Just Men and Women?

In the article Born to be Different?, Camille Lewis says that boys and girls are born to be different. She is right, but only to an extent. It’s more complicated than boys are boys and girls are girls. There is a middle ground. Lewis talks about the difference in the brains of boys and girls and their approach to problem solving, but the one factor shes leaves out is LGBT.

According to Lewis, “women have 15 percent more gray matter than men (page 275).” This means they can focus on more than one thing at a time, or to hold multiple conversations at a time. This can not be disputed as it is a biological fact. Women also develop faster, learning language and fine motor skills six years earlier than men. Women’s relationships are built on conversation, I believe this is because women’s minds work faster so they are able to communicate more efficiently. Social hierarchies will destroy a woman’s friendship. In other words, if one of the girls gains a higher status in the social hierarchy, she drops her old friends in exchange for new ones. Women are less likely to be able to handle stress, such as timed tests. I believe this is because they are easily distracted. Women like to talk about their feelings, because they are more receptive to the emotions of others. Women prefer to read fiction works, such as romance novels and short stories. Women rarely employ aggression in a playful manner and tend to avoid confrontation. Women solve problems in a empathetic fashion. Empathy is important in any society, for without empathy, there can be no sympathy. When approached with a problem women will solve the problem with sympathy and compassion. Nowhere is this better shown than in the jobs that women tend to occupy, such as nursing, teaching, and social work. Women also tend to remember things in conjunction with dramatic or emotional events in their lives.

According to Lewis, men have more white matter in their brains. White matter actually inhibits the thought process, which allows them to focus on one thing at a time. Men have worse hearing than girls and tend to lose focus on what is being said, simply because they cannot hear it. They use the more primitive parts of the brain, such as the amygdala, the center of anger and aggression. This explains why boys often play roughly with each other and even go so far as to seek out confrontation. Unlike women, social hierarchy improves camaraderie among men, and helps them to build strong relationships. While women are developing their language and motor skills, men are developing their targeting and spatial memory. Spatial memory is the ability to remember an area, for example, knowing how to navigate through a large city. Targeting memory is the memory regarding whatever it is you are focusing on. This means that men have the ability to remember the things they were focused on, while ignoring the things around them. It also means men have a better sense of direction than women. When men are focused on a task, it can be hard for them to make the transition to another task. Whereas women need conversation, men do not. Conversation for men is merely a way to get women to go out with them, men are often happy to sit for hours on end with very little conversation, thus was invented the professional football season. Men often have trouble remembering sensory details. Men tend to do better when under stress, such as a timed test. When under heavy stress, men prefer to be alone. Men typically prefer to read non-fiction, such as autobiographies, news stories, and “How To Do” articles. Men need reality checks to challenge them and make them reassess their situations. When they solve problems, men will ’systemize.’ This means they will analyze a situation until they are sure they know everything there is to know. Then they will attempt to solve the problem. Just as with women, this is shown in the professions that a man tends to inhabit. Such professions include engineering, mathematics, computer programming, and construction. These are all professions that require a complete understanding of what the person is doing, and do not require an understanding or intuiting of another persons emotions. When with their friends, men will share an activity such as watching or playing sports. Rarely will they share their intimate thoughts and emotions.