Re: Gender Importance

From: Jocelyn Brown (jocelynb@mindspring.com)
Date: Thu Apr 22 1999 - 12:18:46 MDT


>Even more interesting is non-traditional forms of reproduction, such
>as in vitro gestation and male pregnancies. They could help erode even
>more of the old assumptions (if they ever get popular).

My only qualm about this is that many people seem to make the assumption
that just because a desire is biological in nature, i.e. a woman's desire to
have childen, that this desire is somehow wrong or needs to be changed. I
certainly support any woman's desire to not have children, or even to remove
any hormonal influences dealing with this desire; however, I don't think
that makes the desire inherently wrong. Sexual desire is also an
evolutionary tool, but I don't see anyone waiting in line to get rid of it.

>The downside is that we are the weaker sex; I'm not sure about the
>perturbation thing (never seen any data on it), but we have a higher
>mortality due to what appears to be a slightly less robust
>construction. That is why you find plenty of old widows but few old
>widowers.

I saw a very interesting show on TLC the other night about gender
differences, and they came with an interesting reason why woman tend to live
longer than men, even assuming identical lifestyles: historically,
grandmothers are more important to families than grandfathers. Makes sense
when you think about it.

Jocelyn Brown
jocelynb@mindspring.com
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"I am a part of all that I have met." "A man is only as good as
what he loves."
     -- Lord Alfred Tennyson -- Saul Bellow



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