Now, there's proof: Men, women different

The Washington Times ^ | December 2, 2005 | Jennifer Harper

[neverdem]

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The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com

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Now, there's proof: Men, women different

By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 2, 2005

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Attention, Dr. Frankenstein, and maybe Gloria Steinem: There are girl brains, then there are boy brains. But there's not one generic human brain, no matter what hand-wringing feminists may insist in their quest for sexual equality.

    Some stark new clinical evidence shows that men and women are just not the same upstairs.

    "The comedians are right. The science proves it. A man's brain and a woman's brain really do work differently," a research team from the University of Alberta in Canada announced yesterday.

    After analyzing magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) of 23 men and 10 women, the team found that the sexes use different areas of the brain even when working on exactly the same task.

    "The larger implications of this work is that we may increasingly find out that there are differences in the 'hard wiring' of male and female brains," said study author Dr. Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist.

    Though Dr. Silverstone hopes that these revelations will lead to more innovative ways to treat depression and other mental illnesses, these findings might one day explain certain persistent behaviors that make for a more lively existence.

    Why do men, for example, refuse to ask for directions while women are busy peering at maps and landmarks during the same automobile journey? Why do women cry and men sleep through a sappy movie? Could it be that old hard-wiring?

    During the Canadian study, volunteers were given memory, language, spatial and coordination tests while their brains were monitored through the MRIs.

[Aracelis]

The study makes another major blow to the Feminist

Please make the distinction between feminists who support equal rights, and Radical left-wing Femi-Nazi's.

I am a feminist. I want my employer to pay me the same as he would a male for the same amount of work. I think men are a wonderful but mysterious invention...and I wouldn't want to live in a world without them.

[NYpeanut]

Do you think we'll ever get back to a day when those of us who agree with your point of view are called feminists? Maybe we have to be called neo-feminists or something, but I abandoned the feminist label when the radical man-hating lesbian baby killers moved in to stay (1972?). I just wanted a fair shake.

[fr_freak]

Why do men, for example, refuse to ask for directions while women are busy peering at maps and landmarks during the same automobile journey?

I don't know what planet this author is from, but the one I live on, called Earth, women rarely look at maps - that's precisely why they always want to ask directions, whereas men say "We have a map, what the hell do we need to ask directions for?"

[agere_contra]

Some stark new clinical evidence

We have known about sexual dimorphic structures in the brain for YEARS AND YEARS. The stria terminalis is differently wired in men and women. But no, this rehash of old facts is both stark and new, apparently.

[CzarNicky]

Why do men, for example, refuse to ask for directions while women are busy peering at maps and landmarks during the same automobile journey?

because we know where we are going.

[mylife]

Jeez
If they think that men and women are different from looking at MRI's of thier brains, They're really gonna get a shock when they take a look at the other end of em.

[DugwayDuke]

"...you let women ride in your car?!! Mine travel in the trunk."

No trunk, I drive a pickup, but there's room in the truck bed. Some times I'll even put in a chair or maybe a bench if there's more than one or two.

I used to let the women ride up front if it rained or got real cold, but after I got the dog there wasn't enough room. I did buy the wife a rain suit for Christmas and if it gets real cold, I'll open the little window in the rear window.

[DugwayDuke]

"Truth is, on long trip dates, women never help when driving (some even claim they cannot read maps, empowered in passive aggressivness but have a right to be blind and stupid)"

Not always true. My wife does a lot of the driving, most of the daylight driving in fact. Doesn't see to well at night so I do that. She can also read a map fairly well.

The problem with her navigation is that she has absolutely no concept of compass directions. If you told her the Sun rose in the East, there's no way she could locate a rising Sun. Every thing is right or left, no East or West.

Some studies have indicated that women and men perceive directions differently. Between 2/3 or 3/4 of women always give directions using left/right terminology. Men are about a mirror image with similar ratios always giving directions using North/East/South/West terminology. I don't know if this is hard wired since there was a correlation between city and country dwellers with city dwellers tending more, regardless of sex, to use the right/left terminology and country dwellers, also regardless of sex, tending to use the compass direction terminology.

I suspect this may also have something to do with women stopping more frequently to ask directions too.

[blanknoone]

Doesn't Canuckistan's create long waiting lines for expensive equipment like MRI's? My understanding is that there is a significant waiting list. How many people with possible head injuries had to sit by waiting for an MRI for this test in the socialist paradise?

[GBA]

Psychology spends a lot of time, money and effort on research and, more often than not, finds evidence that supports what is already known. Most believe that men and women are wired differently, but now we know more about what those differences are.

[Humble Servant]

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Now, there's proof: Men, women different, agere_contra wrote:
Some stark new clinical evidence
We have known about sexual dimorphic structures in the brain for YEARS AND YEARS. The stria terminalis is differently wired in men and women. But no, this rehash of old facts is both stark and new, apparently.

Tell it to the faculty at Harvard who savagely and hysterically trashed their president, Larry Somers (sp?) last year for suggesting that biology might play some role in advancement in certain career paths.

[Publius6961]

D'OH!

[sweetliberty]

I'll bet y'all never knew this!

This one get the "Belaboring the Obvious" award of the day.

[sweetliberty]

"perhaps researchers will discover there are slight differences between the brains of normal people and those who are hopelessly stupid."

Oh man! If somebody'd come up with an instant brain scan machine that could do that it would make my job so much easier.

[sweetliberty]

"...he found that men have more than six times the amount of gray matter -- which controls information processing -- in their brains as women do."

However; women actually USE theirs.

Just kidding!

[sweetliberty]

"women rarely look at maps - that's precisely why they always want to ask directions"

I happen to love maps and never go anywhere without them. And yes, I can and do read them. I also hate to stop and ask for directions, but I think it has more to do with just not liking to stop for anything if I can help it than it does with asking directions. Well, that, and a lot of times the directions of locals can be more confusing than helpful.

[sweetliberty]

I generally give directions using compass points. Right and left are fine sometimes, but you can't assume that the person you're giving directions to are coming from the same perceptual place as you are.

[nicmarlo]

men have more than six times the amount of gray matter -- which controls information processing -- in their brains as women do.

not to be confused with air....as it's women who are always called airheads....so, what is this mystery? : )

[nicmarlo]

Now, there's proof: Men, women different

Oh, good....now I know that everything I told my daughter is based on scientific evidence, in addition to the obvious! : )

[DugwayDuke]

Exactly, but explain that to a 'right/left' person be they male or female. North/South are alien concepts to them.

Some have attributed the differences to the fact that men were usually the hunters and often took long hunting trips to where there were no familiar landmarks to reference the 'left/right' so they needed N/S references. Women, OTOH, were usually gatherers around the main camp. Directions like go to the oak tree and turn right worked perfectly well.