It seems we're again going to split into in-groups and out-groups and start accusing each other of knowing nothing about others. We're now playing the culture card. Sigh!...

@Parson Jim:

I am a Brazilian, not an American; I understand culture shock. I am also not exactly white (by Brazilian standards, yes; by American standards, I don't know; I've been called 'Hispanic', 'Turk', 'Arab'... I guess I'm sort of in-between in my racial appearance). I have already been in Muslim countries (Algeria and Turkey), and I also have a number of Muslim friends (a couple from Turkey, another from Syria, a young woman from Iran, a middle-aged man from Israel...) with whom I have discussed their culture, their expectations, and their experiences with non-Muslims. Believe me, your reaction is exaggerated. Ms Clark-Flory may not know everything about the Muslim world, but she is entitled to her opinion. Just as you are entitled to your opinion about "privileged, sexually promiscuous American white woman", despite your not being presumably a woman, or promiscuous. Are you American? Are you white? If you aren't, do you have a right to have and express an opinion on white Americans? And if you are, do you then have the right to have an express an opinion on those who aren't, like Muslims in the Middle East, just because you have relatives and have already been there? As I said, I am not American, but I never thought this meant I couldn't have and express an opinion on America and the Americans. And I do.

Opinions, Parson Jim, can and should be expressed by any member of any group. They should be discussed on the basis of their claims, with arguments, and preferably politely. Your quick accusations did not meet this standard, and that's a pity. Given your experience, you might have something interesting and intelligent to say on the topic, especially to those with less experience with Muslims, like Ms Clark-Flory. But instead you preferred to express anger. OK, I guess it's your right. What a pity.

@LilyRose, @Gams on Glass:

As I said to Parson Jim, I understand culture shock. I know what it's like to have Americans prejudge me, and expect from me things that are based on stereotypes. And I do think Ms Clark-Flory overgeneralized about Muslim men and their wives.

That being said, you are also overreacting. Ms Clark-Flory was not talking about your husband, and if she implied generalizatoins about how Muslim men are and how relationships and marriages work in the Muslim world that you consider incorrect, I'm sure she would be the first to agree if you point it out to her politely. You could present your own opinion, with events from your own life or the lives of other Muslim women you know. You could describe how exactly a Muslim marriage -- be the man (or the woman) Arab, Turk, Iranian, Indonesian, Moroccan, Palestinian, etc. -- can be loving and supportive in any way that is different from how an American marriage can be loving and supportive. Or are loving and supportive marriages similar everywhere? I'd be thrilled to know more about this, and I'm sure that Ms Clark-Flory would, too.

But instead you chose to accuse her of cultural arrogance, and using arrogant words to do that. You chose to belittle her lifestyle choices, which is (I suppose) what you accuse her of doing with yours. Why? Is there any point there that you couldn't make with polite words, and with arguments taken from your own life and experience?

Ms Clark-Flory's blog post wasn't stupid; it was at best (worst?) misinformed (e.g. by assuming all Muslims in the Middle East are Arabs). But why not provide the missing information instead? Tell us what you think of Muslim marriages in the Middle East and how supportive the average husband is? With your own experiences to support it? It would go a long ways towards informing everybody else here, and avoiding the kind of mistakes that you complain about.

Note that, as ceolaf mentioned, the difference in variance between men and women in mathematics is only one of the factors involved in disparities between men and women in high-tech and math jobs. There are also other factors.

That being said, I must say that one often jumps too quickly to the conclusion that a disparity means discrimination or stereotypes at work. There are lots of other factors (many mentioned in the comments to the original '2+2=Duh' post, but including life choices such as wanting children, desire to work more hours (and thus publish more papers, have more ideas out there, solve more problems, etc.), various commitments, etc. Maybe we should discuss this in more detail.

To mention just one more factor, I remind people here of the comment Amity made in the comment thread to the '2+2=Duh' article: some stereotypes do influence women to turn away from math-full careers, such as 'math people are geeks without a life, who would like to be like them'. Peer pressure on women based on such stereotypes might actually go quite a long ways in explaining the difference in the job market. The significance of the variance difference should not be exaggerated.

The ads are great. I don't see anything offensive. What exactly is FRC complaining about?

@vasumurti:

I didn't really understand what you were trying to defend -- a point about tolerance, and Christians not following their own teachings? Or were you arguing against certain forms of sex, and also against Planned Parenthood?

not ads. I was thinking about something else at the same time... sorry!