Boiz'nGrls
It's a puzzle that it seems to be so difficult for feminists to understand that boys and girls, men and women are wired differently. Because the physical evidence is so obvious there is agreement that we are physically different, but gender differentiation in general seems to be a hard and bitter pill for feminists to believe in. It is in the very nature of the genders to be different; nature has programmed us so, and for obvious reasons. It is definitely not a question of nurture, as has been so often targeted as the reason for behaviourial differences.We are constructed differently. Science can prove it, but any observant mother can claim to know it to be true. Anyone who is unblinkered by a feminist agenda can look at the record and understand the whys and wherefores of the differences. And celebrate them. And wonder at the complementarity of the differences. Of course there is also the baffling element of the differences, as when men and women attempt to understand one another, automatically ascribing one to the other behaviour characteristics completely foreign by reason of gender. Then give one another a failing grade.
Differences do not rule out egalitarianism in society and culture. We each fill our respective niches because we are fulfilling nature's design. Also, the differences are generalized between the genders, but there are always exceptions to any generalization, so we'll have instances where some men share some female characteristics and vice versa. Science can prove that men and women typically have brains characteristic of their gender; they're different from one another. In between the differences there are the similarities which make up individualism.
So males are biologically determined to systemize and analyze, while females are biologically predisposed to communication, to be caring, to empathize. We use different sides of our brains; different places in our brains are more developed, one from the other - generally. There are limiting conditions in social development which favour one gender over the other, such as autism being far more prevalent among males.
We cannot accomplish pure gender parity at various tasks because we are programmed differently by nature. Women listen better, convey spoken information better, emote and "understand" in a far superior manner than men. Men excel in the hard sciences more naturally than women do, on average. Lack of empathy and a predisposition to aggression is far more common among men than women, although women can be just as nasty as men when it suits them.
We're different, and we're inextricably drawn toward one another. We bond, we love, we enjoy each other. We argue, we blame, we abuse one another. These too are human traits we share universally.
But heaven help the unwary social scientist who expresses these views too publicly. Female academics and feminists blast the horn of male chauvinism for all to hear, and a worthwhile administrator like Lawrence Summers of Harvard University finally resigns for being uncautious enough to point out the obvious.
Pity.
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, February 22, 2006
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