Antichrist

[bryce]

Agree about that, but as for those distinct biological differences, how do they justify equaling "male" with "rational" and "female" with "emotional"? That just doesn't make sense.

I dunno...I just remember reading somewhere that women had more wiring or something in the emotional centers of their brains...or those centers were larger or something...but to be honest, I can't recall exactly...and I'm probably remembering wrong.

To be honest, I have always strongly disagreed with the idea the men and more ration and women more emotional...whether it's being claimed by a misogynistic person (as a negative thing about women)...or a feminist (as a positive thing about women)...

That's what I was trying to say in my OP.

Abstract thinking is not synonymous with rationality, and is not superior in any way to concrete thinking. And it would be completely wrong to assume that a person's ability/tendency for abstract thinking means that they are less governed by emotions in their actions.

Yeah, I see what you mean...yeah, that makes sense.

And while males may exhibit more tendency towards abstract thinking, they are certainly not less emotional in their behavior.

Yeah...I can agree with that.

I'm certainly pretty emotional...but I get razzed for being "a woman" about it...so the *stereotype* them women = emotional exists...but yeah, I think it's bullshit.

In fact, just read this story here that during orgasm, women's emotional centers shut down - where as men experienced *heightened* activity in the emotional centers of their bran during orgasm: : http://io9.com/391315/women-have-no-emotional-feelings-during-orgasm-say-neuroscientists

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-orgasmic-mind

Men, perhaps get more emotional about different sorts of things, on average, than the average female...

Well, both my ex-wife and my oldest daughter flat out tell me that during their periods, they get "totally hormonal" and "emotional"...so there is that.

Well... I don't. Get particularly emotional during the period, that is. Of course I have hormonal reactions, physical that is, and an increased sex drive during PMS and early days of the period, but emotionally, I have never noticed any differences.

Huh, really? I guess maybe it's just the females in my family...

And doesn't the testosterone level in males vary during the day?

I dunno, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

I heard on an episode of The Big Bang Theory last week (so take it with a grain of salt) that it's been known since the 17th century that mens hormones vary on a 32 day cycle...

It wouldn't surprise me if that was true...in fact, if it wasn't true, I be more surprised...especially giving what (little) I know about human evolution.

I once had to take testosterone shots for a while when a drug I was on lowered my testosterone levels...and it made me emotional...but not like I am now - it made me *aggressive* and *ANGRY* a lot...I really REALLY *hated* it...

And I think...maybe...the differences in brain structure between males and females is in the parts of the brain that control emotion and rationality...and intuition.

AFAIK, the differences in the brain structure means that women in general could transfer data between the right and the left hemisphere than males do. The way I understand it, that might mean that women on average would be more likely to be in touch with their emotions and intuition and to use them in the thought process, while males on average would have more of a disconnect between their rational and the emotional or intuitive side, which would give them an advantage in abstract thinking (e.g. in mathematics). Which does somewhat justify the "women = emotional" notion in the sense that men would, in general, be more likely to separate emotions from their thought processes, but certainly doesn't mean at all that they would be less likely to act on their emotions.

Anyone who argues that men are more rational than women should just pay a visit to a football match and see the hooligans or look at the statistics - or just the news stories - about so-called "crimes of passion", and see that the overwhelming majority of people who murder out of jealousy and similar motives are male. Hardly seems like rational behavior.

Yeah, that's a damn good point.