rocks

[Tim May]

On Saturday, August 18, 2001, at 09:35 AM, georgemw at 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