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- Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewse!gmark
- From: gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart)
- Subject: Re: Sick and tired of cries of sexism (was Re: 9 1/2 Weeks)
- Organization: AT&T
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 23:08:08 GMT
- Message-ID: <1992Dec29.230808.25460@cbnewse.cb.att.com>
- References: <1992Dec28.230130.15387@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Dec29.004340.25594@cbnewse.cb.att.com> <C00ys3.ID3@fiu.edu>
- Lines: 48
-
- In article <C00ys3.ID3@fiu.edu> feathers@serss0 (Michael Feathers) writes:
- >If I remember correctly, testosterone levels have been correlated with
- >spatial reasoning ability in several studies. Apparently testosterone
- >affects the area of the brain that responds to visual stimulus during
- >development.
- >
- >In addition, males typically have a stronger physiological response (as
- >measured by skin conductivity, heart-rate etc.,) than women in response to
- >visual stimulus. On the other hand, the skin sensitivity of the most
- >sensitive man is nowhere near the skin sensitivity of the least sensitive
- >woman.
- >
- >This is not to draw conclusions about which is better, but these are true
- >differences that are rarely pointed out. In fact, much of the research that
- >is done on sex differences has been swept under the rug and the researchers
- >ostracized. Apparently, some believe that admitting that all is not nurture
- >and there are some natural differences, is tantamount to stating that women
- >are inferior. The fact is that we are as different as apples and oranges and
- >no one can say which is objectively better.
- >
- >When I was a kid I thought that cultures always progress towards knowledge
- >and that all taboos are ancient leftovers. I've come to discover that the
- >kind of information I just posted is rapidly becoming taboo. Perhaps it
- >will be accepted in twenty to fifty years, but right now it is one of the
- >strongest taboos that we have.
-
- Well, pardon my cynicism, but I believe that if we admit that there are any
- kinds of differences, then we have to admit that we are "optimized" for
- different activities, and that is "bad" by today's standards.
-
- A second thing that would happen is that we would have to reconcile
- the difference between "average" or "representative" values and the
- rights of the individual. For some reason, people seem to have a difficulty
- realizing that being a member of a group with any particular characteristic
- should neither entitle nor deny an individual from being judged on their
- own merits. Denying differences allows us to ignore the issue entirely
- and not have to actually use our minds to evaluate the issue.
-
- A third thing appears to be an inability not to apply some moral
- values to things. It must be "Good" or "Bad". And "different" means
- "better" or "worse". Therefore, the easiest road is to deny the differences.
-
- I'm of the opinion that things are gradually getting better, but I'm not
- sure that mental laziness will ever be minimized to the point of not
- needing simple ideas and taboos to relieve free people of the responsibility
- of thinking.
-
- GMS
-