Men and Women Are Equal

Thanks, SirCrona. Biology I don't want to say this... but right off the bat you say "different" sexes, implying we aren't equal [1]. Although I do know what you mean, saying "Men and women are equal... here's why men and women are different" isn't too good for your argument, lol. But back on point. There are physical differences between the sexes, thanks for clarifying. You're right that a self-replicating animal, or one that reproduces asexually, would not pass on any real advantageous genes, and the only real form of change from the parent to offspring would be slight adaptations to the environment. However my point is not that one sex has an advantage over the other or that one sex is better than the other - my point is that they are different/unequal. If I have a red ball and green ball, they aren't equal in colour, but they're both useful for playing catch with. Similar =/= equal. You're right that we both have nipples, however a woman's nipples have a much different function than a man's. She uses hers to produce milk to feed her offspring, whereas a man... well, he doesn't. There's not much use at all for the male nipples, whereas there's plenty of arguably important uses for the female nipples. Another point since we're talking about nipples and breasts, women are about 100 times more likely to develop Breast Cancer than men. There's a 1 in 8 chance of a woman developing Breast Cancer [2], while there's about a 1 in 1,000 chance of men developing Breast Cancer. 8 =/= 1,000. Women having the ability to breast feed does not make them "superior" caregivers, however they do have an advantage, and to say men and women are equal caregivers is just not right. Women produce "food" for their offspring, men don't. Although men can go buy milk, "Breastfeeding helps defend against infections, prevent allergies, and protect against a number of chronic conditions" - taken from KidsHealth.org [4]. So it's better for a child to be breastfed then fed from a bottle with a formula. It's also shown that women who give birth after 33 tend to live longer [5]. Do men have this option? Nope, so I wouldn't consider that equal, would you? Staying on the biological track, I stated that women tend to live longer after they've given birth, but it's also a well known fact that women tend to live longer than men in general. Women also tend to weigh less and stand shorter than men, weighing in at about 166lbs, and 5'4" [6], whereas men tend to weigh about 195lbs, and stand about 5'10" [7]. These numbers are based on long-term detailed studies, do you think these height and weight differences are equal? Men and women grow differently, this is not a negative thing, just an inequality between the sexes. Also, as you can see, male babies and female babies are different in weight (on average), with males tending to be a bit heavier, and grow a bit faster [8]. Now I've got more points on Biology but I'm keen on jumping into mental development of the sexes, so let's just get into that. Mental Development You claim that the only reason men and women develop different skill sets and different levels of intelligence is due to societal expectations, or external influences. I say the development of the brain and neural capabilities falls into similar growth patterns as our biological growth patterns. Since we can't really give an IQ test to an infant, when no external factors have influenced them, we have to do the next best thing - Study overall grades in different subjects. Whether differences be attributed to societal norms, peer pressure, any type of outside source, I'm sure you and I can both agree that there are in fact many differences between men and women, mentally. A study spanning from 2005-2010 shows that men excel in some areas where women excel in others, and are relatively similar (not equal) in others [9]. For example, if you chose to open the .pdf I provided you, you will see that women achieved A's seven percent more than men in Microbiology & Immunology, whereas men scored A's twelve percent more in Biochemical/Biochemistry Principles. Throughout most of the other subjects, men tend to score a bit higher than women overall. Is this attributed to societal pressure or standards? Maybe it's attributed simply to what those people are interested in, and it just happens women are more interested in Microbiology than Biochemistry. Maybe there's no "societal standard" at all, and it all boils down to personal preference, which happens to relate almost directly to sex. It's also shown that women are now scoring higher than men on IQ tests [10], after men have scored higher for the past century. So whether outside factors are a major influence or not, it doesn't change the fact that men and women are not equal in every area when it comes to mental capabilities. I think next round (considering we have plenty of time) I'll get into job performance and what influences men to excel in some fields, and what causes women to stay put in positions they're comfortable in, instead of taking risks and moving up. I'll also try to bring social groups (such as Feminism) into the picture. Conclusion So far we've found out several things - men and women are biologically different from birth. Men tend to grow a slight bit faster, and continue growing after women stop, to achieve a bigger frame than women. Women are able to produce natural food for their offspring, while men can't, however this trait also raises the chance of Breast Cancer in women, and lowers it in men. And of course the same applies for male sexual organs - testicular and prostate cancer is much higher in men than women. Mental capabilities differ through different topics, and simple differences in interests between the sexes can play a role. There isn't a definitive answer as to why there is a difference, but the main thing we know is that there is a difference, aka inequality. Thanks for a good first round, looking forward to the rest! Sources [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://www.cancer.org... [3] http://www.cancer.org... [4] http://kidshealth.org... [5] http://www.medicaldaily.com... [6] http://www.livestrong.com... [7] http://www.livestrong.com... [8] http://www.cdc.gov... [9] http://www.google.ca... [10] http://newsfeed.time.com...