Do you write people off when they give advice about a gender they are not part of?

Oh jeez, women are such a pain in the butt.

It depends on the issue. If it’s something physical related to gender-specific anatomy, then it’s hard to credit that a person without that physiology can know as much. With emotions, while there are gender differences on average, there is enough variation of experience that it seems much more creditable that the genders can offer each other usable advice. Of course, where gender is not a factor, it shouldn’t matter the gender of the adviser.

Huh? Anyone can give advice about anything. Maybe the person of the opposite gender has a lot of experience with the issue at hand.

Ignore the gender and just determine is the advice is valid.

I don’t discount advice based on the giver’s gender. I base it on how sound the advice is. You can have experience vicariously and learn about the opposite gender’s problems without having them yourself. A physician can advise you about a strictly female problem without being a female and vice versa.

It depends. It’s not that I don’t think that someone of the opposite sex can’t give decent advice relating to their opposites, and many times you can get your best advice in these situations. The only time that I become wary of what your asking is when someone of the opposite sex/gender starts giving ‘advice’ on how each gender/sex should behave relating to their gender roles, and usually these are the results of their own personal preferences.

I don’t immediately discredit them, and for most things it is useful to have both genders input, but when it comes to sex and relationships I usually find the advice of other women to be more useful.

I don’t believe in gender, so I do not ask gender-based advice. When I ask a person for advice, it is because I trust them or that I feel as though they can relate to the given topic. I would not write-off their answer because of their sex or gender. Obviously, we all have wildly different experiences and perspectives, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t relate to each other (nor does it mean that I have to accept any advice that I receive.)

It depends on the conversation and the person. Am I going to ask a man how a certain brand of tampon feels? Or am I going to ask a woman her opinion on how a particular erectile dysfunction drug makes her feel emotionally when she gets an erection? That certainly doesn’t mean that I’m going to discount medical advice based on a medical professional’s sex. Right or wrong, I sometimes form an opinion about someone’s opinion or advice based on their age and experience.

No.

I am really quite astonished at some of the answers here. Generally, when I want advice, I want it from an expert. I want it from someone who has experience in the topic. Book learning may be something, but it can never match up to personal experience with a subject.

Only a woman is going to know what it feels like to give birth. Yes, men can learn a lot about it, but we’ll never know from the inside. I can’t believe people here are suggesting they would take a mans advice about giving birth as just as good as that of someone who had experienced it. Doesn’t make sense to me.

The best expert in some subjects is not necessarily someone who has experienced it, but rather someone who has seen many different examples of it first hand.

I don’t think we actually have to experience getting hit by a car to know we wouldn’t like it.

@YARNLADY, if I want to understand the emotional impact of killing a human with a vehicle, I will ask someone who was driving a vehicle and ran over someone. If I want to know about be struck by a car; likewise, I’ll ask someone who has been struck by a car. That doesn’t go for every situation, but it doesn’t rule out the fact that sometimes a person of a certain sex may have insight into a situation that the opposite sex may not have insight into. :-)

@YARNLADY No, you wouldn’t need to experience getting hit by a car to know you wouldn’t like it. But if you were having people describe the experience of getting hit by a car, do you think you’d find the person who had real experience with it to provide more insight, or the person who was making it up based on research?

Obviously, the person making it up might do a better job, if they were more observant and could tell a better story. But on average, who do you think would do better?

My OB/gyn delivered over 10,000 babies. I’m pretty certain he understood what women go through during pregnancy, birthing and after birthing. He did not need to be a female to give me advice about my body.

There are plenty of neurologists that study autistic brains. They can give advice based on the knowledge they have about the workings of said brains. They don’t need to have autism to give great advice.

@bkcunningham @wundayatta Good Point, however @SpatzieLover has more to the point I was getting at.

@YARNLADY, I don’t disagree with @SpatzieLover. But if I want someone to tell me how it feels to give birth and I can get the opinion of a female or a male; I’ll listen to the woman. If I want someone to talk to me about being the mother of a child with autism, I’m not going to talk to a doctor who doesn’t have an autistic child regardless of her knowledge on the science of autistic brains. That isn’t to say I’m going to discount medical advice from a medical professional.

One female’s experience is not the same as a male obstetrician who has dealt with a thousand deliveries. One female can tell you about her own experience and is worth just that: one experience. And it’s a subjective experience. However, I’ve no objection to people getting together and talking about experiences. We’re talking about asking advice and I think we’ve gotten off the subject .

It depends on the advice being sought. If I wanted to know about the pain of childbirth or how it feels to menstruate or about the male orgasm, then I would not value the advice of someone who cannot physically experience those things. Other than these types of things, I think gathering a variety of perspectives, regardless of gender is valuable. We are all individuals and see things in a unique way.