Sex Differences
Category archives for Sex Differences
How Do You Get Sexual Orientation and Gender in Humans?
Posted by Greg Laden on February 27, 2013 Humans appear to have a great deal of variation in sexual orientation, in what is often referred to as “gender” and in adult behavior generally. When convenient, people will point to “genes” as the “cause” of any particular subset of this diversity (or all of it). When convenient, people will point to “culture” as the…
Manspace
Posted by Greg Laden on November 28, 2012 In an old colonial-looking restaurant that served ten kinds of steaks, I met up with an experienced explorer and a local farmer, to have dinner and discuss plans for an upcoming research project that would be managed by The Explorer and that would partly be on The Farmer’s land, which adjoined a rather extensive and…
Why Do Men Hunt and Women Shop?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 27, 2012 The title of this post is, of course, a parody of the sociobiological, or in modern parlance, the “evolutionary psychology” argument linking behaviors that evolved in our species during the long slog known as The Pleistocene with today’s behavior in the modern predator-free food-rich world. And, it is a very sound argument. If, by “sound”…
Sex and Gender in An Odd Primate
Posted by Greg Laden on November 14, 2012 The Gender vs. Sex question…referring to the meaning of those two terms in relation to each other…is standard material for discussion in Anthropology and related fields, but is often left unattended to in day to day discourse. Both terms have internal complexity, with Gender meaning something about people’s identity as well as being a linguistic…
Men = Testosterone Damaged Women!
Posted by Greg Laden on August 2, 2012 One in three or four women in the United States will have been raped or seriously assaulted sexually by the time they reach a few decades in age. That will have been done by one or more men. Most people who are killed by another person are killed by a man. This is true whether…
“…boys are innately better at math and science than girls…”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2011 Sheril Kirshenbaum has a few comments about a piece in Science addressing innate differences between boys and girls in math. I have to say, it may be hard to accept the scientific truth sometimes, but the research really does consistently say the same thing again and again. In this latest study, the science …
Screw this sexism
Posted by Greg Laden on October 10, 2011 The following photograph is a Facebook Peme (Pic Meme, sometimes spelled “peem”). In its original form it had a caption that was sexist and offensive, feeding the idea that girls can’t do math (innately) and also suggesting that a good backup plan for a middle schooler frustrated with academics is sexual self-objectivictoin. I’ve blogged about…
Time Trauma Truth and Other Matters
Posted by Greg Laden on August 22, 2011 First of all, I want you to know that I’ve devoted my life to this blog post so now you have every reason to love it more than any other blog post. Sniff sniff.
How Do You Get Sexual Orientation and Gender in Humans?
Posted by Greg Laden on July 8, 2011 Humans appear to have a reasonable amount of diversity in their sexual orientations, in what is often referred to as “gender” and in adult behavior generally. When convenient, people will point to “genes” as the “cause” of any particular subset of th is diversity (or all of it). When convenient, people will point to “culture”…
Driving The Patriarchy: Demonic Males, Feminism, and Genetic Determinism
Posted by Greg Laden on July 7, 2011 Behaviors are not caused by genes. There is not a gene that causes you to be good, or to be bad, or to be smart, or good at accounting, or to like bananas. There are, however, drives. “Drives” is a nicely vague term that we can all understand the meaning of. Thirst and hunger are…
Falsehoods: Human Universals
Posted by Greg Laden on January 26, 2011 There are human universals. There, I said it. Now give me about a half hour to explain why this is both correct and a Falsehood. But first, some background and definition.
What is the most important human adaptation?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 22, 2010 Human infants require more care than they should, if we form our expectations based on closely related species (apes, and more generally, Old World simian primates). It has been said that humans are born three months early. This is not accurate. It was thought that our body size predicted a 12 month gestation, and some…
Delusions of Gender
Posted by Greg Laden on October 12, 2010 This Friday’s Skeptically Speaking will feature … … academic psychologist Dr. Cordelia Fine. Her new book, Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference, challenges the assumption that gender roles are wired into our brains, and shows us how ubiquitous cultural stereotypes are mistaken for actual fact. That will be a life…
Why do women shop and men hunt?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 12, 2010 Or, when the hunting season is closed, watch teh game (the guys), or when there are no sales, admire each other’s shoes (the gals)? This is, of course, a parody of the sociobiological, or in modern parlance, the “evolutionary psychology” argument linking behaviors that evolved in our species during the long slog known as The…
Chimpanzee Food Sharing
Posted by Greg Laden on February 10, 2010 Is chimpanzee food sharing an example of food for sex? One of the most important transitions in human evolution may have been the incorporation of regular food sharing into the day to day ecology of our species or our ancestors. Although this has been recognized as potentially significant for some time, it was probably the…
Americans Who Don’t Identify with a Religion No Longer a Fringe Group
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2009 You’ve certainly heard of the ARIS 2008 survey from Trinity College. One of the more interesting aspects of the survey is the demonstration that there is a sex difference in patterns of religions identification. Below I give some links where this has been discussed, but I want to note that in many discussions one of…
Caster Semenya’s Gender: What would the science be?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 11, 2009 Well, we don’t know because the necessary detailed information has not been released. I do not personally know the Caster Semenya story, medically or biologically speaking, but there has been a lot of discussion and apparently wild speculation on this, and I may have a thing or two to help clarify.
The Natural Basis for Inequality of the Sexes
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2009 Is the Natural World a valid source of guidance for our behavior, morals, ethics, and other more mundane areas of thought such as how to build an airplane and what to eat for breakfast?1 When it comes to airplanes, you’d better be a servant to the rules of nature (such as gravity) or the airplane…
Sexism in the lab: Perception and reality mingle
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2009 A three part conversation between two women overheard on the University of Minnesota campus.
Math gender gap is not genetic
Posted by Greg Laden on June 2, 2009 Or to put it more accurately, yet another study seems to show that girls learn from their teachers, parents, and peers that they are not supposed to be good at math. Sterotypes can be fulfilled. Pleas stop doing that, everyone. Here is some press on this story. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers continue to find evidence…
Ultimate Causes, Proximate Mechanisms
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2009 Why does a soldier throw himself on a hand grenade to save the lives of a half-dozen unrelated fellow soldiers? Why does someone run into a burning building they happen to be passing to save a child they don’t know? From a Darwinian perspective these seem to be enigmatic behaviors that would “select against” such…
More emotional intelligence = more orgasms
Posted by Greg Laden on May 12, 2009 According to a study just coming out in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, “variations in emotional intelligence–the ability to identify and manage emotions of one’s self and others–are associated with orgasmic frequency during intercourse and masturbation.”
Burn this book
Posted by Greg Laden on May 3, 2009 … well, not really, you should not burn any book. But don’t just leave this one around for your kids to accidentally read. Source of book. Hat tip
Male vs. Female Brains
Posted by Greg Laden on February 25, 2009 The male and female human brains are different. Some of the better documented differences are similar to differences seen in other mammals. They are hard to find, very small, and may or may not be of great significance. Obviously, some are very important because they probably relate to such things as the ability … or…
Topi or not Topi …
Posted by Greg Laden on February 25, 2009 Go to any bar and you’ll see a lot of males standing and sitting around not mating. I’ll bet you would have guessed that the reason they are not mating is that no females will mate with them for one reason or another. But there is the distinct possibility that they are very inconspicuously resisting…
Why is There no Birth Control Pill for Men?
Posted by Greg Laden on February 25, 2009 Why is there no Birth Control Pill for men? The answer I’d like to propose can be summed up in two closely linked words pilfered from the question itself:
Chimpanzee Food Sharing
Posted by Greg Laden on February 24, 2009 Is chimpanzee food sharing an example of food for sex? One of the most important transitions in human evolution may have been the incorporation of regular food sharing into the day to day ecology of our species or our ancestors. Although this has been recognized as potentially significant for some time, it was probably the…
Marta’s (good) questions, … fur
Posted by Greg Laden on February 24, 2009 Why did humans evolve hairlessness? Hair (fur) protects mammals from heat and cold, what would be the benefit from losing this asset? I think the most commonly held theory is that fur works on quadrupeds, but once you stand upright, it is less effective, and less fur works better. For later time periods, clothing works…
I’m a little worried
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2009 The following is a proof developed by a number of economists at Harvard. It is a proof of the inability of women to understand technologically complex problems, math, engineering, that sort of thing. it is claimed that it almost always works. Now, I’m not saying that Larry Summers was party to this proof, or even…
The natural basis for gender inequality
Posted by Greg Laden on December 31, 2008 Naturalism is a potential source of guidance for our behavior, morals, ethics, and other more mundane decisions such as how to build an airplane and what to eat for breakfast.1 When it comes to airplanes, you’d better be a servant to the rules of nature or the airplane will go splat. When it comes to…
, which is now available for the 
