[eastsider]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the bell curves of sex described in post #4 appear to illustrate the model of sex as a continuum, not a dichotomy. By rejecting the male-female dichotomy, the continuum model doesn't explain the why of the exclusively male priesthood; it explains it away.

[demecleze]

Depends on how you look at it, but for the most part it does not.

It is the same concept as age of consent or drinking laws.

Although the generalization does not apply to all people in a population (ie. women) it is applied to the entire population because individual assessment would be more trouble than just using a population whose general characteristics fit your perceived needs.

There is also the trouble of migration of acceptance parameters (ie. gradual acceptance of larger proportion of the population that you would have excluded). This can be seen with female firefighters, where an inch is given and a mile is taken.

It is the case of the exception that proves the rule.