From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Tue Jan 30 2001 - 22:53:48 MST
KPJ wrote:
>
> |Michael Lorrey wrote:
> |>
> |> Heinlein claimed he was a female chauvinist. He insisted they were
> |> smarter than men.
> |
> |Yep. He was that rarest of all breeds, an honest man. :-)
> |
> |-s.
>
> In my experience, most men who claim that females have higher intelligence
> than males do that to make females feel he is a nice guy, a prerequisite
> for mating.
>
> Personally, I notice no greater difference in intelligence between the
> human sexes. There exists a number of behavioural differences, mainly due
> to social programming, but also from hormonal differences, and, finally,
> from DNA differences. The social programming makes the greatest difference.
>
DNA differences? I don't think so. Female and male brains are
differentiated somewhat during fetal development due to the
presence/absence of certain chemicals and hormones. That and sex
hormone differences account for pretty much all of the non-societal
difference. And no, the social programming apparently does not make the
greatest difference. There are fairly wide-spread differences
regardless of culture and period. And females raised as males, males
raised as females, intersexed people and transsexual folks all bear
evidence of social conditioning not being predominate.
- samantha
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