#biology #intelligence # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought # Feminism ![[Epistemic warning - PC]] >There is no evidence of genes for different brains, but there is ample evidence of genes for altering brains in response to male hormones. (For reasons of historical accident, the “normal brain” is female unless masculinized.) So the mental differences between men and women are caused by genes that respond to testosterone. >~ [[Biology/Matt Ridley|Ridley]] # Equality or identity? >Men and women have different minds. The differences are the direct result of evolution. Women's minds evolved to suit the demands of bearing and rearing children and of gathering plant food. Men's minds evolved to suit the demands of rising in a male hierarchy, fighting over women, and providing meat to a family. > ~ [[Biology/Matt Ridley|Ridley]] >The conclusion is that collaboration is not always based on sympathy, especially not during status competition among adult males. Females and children, on the other hand, usually show sympathy-biased interventions: as a group they score about 75 percent. They largely intervene in conflicts to help relatives and good friends, that is, they react to events in the group rather than use intervention as a means to achieve dominance. The contrast between the sexes cannot be denied. Stated in the simplest terms, the one is protective and personally committed, the other is strategic and status oriented. >~ [[Frans de de Waal - Chimpanzee Politics|Chimpanzee Politics]] # Difference is not inequality >Men look for sources that are mobile, distant, and unpredictable (usually meat), while women, burdened with children, look for sources that are static, close, and predictable (usually plants) >~ [[Biology/Matt Ridley|Ridley]] >Everything in woman is a riddle, and everything in woman hath one solution—it is called pregnancy. ~[[Nietzsche]] [[Nietzsche]] is a bit harsh on women though. >In short, in every age and in every place, men behave as if they owned their wives’ vaginas. ~ [[Biology/Matt Ridley]] Similar topic links: [[Feminism]] [[Evolutionary psychology]] [[Biology/Sex]] [[Gender]] [[Monkey Brain]]