed to do when all around me are flashing cleavages, bouncing breasts, skimpy tops, I get horny, I cant help it, it arouses sexual thoughts in me and it distracts me from my work. I try hard not to stare because I know women wouldn’t like that but its hard,- Ladies is this fair what you are doing to men? Tell me what you think

Ross

What a waste of my time. Two feminists who know next to nothing about finance or economics decide to a post about the housing bubble, and use it as an opportunity to scapegoat 50% of the population. This shouldn't really be a surprise because when feminists aren't pushing for government mandated female privilege, they're bitching about men.

If you're going to talk about financial issues you just might want to be educated in the field of *gasp* finance.

Next time maybe then can ask a historian what he thinks about current issues in genetic mapping.

"The war in Iraq, at the end of the day could not have happened without a gung-ho, cowboy attitude on the part of the Bush administration."

Yea because women who are in positions of power never choose to send people into battle: *cough* Margret Thatcher *cough* Hillary Clinton *cough* Joan of Arc. Ordering other people to kill for them is generally not something women have a problem with. It's going into battle themselves, and risking death or disfigurement that our modern privilege princesses refuse to do.