The myth of mental gender

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Rachel Alexander

Maybe the perceived differences are actually only based on physical differences and outdated societal stereotypes. Only within the last 100 years has civilization evolved from a manual labor-oriented economy to a service-oriented society. In the past, the women stayed at home and raised the children while the men performed the manual labor, because of the physical differences in strength between men and women. Now there are numerous jobs in the workforce that women can perform, but women are moving slowly into them because of leftover stereotypes from the past.

Young girls are still taught that being pretty and thin is a very high priority, and so they put a lot of time and effort into vanity; whereas young boys are consistently taught that it is very important to do well and find a good job to support their future family.

With this type of "indoctrination" from a very young age, it is no surprise that women are less interested in math and science, fields that almost exclusively focus on preparation of a student for a solid, non-glamorous career.

Carol Tavris, a social psychologist, has studied and written about neuroscience research in this area. She found that neuroscientists have tried endlessly to find a relationship between the physical differences of the brain and intellectual prowess, to prove that men are intellectually superior to women. They kept running into problems, requiring constant revision of their theories.

A hundred years ago, scientists claimed that the larger brain size of men meant they were smarter than women. After that theory was discredited, because of the realization that men's larger body size off-set the effects of any larger brain size, a new theory claimed that women's larger parietal lobes made them intellectually inferior. That theory in turn was dropped when it was discovered that the parietal lobes might be associated with intellect - until it was found that women's parietal lobes were actually smaller than they had thought.

The most recent fad theory is that males are "left-brained" and women are "right-brained." Men are supposedly more specialized in the left hemisphere, which has superior intellectual and spatial ability. Women's brains allegedly have "interconnected hemispheres," meaning they insert their emotions into everything they do.

Well, this theory is now running into problems, because men are supposed to be superior at math and art, too, which are "right-brain" functions.

No evidence has been found establishing a correlation between differences in the physical characteristics of the brains and perceived mental differences. Without any proof, it is best to carefully question this latest stereotype.

Another common stereotype is that women "communicate" better than men. This may be true, but it may be due to their sense of physical inferiority, not any mental differences. Studies of prisoners have shown that they develop keen communication skills while in prison. Since they cannot use their physical prowess with the guards, they must overcompensate with verbal skills and learn to negotiate. Likewise, as the physically weaker sex, women must rely more on communication.

One problem with studies on gender differences is the failure to take into account any physical differences between men and women or societal influences that are responsible for the differences. From a very young age, little boys and girls are subjected to constant societal messages: commercials telling them what types of interests they should have, television shows demonstrating how they should behave, and instruction by teachers from a previous generation on what the proper sex roles are. Furthermore, most of the studies reveal small percentage differences; the vast majority of men and women are alike.

Unfortunately, pop psychology has exploited and hyped up gender stereotypes, perpetuating myths even though the theories behind them have been discredited.

"Relationship experts" such as John Gray, who wrote Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, are making millions giving bad advice based on the stereotypical assumption that men and women think differently. His claim that women need more attention and "validation" from men was likely based on his latest personal relationship; he provides no scholarly research for his conclusions.

While these assumptions may be true in his own dating life, he lacks both expertise and credentials in this area.

His Ph.D. in Psychology and Human Sexuality was obtained through a mail-order program.

Whether women want more attention or prefer a strong independent man depends on the relationship, not her gender. If a woman is dating a doormat, instructing him to give her more attention is not going to help the situation.

Acknowledging the biological physical differences between men and women is helpful to understanding the sexes; making unsubstantiated claims about mental abilities is not. Since men and women are more alike than not, why are we obsessed with treating them differently?

Rachel Alexander is a law student. Her column, Common Sense, appears on alternate Tuesdays and she can be reached via e-mail at Rachel.Alexander@wildcat.arizona.edu..