|
sunshinemiss -> RE: The difference between male and female (12/19/2009 4:13:12 AM)
|
Hello John,
I think you have a point about people being more alike than different. There is certainly a (fairly little known) group of people who advocate the recognition of more than two genders. Of course this is not new! Every culture has dealt with hermaphroditism in one way or another. Some more accepting than others.
When talking about preferences, identity and the like, the debate often ends up being, in the end, nature versus nurture. I expect this debate / question / discussion will follow that same path. As noted above - nurture being the 20 minute shower making the difference in women smelling like flowers. While that is true, nature comes into the mix as well. Pheromones are in fact real, do in fact smell different from two sources - the person giving off the pheromones smells different than one of the other gender; the person smelling the pheromone experiences that scent differently based on their own gender. Not only do different people emit a different smell based on gender, but the smeller smells something different based on their own gender! This is a fact. (And for what it's worth, I think it's fascinating)
This is not the only purely biological fact - women experience the physiological expression of tears differently than men do, have more neural pathways across the corpus callosum than men do, and have different combinations of hormones in on our bodies. Men's bodies tend to be stronger in the upper body area, women in their hips. The experience of these biochemical and physiological realities created different reactions to the world. That is, of course, nurture. More on that later.
Physical reproduction and the ability to reproduce certainly create a different way of looking at the world. Obviously women don't have a prostate, and men certainly don't have breasts made to give milk, but the phsical presentations of the reproductive organs leads to a difference in behavior. The bonding experience from suckling a newborn (the nurture part) actually stimulates different biological reactions in the woman (nature). I have read that new mothers have a different way of hearing - are more attuned. I couldn't put my hands on the research now, but I remember thinking "hmmm. That's interesting." Physiological changes during pregnancy - heightened sense of smell, nausea, tiredness certainly effect the way a woman interacts in the world. The biological hormonal surge creates for a change in mood and personality for some women. Post partum blues is not a theory.
Due to mentstruation, women experience other things differently than men do. It can influence their way of dealing with the concept and reality of time... physically manifestating anywhere from planning vacations to the art people make. This one is purely personal belief on my part. Nothing to back it up, but you'd be hard pressed to talk me out of it. However, I wouldn't be a bit surprised that there is research on it.
What I've anecdotally experienced is the difference (generally speaking) of how the different genders deal with pain. In an emergency room (again generally speaking - after years of working in one), men are much less able to manage their pain than women are. Women, I think because of the monthly cramps experience, tend to have higher pain tolerance than men.
This all leads back to socialization and physical manifestation of our biological reality Women, when moving a dresser, will tend to hunker down and put their hips into it. Men will generally lift and move. Women will have more access to their emotions and express them differently because of more experience with them. A woman's mood may shift more based on biology - and her behavior may be of a shrew or a needy, starved person - because of the hormones pumping through their bodies. Ask any woman who's been pregnant if her hormones didn't change. Women will cooperate differently than the way men do based on a community based focus from raising chilldren than men who will be more competitive.
Studies have proven time and again that how others view a child's gender leads how that child is socialized, what behaviors are encouraged, what ones are shunned. Teachers respond differently to boys versus girls based on their gender for the exact same behavior. Marketers of all stripes appeal to separate fears in the genders. Parents talk differently to their girl babies than they do their boy babies. Our basic belief systems - cultural, religious, familial - are held together by the way gender is seen within those contexts.
In the end, it's all chicken / egg. Some people wonder which one came first. I don't. I am glad they are both here. And the rooster, too.
Best,
sunshine
*caveat - YMMV of course... and I've had not nearly enough coffee to even attempt to talk in this issue, but I think I still got it! [;)]
ETA: I notice your title... male / female. It made me think. Hmmm isn't it interesting that he did the socialized "male" (is more important and therefore) first thing rather than the alphabetical.
And even your title is polarized........ It could have been "gender differences"... but interesting how that isn't in fact the way EVEN YOU THINK...
|
|
|
|
