Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences

by Cordelia Fine

One little girl in a cat costume walked into the room to discover that every other girl, without exception, was dressed up as either a princess or a fairy. She burst into tears and wailed to her mother, ‘I should have worn my princess dress!’ On the next dress-up day, she did.

‘Love, tenderness, nurturance; competence, ambition, assertion – these are human qualities, and all human beings – both women and men – should have equal access to them’

Sixty-eight percent of women who merely imagined themselves in this situation thought that they would refuse to answer at least one question, 16 percent said they would leave the interview, and 6 percent said they would report the interviewer to his supervisor. The percentages of women who actually responded in these ways to real sexually harassing interview questions were, respectively, 0 percent, 0 percent and 0 percent.

Baron-Cohen argues that systemising ‘needs an exact eye for detail, since it makes a world of difference if you confuse one input or operation for another.’ (Baron-Cohen, 2003), p. 64. However, it seems to me that one could just as plausibly argue that good empathising requires attention to detail, because otherwise you might, for example, fail to notice the important emotional leak that tells you what the other person is really feeling, or how you might be best able to make him or her feel better.

dam who is this clown

There was an unexpected positive correlation between levels of amniotic progesterone (a hormone associated more strongly with females) and playing with boyish toys! The researchers suggest that this may be a spurious effect.

dam who r these CLOWNS :'-D

As Sandra Bem acknowledged, there were difficulties for the children in having gender removed as a legitimate source of identity, yet having to live in a culture that remains highly gendered.