SciFri
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Last week's topic: Gender.

Here's what some of you had to say...

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Well maybe we are not different at all. Psychologically men are told not to cry, to be tough, to show little sensitivity. This topic has come up many times in conversation. Recently, my husband, a friend of his and I were talking about this topic. He said to me- Why is it that men cannot be like women- soft hearted, sensitive? I said because that is the way men are. He broke in and said- No, we do feel the same way, we are sensitive but we don't show it in public. Society does not allow men to be sensitive. If we do show our true feelings one might say we are strange, homosexual, or different. I was truly astounded by this finding. We really need to give men a break.

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The first humans were hunter/gatherers.The difference today between females and males is best illustrated by how they go shopping. Men are hunters. Women are gatherers.

David Maynard

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Greetings,

For the issue of where monogomy comes from, here is the understanding that has been passed to me. The Greeks invented monogomy to assure property rights, they were obsessed with rights of inheritance. A citizen was the child of a citzen man and a citizen woman. To be sure that the children of the woman belonged to a given man, they had monogomous marriages. It is this influence by the greeks that caused the institution to spread, like many other parts of greek culture. It entered Christianity from them, and entered Judaism when Alexander conqured that part of the world. The romans practiced serial polygimy, they had many wives and husbands each, but only one at a time. In some central asian cultures it is not uncommon for two men, usually brothers, to have one wife, because the rescources needed to keep a whife and raise children are hard to come by in the enviroment.

Jeff Martin

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Dear Ira:

Regarding the very last question from earlier this hour, when or why or how did monogamy become so important to humans. I read recently that it was not until conception was understood to be a

product of the union of man and woman, not something spiritual, that without the man there would be no pregnancy, that men rose to be the more powerful gender. Of course, exploiting this newly realized power they then limited women's freedom. Just another unproven theory, perhaps. Thanks for your great show

Suzanne.

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I believe the strongest influence in what makes males and females different is how they are raised. This is not limited to their family but the culture, society. Both genders exert peer, parental, and teacher pressure on their own gender to conform. What they are to conform to are different modes of expression for the same emotions and thoughts. Boys are not supported in being real, showing their spontaneous emotions. They are to be "physical, 'tough' (or hardened), and crass". Girls are over encouraged to display emotions, even if they are not real (true) for them at the moment. They are to be "giggly, diffident, 'beauty conscious'". One thing I've noticed and now stands out for me on the PBS talk shows is that males often open their phone-in dialogue with "How ya doin'" or "How's it goin'" to the moderator who has no relationship with them. Females do not initiate their comments or questions with this pointless, superficial remark. To me it is an indication that the males are not really ready for or willing to connect. That throw-away salutation actually serves as a buffer, stemming from a desire for a barrier, to connecting in a personal dialogue. It tells me "I don't want to get real, get close, I just want to be heard." Females seem ready to hear as well as be heard. This is one of the differences that I believe comes from their environmental upbringing.

Lee Cristy

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women build a nest; men go out to the garage to do nothing. And that's good for both of them. Women have more energy, they talk faster, they do more things at all times, even when it looks like they aren't. kSimplicity suits most men most of the time, and when a man reaches simplicity he is at peace. When a women builds her nest and has all things functioning, whether at home or in the office or planning a trip or conducting a conversation, she is fulfilled.

 

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You know, the funniest thing about what makes men and women different is that the more women want to be like men and the more men want to be like women, the less like the other they become. In other words, the differences are made that much more manifest the more these differences are suppressed.

Mike Pica.

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Y Chromosome Para-Biology (the _guilt_ gene) Human Relationships Explained:

One day I and my colleagues (all molecular biologists) realized that the _guilt_ gene clearly must reside on the Y chromosome. Think about how much in relationships this explains. Of course, by itself the _guilt_ gene would be selected against. In order to solve the paradox of how _guilt_ could persist, one of my colleagues proposed that it might be linked to the "I'm sorry honey" (ish) gene. But that would mean that _ish_ was on the Y chromosome and we know from first priniciples that nothing positive could reside on the Y chromosome. This paradox is resolved by assigning _ish_ to the X chromosome and positting that it is only expressed when hemizygous (i.e. in the presence of a guilt bearing Y chromosome.)

Ely Rabani

(co-author/guilty party)

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An opinion on why women have been less sexually promiscuous than men in recent human history :

I don't believe that repression is completely to blame. It's definitely a factor, but we should consider the idea that women have more immediate (and possibly long term) consequences to being sexually promiscuous. Men can run around and have sex all day long with many different partners, then disappear and never think about it again. Women have the potential of a 9 month pregnancy to deal with. I believe this makes them naturally more cautious about being sexually active with many different partners. This self-preserving behavior may also include a sub-conscious desire to have genetically healthy offspring should pregnancy occur, thereby causing them to be more thoughtful when considering multiple sexual partners. The increased awareness of AIDS doesn't change this too much because that risk is fairly level across the male/female playing field.

Michael, Allison, Zachariah, Nathaniel, Jonah and Samson

 

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