On Saturday, August 18, 2001, at 09:35 AM, georgemw@speakeasy.net wrote:
On 18 Aug 2001, at 9:59, Aimee Farr wrote:
I was also taught not to turn over rocks.
Under rocks is where some of the most intersting stuff is.
And this is a major difference between men and women. Girls are taught or are inclined not to experiment, not to try new things, not to "turn over rocks." Boys are taught or are inclined to try experiments, to go exploring, to poke at things, to turn over rocks just for the hell of it. I'm deliberately staying away from the "nature vs. nurture" issue, hence the "taught or are inclined to" phrasing. I think there's strong evidence of a biological/hormonal difference, but the effect may also be one of evolutionary pressures. Males are more expendible, for the continuance of a line/tribe, so males can go out and poke at things...this may even lead to new discoveries of use to the line/tribe. Females are the rate-limiter for breeding, so having them be super-cautious and sticking close to home in the cave or the yurt makes sense. I expect this carries over to speech patterns as well: Average male: "Yog, go 4 thuks downstream and check on the bison herd. Report back." (succinct, technical information) Average female: "And I'm like, _whatever_, and that bitch is like "Huh?" and so I go What do you _mean_ girlfriend!," and then she goes --Wilma, the baby's crying again. I'll be back." (sitting around the cave, sewing and patting out tortillas, making soothing gossip and chatter, with an ear cocked for sounds of babies in distress.) Regardless of where it comes from, girls and women are much less willing to explore, on average, than boys and men are. This is very clear with computers, as even feminist writers have acknowledged (the books on "mathphobia" (Tobin) give many examples. There are exceptions, but the causal model above fits pretty closely the outcome of numbers of males vs. females in engineering, programming, etc. (A few women on this list, a few women at the Hackers Conference, a few women pioneers in computers...the list goes on.) Many women are going into law, however, where their babbling goes over well."When in doubt, engage mouth." I know of one a female lawyer larvae who's not like this...she knows who she is. --Tim May