From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Dec 25 1999 - 07:58:30 MST
On Fri, 24 Dec 1999, Kathryn Aegis wrote:
> > I commented on attractions/repulsions towards sports and/or violence...
>
> If you were to replace 'females' with 'males' in the above
> statement, you would have a similarly factual statement.
Yes, Kathryn, this is true. However the *motivations* behind
the male attraction and female attraction *might* be different.
If so, then we would ultimately like to separate the influences
of male/female socialization and male/female genetics.
Reversing the context (and being highly "sexist") what attracts
"females" to presenting themselves in an attractive manner?
Does the desire for females to "present" themselves translate
into the interest in "shopping"? [Making a gross generalization
that women in general are more inclined to devote time to shopping
while men are more inclined to devote time to sports (pseudo-violence).]
While genetic population distributions (and/or socializations)
will result in some females enjoying sports or some males enjoying
shopping. The question is the degree to which either of these
is "hardwired" for reproductive purposes.
>
> > I commented on the mix of genes causing an environmentally specific
> > attraction to violence.
>
> Repeat Step 1 here. I think you may be isolating one gender and
> reading too much into their activities here.
Yes and no. I can isolate one gender because for several months
during pregnency strenuous activities of a potentially violent
nature are probably detrimantal to the mother and her offspring.
So during ice ages, it will be much more likely that pregnant mothers
(or those caring for small infants) will remain in shelter, while the
men are engaged in hunting activities (in contrast to say tropical
environments where even pregnant women may contribute much more to
their own nutrition and their young children).
The question is one of whether the selection effects of such environments
may have influenced ethnic preferences in mate qualities.
All of this is not to say that all males & females fall into one
basket or another. But as the genetics gets slowly disassembled
we will have a blueprint for predisposing "biases" that each of
us inherently have. What those biases turn out to be and how
we decide to modify them (by choice or edict) will be important
in the coming century.
Robert
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