"Women have no sympathy" - What do you think of this quote from Florence Nightingale?

That's ridiculous. Women have great capacity for empathy. We pass this trait on to our children through our loving nurturing of them from the day they are born onward. True there is a difference between "sympathy" and empathy, but it's a very fine line. Women are very capable of great feeling for and toward others. To suggest otherwise is nonsense. EDIT: To the answerer who said I was "exaggerating" here: I don't think it's an "exaggeration" to say that most people in this world are capable of sympathetic and empathetic feelings toward others. If this were not true, everyone around us (including us!) would be psychopaths and sociopaths, wouldn't they? These are the only people truly incapable of sympathy and empathy. And those people make up about 2% of the population. It sounds to me like you are blaming single mothers (and saying that they don't nurture their children) and that they are responsible for producing all the "criminals" you see in the world today. That's a pretty heavy piece of blame you're laying on single mother's shoulders...and assuming what you're saying is true (that there are higher percentages of criminals coming from single parent households)- what about the fathers of these kids? Maybe their absence has something to do with it? Maybe society has something to do with it? Maybe it's genetic? (Most mental illnesses have a genetic component- they run in families...and addiction and psychopathy/anti-social disorders - which most hard-core criminals have, run in families as well.) Where else do you think conscience development comes from (including the ability to sympathize and empathize) if not from those closest to us when we are young? You should be congratulating those single moms who are doing the best they can to raise their kids alone. Most of these kids turn out just fine! EDIT: Happy...I do not dispute the fact that criminals may come from broken homes. What I'm disputing is the blame you seem to want to place on the feminist movement for those homes being "broken." I am tired of hearing that feminists are the cause of all the world's problems...it's just not true. Do you really think that women and their kids are better off if their parents stay in a bad marriage? I guess I just don't agree. I lived with an abusive husband for fifteen years. Why don't you come over and talk with my kids about how much family therapy it took to heal the damage done from that relationship? They weren't "unaffected." I can say that now they much better off in every way that counts, and so am I. You won't be able to convince me otherwise. I can't believe the message you're sending out to women who suffer in abusive relationships: stay with your man because if you don't, you'll end up producing criminal-minded kids? What a bunch of crap. Just think, what if a woman out there who was being abused was actually vulnerable enough (or naive enough) to believe you, stayed with her abusive husband and he killed her? Sometimes I just can't believe the ignorance I see in this forum regarding women's issues. It truly makes me sick. *peace*

Here's a fun fact that might amaze you. Not everyone who labels themselves "a feminist" agrees of every single thing. I KNOW. It's freaking shocking. But there it is.

Most women deserved better than the men they have in their lives. But out of sympathy they gave up their desires and settled for some bimbos because they felt pity for them you know. Now the bimbo wants to rule the woman cause he starts to think that if she can take him it means she's also a bimbo, having forgotten it was out of sympathy. Then the woman takes out her true colors and then she's being called heartless, cruel all those names. Whereas in truth they have more sympathy than any living being. Ladies never settle for anyone out of pity or sympathy. Let's go for what we deserve which is the best.

Can you provide the source of this quotation? It sounds very out of character. A lot of our alleged "educators" are spreading untrue tales about famous people who have tried to make the world a better place. For example, that Abraham Lincoln was a racist, that Patrick Henry never made his famous speech, that Davy Crockett died crying and begging for his life, and that Florence died from syphyllis.

Don't really know what to make of her quote other than it may ring true for some women and untrue for others. Perhaps it was just her own perception and it also depends on circumstances in which she had met these women. Women may crave love-that is true for some, but I also believe that there are women who are also capable of feeling love and sympathy in return.

man....your head is....BIG!!!!!!

I wouldn't say they don't have sympathy, but they definitely are selfish. They put themselves before anything, including their kids and spouses.