Men are smarter than women

Thanks for doing this debate again crackrocks. ==My case== C1) According to Danielle (because it'd be funny to beat him, again, with her case): <<<<<"The theory of multiple intelligences differentiates intelligence into various specific (primarily sensory) modalities rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability. There are a wide variety of cognitive abilities which are only very weakly correlated with one another, despite the close correlations between aspects of intelligence generally measured by traditional intelligence (IQ) tests or psychometrics [Danielle's #5]. The various types of intelligences include: spatial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and existential. Traditional IQ tests focus on logical-mathematical and spatial questions. However it is well established that women perform better than men on tests of verbal application and obtain better scores than men on most verbal memory tasks [Danielle's #6]. Women are also more "socially intelligent" than men. They have more brain circuits for communication, reading emotions , social nuances, nurturing skills and a greater ability to use both sides of the brain simultaneously (multi-tasking). Women are better at reading faces and recognizing emotional overtones in others, which largely explains the phenomena of "women's intuition" [Danielle's #7]. Obviously this is a significant evolutionary advantage. Even the idea that men are naturally better at math and logic can be challenged on the grounds that social trends have led to this presumption. Research indicates that just exposing people to the perception that men are better than women at math not only makes women perform worse, but men are likely to rate their own math abilities more highly than girls even if their test scores were exactly the same. In countries where women aren't thought to be inferior at math, girls are much better represented in high-level math competitions [Danielle's #8]." [http://www.debate.org...]>>>>> C2) Emotional intelligence Danielle already covered this, but I'd like to cover it again. A study by Goldman found that "emotional competencies" account for 67% of earnings potential. [6] Women significantly outscore mean on tests of Emotional Intelligence (EQ); men have barely twice the social skills of someone with Asperger's. [7] C3) Another female advantage The brain requires a great deal of oxygenated blood in order to function at its highest capacity. According to Edward O Laumann, PhD, "The majority of adult men under 60 think about sex at least once a day, reports Laumann. Only about one-quarter of women report this level of frequency. As men and women age, each fantasize less, but men still fantasize about twice as often. In a comprehensive survey of studies comparing male and female sex drives, Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist at Florida State University, found that men reported more spontaneous sexual arousal and had more frequent and varied fantasies." So not only are men's brains less capable of focusing on academic pursuits because they are more prone to distraction, but the male biology significantly impairs brain function as men fantasize since this causes significant amounts of oxygenated blood to rush to a man's extremities. C4) Cosmo's reasons women are better "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80 percent of those who have lost their jobs since December 2007 have been men . . . the Department of Education's statistics reveal that men are also less likely than women to graduate and get their bachelor's degrees. Men are also more likely to take longer than five years to complete their degree . . . a slew of experts are confident that women make greater bosses because they are better listeners, mentors, problem solvers, and multitaskers than their male counterparts. In a recent Daily News article, management expert Jay Forte said, "It's a very service-oriented economy [right now], so you need employees to be motivated. Women are better connectors than men and more astute about knowing how to activate passion in their employees . . . A study of 100,000 portfolios showed that women's investment returns outperform men's, 18 percent to 11 percent." ==Rebuttal== R1) There are more men in the highest IQ categories My opponent's own source says that although the mean IQ is the same for men and women, there is more IQ variance for men, meaning that there are more really smart men, but also more really dumb men. This doesn't prove anything either way; we have more geniuses but also more drooling idiots. In addition, the "g factor" is the important factor on IQ tests. Colom (2002) finds that the g factor does not differ for men and women; men are better at "test taking" for the IQ test, but this doesn't translate to actual IQ. [1] Jorm (2002) finds that in studies where a male advantage in IQ is present, that advantage disappears if you control for health outcomes, and on tests that started with a female advantage, after controlling for health outcomes, the female advantage grows even larger. [2] You have to realize that many IQ meta-studies are global and since women are discriminated against in many countries (especially in terms of getting food at the dinner table and having access to health care), this is an important factor to correct for. Once you do, women are smarter than men! This is backed up by a study from Keith et al (2007) that found a 2-4 IQ point advantage for females later in life. [3] Large, representative studies of US students show that no sex differences in mathematics performance exist before secondary school. During and after secondary school, historic sex differences in mathematics enrollment account for nearly all of the sex differences in mathematics performance. [4] Over 300 studies verify this phenomenon, called "stereotype threat," by which if you're constantly told that you're not "supposed to" be good at something, you perform poorly on tests of that ability. R2) Patriarchy This is just the is-ought fallacy. Just because most recent societies were patriarchal doesn't mean this was good or because men were smarter. Men were STRONGER, so women found it harder to assert their dominance in societies governed by the sword – this is why patriarchy flourished. But in societies dominated by the brain, matriarchy may be a better model. According to author David Pearce, "There is one crude and spectacularly effective way to reduce global catastrophic risk. For evolutionary reasons, almost all wars are started and waged by men. Enacting legislation that allowed only women to stand for national public office would probably save hundreds of millions of lives this century—possibly more. I'd estimate the reduction in global catastrophic risk and existential risk would by its implementation lie at between 50% and 95%—actually closer to the latter percentage figure, but let's be conservative." [5] R3) Religion Actually, my opponent seems to be asserting that all religious people are equally stupid. If anything, the fact that the best and the brightest MEN in Catholic societies became celibate priests who did not reproduce is a reason that women today should be smarter. We naturally selected against the smartest males in our religious societies. Good job, men! Vote Con. [1] http://www.ucm.es... [2] http://www.sciencedirect.com... [3] "Sex differences in latent cognitive abilities ages 6 to 59: Evidence from the Woodcock–Johnson III tests of cognitive abilities" [4] Ann M. Gallagher, James C. Kaufman, Gender differences in mathematics: an integrative psychological approach [5] http://ieet.org... [6] http://www.sq.4mg.com... [7] http://www.guardian.co.uk...