This is a severe misunderstanding of the facts, which I've already explained in my previous two posts. And I do mean severe. You might as well say that whites are smarter than blacks, and asians smarter than everyone else. This may have some basis in statistics in the sense that races' IQs, portrayed on a chart, would be bell curves that largely overlap with the asian IQ bell curve shifted a few points to the right... but the mass of the curves would overlap. You would never be able to predict someone's abilities either way based on their race. This is also how the gender studies on mathematical and language abilities also shake out.

If this really is mystifying to most of you, well, hmm. I'd want to say something but it would probably be a little insulting.

One, my comment was meant to be a lighthearted yet somewhat biting commentary on the subject matter. And two, please don't discount my argument as 'being defensive', because I am making a real argument and would like to see the argument addressed, and not any idea of what my disposition might have been when I made it.

fair enough.

See the words underneath my avatar.

You choose to see what you want to see.

__________________
1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Asymmetry differs between men and momen. Girl’s brains don’t develop the right side specificity for nonverbal processes as early as boys do. Girls’ brains thus retain plasticity, or the ability to change, for longer than boys’ brains do. This is supported by the greater ability to transfer language abilities to the right hemisphere after damage to the left side of the brain. This extended plasticity also may account for less incidences of disorders related to left-hemisphere dysfunction, e.g. autism.

Female brains seem to have a lesser degree of specialisation than males, which many have attributed to the larger corpus callosum in females, connecting the two hemispheres. There also seems generally to be less initial development of the brain into two specialised halves in females. Tests on different cognitive abilities consistently show that females are better at verbal fluency, perceptual speed and mathematical calculations, whilst males are better at mathematical reasoning, spatial relationships and target directed motor tasks. These differences are unlikely to be related to any kind of social conditioning, and more likely to reflect physical differences between the brains of men and women.

Simon Baron-Cohen, Chair of Psychology at Cambridge University

My first degree is in Linguistics, and I specialized in language acquisition and the brain.

I studied much of what is quoted above, and some of it is a distant memory, but in simpler terms, the brain is best thought of as two completely separate brains (left and right), that are connected via the "corpus callosum". The corpus callosum can be easier thought of, in automotive terms, as a wiring harness, with a ton of wires that interconnect the two halves.

While women's brains are smaller than men's, even adjusted for their size, female brains have twice as many connections between the brains, and this appears to be a great advantage in many, many areas.

When you look at brain scans when doing any mental activity, women use both sides of the brains equally when doing anything, i.e. for speech, reasoning, analyzing, etc.

I suppose this explains why women rarely have speech disorders like men do. It also explains why even after suffering a stroke, women rarely lose the ability to speak, while men frequently do.

On the other hand, men's brains have evolved with about half as many connections between the two brains, and rarely use both halves at the same time when doing anything. Men's brains function quite separately from each other. Language, the rules of grammar, vocabulary, emotions, etc. are stored in one side of the brain or the other.

When you see a female bain when speaking, you will see it light up all over in many different areas in each brain. With men it is very localized in one side exclusively.

Cultural factors cannot explain away why women always score better doing certain tasks or activities, while men score better doing others.

There are always exceptions to the rule, where women outscore some men where men are suppsed to do better, but generally speaking, the studies speak for themselves.

I know from reading above that Webwench is against any sort of generalization, but that is how human beings function. Without taking lessons from life, and generalizing them into a set of rules, we would be left motionless, unable to make sense of the environment around us.

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I have no argument with studies and observations showing differences in how most male and most female brains work. My only beef is, I don't like to see picture one being interpreted as picture two (see attachments). And that is an extremely simple point that is borne out by years and years of evidence. There is so much overlap that it is useless as a predictor of any individual's likely abilities based on their gender or race.

With all due respect, it really has nothing to do with whether I personally 'like' or 'dislike' generalization. That has nothing to do with my point, which is that posters saying things like 'women should stick to what women are good at' and 'women don't make good leaders because they are hormonally/emotionally too unstable' are misapplying what the evidence shows and twisting it in an attempt to validate their preexisting prejudices.

On a partially related note, I have decided it wasn't smart at all for me to join a car forum with a feminine name. I feel being openly female here is a detriment. I'll be around, but under an unrelated, non-gender-specific name, and primarily in the technical support area as a low-volume poster. Good wishes to everyone!

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If brain mass was important then we'd be learning from blue whales rather than eating them.

It really doesn't matter if this or that group is statistically better at this or that function. What matters is what the individual does.

Thus, if a cripple veteran black female lesbian senior citizen enrolls as a freshman majoring in math, let her determine her fate against the same standard as everybody else who takes the classes and majors in that curriculum. If she's good, she'll kick one-legged ass. If she's not, she wont. It's up to her to find her limits, not for society to determine her limits for her.

[QUOTE=webwench]With all due respect, it really has nothing to do with whether I personally 'like' or 'dislike' generalization. That has nothing to do with my point, which is that posters saying things like 'women should stick to what women are good at' and 'women don't make good leaders because they are hormonally/emotionally too unstable' are misapplying what the evidence shows and twisting it in an attempt to validate their preexisting prejudices.
[QUOTE]

Agreed.

Please don't come back under a gender neutral name.

Things just won't be the same without Webwench...

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

C'mon Web, can't we share ideas without you getting your feelings hurt? (or registering under a non-gender specific name) If you're trying to make the point that a womens emotions don't interfer with her logic or decision making abilities in a negative way, or that dissagreement, doesn't mean a shut down in the exchange of ideas, you yourself offer a poor (if not typical) example demonstrated by your own emotional behavior. Time to rethink?

I respect your opinion. My apologies.

I tend to sound a bit crude and insensitive in many posts on other forums as well.

__________________
1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Handshake! Friends

Gender Neutral?

But seriously, the Harvard president was responding to a topic of why there seemed to be fewer high level female scientist than males. His response included, but was not exclusive, the research showing physical, developmental and social differences in the genders. The controversy is not unlike that in sports, where certain races are supposedly dominant in certain events, which statistically they are, but there are always exceptions "to the rule."

I guess nobody buys into my idea that men are better at certain things because those are precisely the things that men do. When you make the rules, you make the rules to your advantage. Women only got the right to vote in 1920. They've come pretty far in just eighty years after enduring six thousand years of oppression.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman