# Gender generalizations - Like 'em or Loathe 'em **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734 "2010-03-25T13:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/41 "2010-03-28T12:24:53Z")
But we have no reason to believe random studies that show up on the internet. [Here](http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/23/brizendine.male.brain/index.html?hpt=C2) is a typical article about how men and women’s brains are different. [Here](http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/03/brizendine_true_to_.html) is a reasoned (to me) response to that. The response cites [this recent study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20227858) that shows no difference in the size of the amygdala, an oft repeated biological difference. Basically, there’s a lot of talk about differences in male and female brains, and there may be some truth to some of the differences in how men’s and women’s brains function, but there is basically no biological evidence for it. There may be evidence for it at some point in the future, but right now we should all be skeptical. So, yeah, I’m a woman and I loathe these stereotypes. I do some work on language and gender, and like every study of gender, we find more variation within a gender than between them. And these generalizations are harmful. They tell those of us that do not fit them that we are not _really_ a man or _really_ a woman. Yeah, 21st Century America is a pretty advanced place, but not fitting gender norms is still grounds for punishment. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/42 "2010-03-28T14:13:58Z")
I don’t think they are useful, and I don’t like them. This is mostly personal- I don’t fit in with a lot of female stereotypes, and I find it suspicious that female stereotypes are so often negative. > [@liberty3701](#): > > Basically, there’s a lot of talk about differences in male and female brains, and there may be some truth to some of the differences in how men’s and women’s brains function, but there is basically no biological evidence for it. There may be evidence for it at some point in the future, but right now we should all be skeptical. Furthermore, even if there are differences, this does not necessarily mean that we could trace that to specific behaviors in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/43 "2010-03-28T14:19:52Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > … universal generalizations that actually are valid. OK, so a lot of men don’t like sports…but I bet almost all of them don’t wear skirts. . I don’t like your generalizations, and I don’t think they are valid. Actually, most women in America today wear pants, not skirts. I know a lot of women who don’t even own a skirt. Even more to the point, you can go to any professional baseball or football game in the United States and the crowd will be nearly half female, with all or nearly all of the women wearing pants. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/44 "2010-03-28T16:04:19Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > I don’t like your generalizations, and I don’t think they are valid. > > Actually, most women in America today wear pants, not skirts. I know a lot of women who don’t even own a skirt. > > Even more to the point, you can go to any professional baseball or football game in the United States and the crowd will be nearly half female, with all or nearly all of the women wearing pants. I don’t think he’s generalizing that women wear skirts. I think he’s generalizing that men don’t wear skirts. ---
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/45 "2010-03-28T16:25:54Z")
As a lesbian, I don’t appreciate the assumption that women are sexually attracted to men. Like those “Ladies, does your man do this?” type threads. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/46 "2010-03-28T19:56:47Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > –Enforcing gender stereotypes and limiting individuals who don’t conform (i.e. “you can’t cry, you’re a man!”, or “They won’t hire you, you’re a woman!”) As a boss once said to me regarding judging by appearance: “Is it right? Maybe not. But it’s true.” She meant that, like it or not, people will judge you by the limited info they have of you. If you ask for business dress and I don’t wear a tie, you’ll judge me for it. Fair or not, that’s the world we live in and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Men don’t cry because women don’t expect us to. Women don’t expect us to because men don’t cry. It’s cyclical, but it’s the truth. Expectations reinforce behavior and that, in turn, reinforces expectations. And there’s nothing we can do about that. To be honest, I bet if we charted out all the mostly intact stereotypes against the frequently broken stereotypes, we’d find that the intact ones involve various human mating dances. The more related to sex that the stereotype is, the more it will hold across the population at large. That’s why men do the proposing but little girls can still dig for bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/47 "2010-03-28T20:39:03Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > I’m a woman and I loathe these stereotypes. I’m a man, and I do, too. > [@liberty3701](#): > > I do some work on language and gender, and like every study of gender, we find more variation within a gender than between them. And these generalizations are harmful. They tell those of us that do not fit them that we are not _really_ a man or _really_ a woman. Yeah, 21st Century America is a pretty advanced place, but not fitting gender norms is still grounds for punishment. Yes. More frustrating still, our gender norms are often hostage to trends in politics or pop culture, which may get certain dominant groups’ rocks off, but does nothing to help us relate to one another - as individuals _or_ as men/women/str8s/gheys/etc. And speaking of str8s/gheys/etc., the question keeps getting limited to issues of sexual orientation. I.e., gheys get the right to mix it up, but the rest of us, being privileged str8s, should shut up, get along, and enjoy our privilege. Never mind if, for some reason, we’re _not_ allowed into the privileged circle. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/48 "2010-03-28T21:01:33Z")
Generalizations are necessary for normal conversation. It’s impossible to parse things down so as to make every comment factually accurate in every way that it could apply. I’ve been both amused (and in the case of some troubled friends here, troubled) by the fact that so many people here speak of conservatives as a monolithic entity and yet get offended at the generic term “liberals” because they feel the malfeasance in question doesn’t apply to them. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/49 "2010-03-28T21:07:47Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Generalizations are necessary for normal conversation. No they’re not. 😛 heheheh back atcha. I’ll admit only that _some_ generalizations are necessary for normal conversation. I don’t get all bent out of shape at unPC language, for example, but I stop very far from the idea that the more we generalize about each other the more “normal” we are. I don’t think you necessarily believe that, but you do leave the door open for it. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/50 "2010-03-28T21:30:29Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > And we both have synesthesia, too, right? 😃 If you’ve got blue eyes and light brown hair, I’m going to have to have a talk with the people at Clones 'R Us. Heh. Medium brown hair and green eyes, but close! And yes, I do have synesthesia. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734/51 "2010-03-28T23:38:38Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > But we have no reason to believe random studies that show up on the internet. > > [Here](http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/23/brizendine.male.brain/index.html?hpt=C2) is a typical article about how men and women’s brains are different. [Here](http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/03/brizendine_true_to_.html) is a reasoned (to me) response to that. The response cites [this recent study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20227858) that shows no difference in the size of the amygdala, an oft repeated biological difference. > > Basically, there’s a lot of talk about differences in male and female brains, and there may be some truth to some of the differences in how men’s and women’s brains function, but there is basically no biological evidence for it. There may be evidence for it at some point in the future, but right now we should all be skeptical. > > So, yeah, I’m a woman and I loathe these stereotypes. I do some work on language and gender, and like every study of gender, we find more variation within a gender than between them. And these generalizations are harmful. They tell those of us that do not fit them that we are not _really_ a man or _really_ a woman. Yeah, 21st Century America is a pretty advanced place, but not fitting gender norms is still grounds for punishment. The version I always heard was that the corpus callosum was larger, and that women often showed more brain activity in both halves of the brain at times when men would show more brain activity in only one. The best source I found (as it links its sources) is at [Are There Differences between the Brains of Males and Females?](http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n11/mente/eisntein/cerebro-homens.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-generalizations-like-em-or-loathe-em/533734.md?page=2)