From: feathers@serss0 (Michael Feathers)
Subject: Re: Sick and tired of cries of sexism (was Re: 9 1/2 Weeks)
Organization: Florida International University, Miami
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 13:42:33 GMT

In article <1992Dec29.230808.25460@cbnewse.cb.att.com> gmark@cbnewse.cb.att.com (gilbert.m.stewart) writes:
>In article <C00ys3.ID3@fiu.edu> feathers@serss0 (Michael Feathers) writes:
>>If I remember correctly, testosterone levels have been correlated with
>>spatial reasoning ability in several studies.  Apparently testosterone
>>affects the area of the brain that responds to visual stimulus during
>>development.
>>
>>In addition, males typically have a stronger physiological response (as
>>measured by skin conductivity, heart-rate etc.,) than women in response to
>>visual stimulus.  On the other hand, the skin sensitivity of the most 
>>sensitive man is nowhere near the skin sensitivity of the least sensitive
>>woman.
>>
>>This is not to draw conclusions about which is better, but these are true
>>differences that are rarely pointed out.  In fact, much of the research that
>>is done on sex differences has been swept under the rug and the researchers
>>ostracized.  Apparently, some believe that admitting that all is not nurture
>>and there are some natural differences, is tantamount to stating that women
>>are inferior.  The fact is that we are as different as apples and oranges and
>>no one can say which is objectively better.  
>>
>>When I was a kid I thought that cultures always progress towards knowledge
>>and that all taboos are ancient leftovers.  I've come to discover that the
>>kind of information I just posted is rapidly becoming taboo.  Perhaps it
>>will be accepted in twenty to fifty years, but right now it is one of the 
>>strongest taboos that we have.
>
>Well, pardon my cynicism, but I believe that if we admit that there are any
>kinds of differences, then we have to admit that we are "optimized" for
>different activities, and that is "bad" by today's standards. 
>
>A second thing that would happen is that we would have to reconcile
>the difference between "average" or "representative" values and the
>rights of the individual.  For some reason, people seem to have a difficulty
>realizing that being a member of a group with any particular characteristic
>should neither entitle nor deny an individual from being judged on their
>own merits.  Denying differences allows us to ignore the issue entirely
>and not have to actually use our minds to evaluate the issue.
>
>A third thing appears to be an inability not to apply some moral
>values to things.  It must be "Good" or "Bad".  And "different" means
>"better" or "worse".  Therefore, the easiest road is to deny the differences.
>
>I'm of the opinion that things are gradually getting better, but I'm not
>sure that mental laziness will ever be minimized to the point of not
>needing simple ideas and taboos to relieve free people of the responsibility
>of thinking.
>
>GMS

Well worded.  I have the same cynicism about the ability of people in general
to be non-judgemental about differences.  I've always thought that prejudice
is a cognitive function.  People pre-judge and form generalizations about
recognizable groups of people or things.  It is simply one of the ways we
reason.  Generalizations can be misleading and the remedy is recognizing that
generalizations are not always true.

Beyond that, there is the "us & them" mentality problem.  People usually
identify with particular groups in opposition to other groups.

I have the feeling that these things will be the ultimate un-doing of the
trend toward multi-culturalism that we see today.  It is hard to give people
categories and then not have them fall into disharmony with people in other
categories.
 
I feel that these problems will always be with us, perhaps even if early 
education is used to alleviate them a bit.  On the balance, I'd rather that
scientific inquiry is not stifled when exploring the differences among people.

Someone should make a movie about this so that the discussion is more in
line with this newsgroup  :-)

Michael Feathers

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