I thought it was very interesting how the amount of testosterone or estrogen held no validity in determining how males and females will vote. This applies to our literature class because while we argue whether or not the woman's place is in the home and the man's is at the office, the only support we really have for this argument is our personal surroundings. I grew up with my mother as the primary caregiver and my father as the supporter. Therefore, i am more likely to support the traditional view, the so-called "Nick-at-Nite" view, of things. However, that doesn't mean that all people see mothers the way I do, so Dalto's inconclusion about this validity makes sense.
I also thought his conclusion regarding men and women's reaction to danger or threat was interesting. It makes a lot of sense when I think about it. When I was eleven, a boy in the grade above me made fun of me. I, of course, preceded to cry and call my mommy. My brother, who was older than the boy, tracked him down after school. Maybe that has to do with him protecting his little sister, but I am sure my sister would not have retaliated how my brother did. This is also apparent in our literature readings. In the Shoyu kid, the young boys take their aggression out on the "kid." They have been abused, and their first reaction is to do the same. While their retaliation isn't brought upon the soldiers, they take it out physically and violently. In "The Lesson," Sylvia doesn't play any practical jokes on the old woman. Instead, she reflectively decides that "nobody ain't never gonna beat [her] at nuthin." Her tactic of handling the sitaution is personal and mental, not violent. The result of this difference between men and women, especially since the war is a major issue in the upcoming election, will be a factor in the November elections.

I found that the forum presented by Prof. Dalto offered a very different perceptive on the voting between men and women. When listening to the lecture even though I did not want to believe that the statistics were valid, I could see how they were. I have grown up hearing both sides of political parties. It just happens to be true that my mom is more liberal than my dad. I believe that where a person is from is going to have a great effect on their personal voting choice. My dad grew up in Savannah, Ga. His family was very old-fashioned and conservative. They always had dinner together, went to every sports game together, and threw the debutant ball of the year. My grandparents raised their children in Republican values. They carried what they had learned from the “Ole South” to their children and now my dad holds those values today. My dad is very conventional thinking that it is the male’s duty to support their family and to go to war for their country. My mother on the other hand is from up North. She was influenced by her parents for people to equal rights. Her opinion of her political choice kept molding when she witness first hand protest and peace talks. She is very open-minded believing that women and men should share the work force and only supports the troops in Iraq not the war. As I grew up and got different views from both worlds, I tended to lean towards my mom side. So, although, I would like to disagree with Prof. Dalto about the stereotypical Republican candidate, his statistics state true in my family.
Prof. Dalto opinions would be proven correct when relating to the story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”. Dave thinks that having a gun would make him more of a man than he already is. As Dalto suggested in his lecture that men react to violence as being “more masculinity”. In the end I found Dalto’s forum very true even though would like it to be the opposite.

I thiught that Professor Guy Dalto's presentation on how women and men voted was very interesting. I never thought that someone could determine how a person could vote by their personal background. During the past couple of years, I have paid more attention to the elections that have occured. One reason is because my dad is an elected official in my county. By hearing, Professor Dalto's perspective on voting habits intrigued me. I can see how women seem to vote Republican due to their natural nuturing behavior. I can also see how men tend to vote democratic due to their more aggressive behavior. However, I think that over the past years that women have become more aggressive and have started to vote democratic. I also believe that a person can become influenced by his or her family. I know from my personal experience that I have been influenced by my family to vote Republican because of my family's political party's affiliation.

In professor Dalto's speech "the Gender Gap In Times of War", there was issues and statisitics brought up that I have thought a lot about before. In thinking about everything he said after the forum I found myself thinking "I agree with this" or "I disagree with that." However, it is hard to back up everything I was thinking considering that much of what Prof. Dalto said was in reference to statistics, true statistics. I do, however, realize that statistical data can be misconveyed, misunderstood, and mistaken; I took stastitics in highschool and learned a lor about data that has been presented in different ways and with each way, using the same information, a result can be displayed in many ways. I agree that in general men and women think differently but I also think that individuality, despite gender, is the main effect on decisions. People's views on war vary depending not only on gender but on the way one was brought up and the environment which they are a product of. I did agree though when Prof. Dalto said that man are more external in their anger and women are more internal with theirs. One must realize though that there are always exceptions to these sorts of stereotypes.

Dr. Dalto's report helped me to realize why I may feel certain ways about some political issues. What he said about women internalizing violence and men externalizing it was interesting to me and although I think he was correct in this hypothesis, I realized that there can also be violent women and passive men. I can absolutely see how there is a gender gap in elections, but I do not think it has everything to do with women's and men's differeing view on violence or the current war. For example I know an issue that I feel strongly about right now is a woman's right to choose. While this is something that has been important to me since I began to understand politics, it is probably not something a man would think about it. Bush has passed some laws during this term which limit this right and while this is by far not the only platfrom I would base my vote on, it is something I consider. I believe issues of this nature could just as easily create a gender gap in times of peace that the war is creating in our present time.

I enjoyed Dr. Dalto’s lecture in that personally, it was very enlightening. I have never had a sociology class, in which I was able to discuss and contemplate ideas such as voting trends, especially with respect to gender. I never thought of people voting differently because of their gender. Previous history classes did reveal that couples tended to vote for the same candidate, however I have never considered this issue. When Dr. Dalto first presented his hypothesis in terms of biological differences in gender and women as nurtures, both hypotheses made sense. Seemingly we can prove them by looking at the society around us. Yet, I was surprised to find out that statistically these hypotheses were unsound, in our region of the country. When he did present his final hypothesis, it seemed to lack the stereotype aspect and made even more sense than the previous suggested. I think after this hypothesis, I began to realize that we often, unknowingly, associate stereotype into everyday life. I find this especially true in discussions of masculinity vs. femininity. Women are often depicted as soft, delicate, caring, loving; seemingly, they are often the ones to think things through. Men are portrayed as those who are competitive, strong willed, and display less outward emotions. Washington Irving illustrates these differences in gender in one of my favorite short stories, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; one of the characters Brom Bones represents the masculine stereotype, where his counterpart, Icabod Crane symbolizes femininity. Irving does this to prove not all stereotypes are present in our daily lives. In our modern daily lives, we can see these “gender characteristics” intertwined among the sexes.

I also thought that fear factor aspect made sense before he proved it statistically. For example, in our society, women often times do not report serious crimes such as rape. They deal with violence in quieter ways, whether or not it seems to be the correct measure to take. Sometimes, men do respond to violence in a harsh, quick-to-do way. However, some of my closest friends are guys. When they feel threatened, their usual response is to shut people out and become eerily quiet. Maybe this is just the guys that I know, but I think I failed to pick up on this aspect in Dr. Dalto’s hypothesis. For instance, in The Shoyu Kid, the little boy they gang picks on does not seem to retaliate against their actions. Even Dave in The Man Who Was Almost a Man, cries when he shoots Jenny.

I found Professor Tatter's post insightful, though I was unable to attend the lecture. I have to wonder if any one poll could be accurate. Only a certain number of the populus responds to certain surveys. Many people refuse to answer surveys because they're time consuming and often times people find them annoying annoying. I think that perhaps people with similar ideals would take the time to answer a poll. I would have to agree that this survey can not be accurate because only a small percentage of people actually responded and they do not represent the diversity necessary to obtain good results.