Women and men aren’t so different after all
We all know the old adage “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus,” but some researchers say it’s hogwash.
According to a recent story in The Observer, a growing number of scientists are challenging the belief that there are significant innate differences between the minds of men and women. These researchers are challenging pseudo-science behind these theories and deeming them “neurosexism.” Furthermore, they’re concerned about the impact our assumptions about the male and female brain can have on children’s educations. For example, by telling parents that boys have poor chances of acquiring good verbal skills and girls have little prospect of developing mathematical prowess, serious and unjustified learning obstacles are being placed in the paths of young students.
Researchers like Cordelia Fine, author of the upcoming book Delusions of Gender, argue that there are no major neurological differences between the sexes. There may be slight variations in the brains of women and men, Fine told The Observer, but the wiring is soft, not hard. “It is flexible, malleable and changeable,” she said.
Lise Eliot, an associate professor based at the Chicago Medical School, supported Fine’s ideas, stressing that the behavioral differences between girls and boys, women and men, are rooted in culture, not biology. She told The Observer, “Yes, there are basic behavioural differences between the sexes, but we should note that these differences increase with age because our children’s intellectual biases are being exaggerated and intensified by our gendered culture. Children don’t inherit intellectual differences. They learn them. They are a result of what we expect a boy or a girl to be.”
In other words, boys don’t naturally have better spatial skills than girls and girls aren’t naturally better communicators. Instead boys develop improved spatial skills because they are expected and are encouraged to be strong at sport, which requires expertise at catching and throwing. Likewise, it is anticipated that girls will be more emotional and talkative, and so teachers and parents focus largely on their verbal skills.
Thus let’s keep in mind that while many women are outraged by claims like women can’t tell funny jokes, read maps, or play sports, we should be just as troubled by the assertion that it’s normal (and even acceptable) for men to be emotionally unavailable.
I was thinking just the other how I remeber my mom tryin to force on me “girly” things. Like telling me I didn’t need to go outside and but stay inside and watch her cook so I can learn. And I can actually rmeber asking her if it was because I was a girl. LOL. Who knew I was a little feminist even then
I love hearing stories of folks looking back on their childhoods and realizing they were feminists before they could pronounce or spell the word.
Though it’s hard to believe considering how “girly” I am now, I hated wearing dresses and always played outside with boys. My parents were so cool about it though. My mom wanted me to be strong enough to fight (and beat) any boy who started mess with me. LOL. (Most of y’all know how crazy my mom is). My dad did the cooking in our house and, after hearing so many people talk about how women need to know how to cook, I went to him one day and asked if he would teach me. I told him some old lady told me I’d need to learn if I was ever going to have a husband because that’s what wives do. He told me to just marry a man like him.
…And somehow you married me, a man who needs instructions to boil water.
LOL@Edd
Yes Javacia! The whole world knows how crazy your mother is. LOL