Looking at this blog, it is very interesting to see how many women are suddenly furiously looking stuff up on google; verifying statistics and sources; doing math calculations and theorizing explanations.

The thing is, they ONLY seem to do that with a number that makes it look like some progress has been made.

Can any of the ladies writing posts here truly, honestly say they have gone to these lengths to verify any of the feminist dogma they are so familar with?

::Raises hand::

Come on, Kuruman, next thing you know, you'll be saying girls don't do math, 'cause it's hard! <grin>

And when male rats run mazes faster than female rats, it has nothing to do with testosterone rewiring the brain. It's the vicious rat patriarchy.

Ah kuruman,

I knew you were an douchebag, because here you are again, acting like a douchebag. Thanks for that!

If you're so brilliant, why do you expose yourself over and over as a douchebag? You would think intelligent people would have some inkling of self-awareness.

ASlyJD:

And when male rats run mazes faster than female rats, it has nothing to do with testosterone rewiring the brain. It's the vicious rat patriarchy.

What the hell are you talking about. Male rats don't run mazes faster than female rats. Why don't you use Google to verify that? Idiot.

mercadia, just curious (although you seem in too foul a mood to respond with candor): Do you claim (or believe) that there are no gender differences in mental function or capacity? I don't include the existence of "physcial" differences, because those exist beyond any denial.

And by "differences" I of course speak of average differences--individual variations always destroy any "rule" that people might assume from averages. Example: Men are taller than women, which does NOT mean:

• all men are taller than all women
• that the tallest person must be a man
• that entire collections of men (say, Japanese men) must be taller on average than entire collections of women (say, Scandinavian women)
• that tallness is inherently "preferable."

I mention the above because it always interests me that:

• If there exists even the slightest hint that there's a difference, there usually IS a difference measurable in averages between large groups.
• Averages NEVER predict anything about an individual from one group vs another. If an average DOES, then it's not the type of trait people would ever categorize as something suitable for averaging; e.g., it's silly to say that horses, on average, have more legs than people.
• People have a tendency to use averages erroneously to form prejudices toward individuals. They mistakenly assume that a randomly chosen person is likely to have the "average" trait (and in fact, for the typical averaged trait, is UNLIKELY to have the average trait), when the correct assumption is that a large COLLECTION of randomly chosen people will likely have an average of the trait that is near the overall average.
• People, in fear and reaction to the above, often INSIST that people pretend that average differences do not exist, when they in fact do, as an irrational way to stop irrational prejudice.

mercadia:

Ah kuruman,

I knew you were an douchebag, because here you are again, acting like a douchebag. Thanks for that!

If you're so brilliant, why do you expose yourself over and over as a douchebag? You would think intelligent people would have some inkling of self-awareness.

That's a crazy thing to say. It is WELL KNOWN that statistics OFTEN are:

• created from poorly collected, or even falsified, data
• erroneously calculated, or created from an incomplete understanding of the proper use of statistics
• accurate, but purposely generated in a way that does not address the situation as implied.
• accurately generated, but misunderstood (either by the creator or the audience) to mean something they really don't.
• poorly quoted

...and please let me know if any further bulleted lists are required for this thread!

I merely said the OP is a douchebag–which he most definitely is. This isn't the first time he's posted as a pseudo-intellectual without the slightest inkling that self-awareness is one of the main congitive skills that separate people who possess above-average intelligence from...douchebags.

And that the person who posted that stuff about rats has not done the basic work that the OP asked for (which is Google to verify facts). The irony that gets me everytime.

And, yes, I do believe there is some difference in mental functioning between men and women--studies have consistently shown that female and males possess some gender-based dimorphism. in terms of hormone levels and brain structure. For example, women, on average, have a wider corpus callosum than men, and the two genders tend to use different parts of their brain to complete the same activities.

In terms of mental CAPACITY, absolutely not. There's no proof that either gender is incapable of completing the same task as the other, and there's absolutely *no way* to separate socialization from mental development at all (unless you want to drop some newborn babies in a controlled environment where, from birth, they get the exact same treatment at all times (exact same..no variations in touching, speaking, feeding, playing...nothing.)

There's just not way to come to holistic gender-based conclusions...pretty much ever...so what's the point?

StevieN,

You're missing kuruman's point entirely (which is probably because his post is so poorly written).

Maybe you could re-explain yourself, kuruman?

Oh, and that thing about the rats. Studies confirm that female and male human beings perform identically when moving through mazes, although they tend to use different cognitive strategies to complete the task.

Mercadia

I think your medication is wearing off.

I don't think I need to explain myself Merc. Perhaps you can point out the defects in my writing and I can try to rectify them. Put them in a list of bullet points...Stevie can show you how.

I think, perhaps, that your corpus callosum is so big that your thoughts are getting muddled whizzing back and forth between your hemispheres.

Sly

You have upset Mercadia, although thus far you have escaped the douchebag epithet.

She/he/it is countering your maze claim with something about humans. My guess is, women stop and ask for directions and men blow holes in the maze with a flame thrower.