From: gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart)
Subject: Re: Sick and tired of cries of sexism (was Re: 9 1/2 Weeks)
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 00:55:27 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.204916.28512@sunova.ssc.gov> pamela@sscux1.ssc.gov (pamela gurd) writes:
>In article <1992Dec30.161555.23802@cbnewse.cb.att.com> gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec30.045622.12559@psych.toronto.edu> anna@psych.toronto.edu (Anna Filippone) writes:
>>>In article <92364.185826U23700@uicvm.uic.edu> <U23700@uicvm.uic.edu> writes:
>>>>although research has been done that shows that men have a greater
>>>There was no significant difference found in the abilities of girls and boys
>>>in math up until the age of 11.  After that point there was an advantage on
>>
>>I wonder if the types of math studied at different ages had an effect.
>>
>
>I heard (from a rather feminist friend, I must admit) of a study of the
>growth of brain connections that showed that girls' brains matured a
>few years earlier than boys' brains.  In particular, that parts of
>the brain which carry out higher mathematical functions are maturing
>in boys at the same age as these things are taught in schools - but

Pardon my skepticism, but isn't it a tad difficult to map specific
areas of the brain to specific curriculae?  Yeah, I agree that
there are some rough guesses, but I think you'll agree that this
sounds like one of those "black people can't swim" rationalizations.

>girls, not having the appropriate training at the appropriate time,
>were less capable of learning such things.  Seemed plausible at the
>time...

Nothing wrong with being feminist, but there is something wrong with
chauvinism and jumping to conclusions.  I'm sure your friend is not
able to confirm this, but I certainly can't deny it, either.  In fact,
one of the reasons females are smaller than males is that the long
bones fuse earlier.  Who knows?  Maybe the solution is hormone
treatment to slow down the brain's maturation  :-).  I think massive
doses of alcohol and network television might do the trick.

But more to the point, male and female brains do differ, and in the
female brain, studies have suggested more lateral compartmentalization
in the male than the female.  Now, of course, those using the 
reptilian part of their brain can jump up and down about how one or
the other is "superior", but the fact of the matter is that this may
very well be an example of optimization of the brain of both sexes for
different skills.

Further, as has been said many times, these skills may be better in
each sex ON AVERAGE, and have very little to do with the individual case,
and that is the point between minimizing stereotyping, not to deny
differences.

Anyway, even more more-to-the-point, the articles I've read mention 
modes of communication that are purportedly supported by the two types
of brain structures.  I do find it hard to believe that the difference
is a cut-and-tried, and does not represent an average.  I'm also
interested in the relative effects of the severed corpus callosum
experiment on males and females, in light of this lateralization.


>
>Pam.
>

GMS
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa