On 16 Oct 98, Suzanne Stephens wrote:
> Perhaps it's these tendencies towards fearlessness and 'powering through'
> situations that allows more men to overcome computer paranoia and to
> tackle other academic fields that seem more difficult?
>
> I applaud the differences between men and women. For balance, we need
> both. I just wish there were a way for society to place equal monetary
> values on professions that attract women and those that attract men.
I do tend to believe that many of the differences are innate, hard-
coded right into our genetic firmware as it were. Kathy mentions
this month's Utne Reader, which I happen to have here and which is
devoted to the subject of gender differences (and similarities.) The
articles approach the issue from a variety of directions, but
generally acknowledge that some "male" and "female" characteristics
do seem universal across most cultures and even species.
Particularly interesting are studies of girls born with excess levels of
testosterone: such children are usually much more aggressive and
impulsive than other girls when they're young, but in time tend to be
socialized through contact with their peers into more "girl-like"
behaviour.
Another very intriguing article argues that it was the emergence of
written, alphabetically-based languages that spelled the end of
formerly matriarchal, goddess-worshiping societies; that the linear,
left-brain demands of symbolic writing favoured the (apparent) male
predisposition towards that way of thinking, at the expense of more
holistic "female" thinking. Fascinating thesis.
As for me, I've always been considered somewhat X-chromosomal in
my tendencies: don't like competitive sports, hate hunting, prefer
conciliation to confrontation, choose creative pursuits over physical
ones; drive carefully, like sentimental movies (yes, even "Bridges of
Madison County"<g>), and so on.
On the other hand, I love watching shows about war, fighter
aircraft and crime -- and have a fearsome and aggressive temper
when I'm really riled. And of course I love fixing things, endlessly
tweaking the computer and hanging out in the hardware store. So
go figure. Though I tend to be more "feminine" in my attitudes than
most men I know, I'm still, well, a guy. And so I like a lot of those
"guy things" too. Wired right into the genes, I suspect.
My sweety, who has always followed her own course in life -- she
was quite literally a "poster girl" for International Women's Year back
in '76, when she happened to be working as a blacksmith -- agrees
that there are some fundamental differences in attitudes and
thinking between the sexes that neither can nor should be truly
bridged. Vive la difference and all that.
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Brent Eades, Almonte, Ontario
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Town of Almonte site: http://www.almonte.com/
Business site: http://www.federalweb.com
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