Brain Sex
Men and women are not the same. This is obviously so physiologically, but is also so psychologically. Western science has little understanding of the relationship between physiology and psychology (body and mind). Some time ago a letter to a newspaper commented on an article by their science correspondent on the difference between men and women, and commented that it was absurd to think that women had a genetic predisposition to do housework.
Any discussion of this matter tends to raise the ire of people who think only
in politically correct lines. A friend of mine lamented that the women's movement
attempted to denigrate her favourite pastimes of cooking and needlework. I might
add that this was said whilst she was smoking a cigar and with her feet up on
the table.
The reality is that we all like to think that we are in conscious command of
all that we do although I've pointed out previously that we are influenced by
emotional, instinctual and intuitive influences that most of us are unaware
of. Our genetic predispositions effect us as well.
A few years ago scientists investigated the differences between various breeds of dogs. For example, a Border collie that has never seen a flock of sheep will attempt to round up people, or even tennis balls. Newfoundland puppies, which were bred to rescue drowning sailors, will jump into a bowl of water the first time they see it, rather than drinking from it. These behaviour differences are genetically encoded. So why is it so improbable that there should be genetic differences between males and females?
It has been found that women are better at social interactions, better at language and tend to more cooperative. Men have better visual-spatial ability, are better at constructing and tend to be less cooperative in social interactions. These differences are apparent from an early age. However, this is not purely genetic. It has been found that hormones effect behaviour, especially when given to the mother during pregnancy. Where the mother of a boy is given synthetic female hormone (diethylstilbestrol) the boy subsequently tends to show feminine behaviour. In experiments where a pregnant rat is given testosterone a female offspring has more accurate maze learning than a comparable female.
It has been found that there are large amounts of chemicals that mimic female
hormones in the water supply in many western countries. This has implications
for the behaviour patterns of both boys and girls as there is a feminisation
in western societies. Masculine ways are not understood and many people equate
maleness with aggression and selfishness. Although male ways can be selfish
and aggressive when not evolved, females can also have problems when they don't
understand their own feminine ways and can lack self esteem – a common problem
among females today.
Studies that attempt to find why more men are attracted to information technology and more women to social science are invariably carried out by people who refuse to acknowledge these obvious facts.
Neither men nor women are ‘better’ and female ways should not be forced on boys nor male ways on girls. Parents who let their children find their own ways generally find that boys prefer ‘boyish’ toys and girls prefer ‘girlish’ toys. Forcing girlish things on boys in most cases simply makes them lack confidence in their own maleness, and vica verca.
