Taking Sex Differences Seriously
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: May 25, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 362
ISBN-13: 9781893554931
Subjects: Gender Studies; Sex role; Science; Science/Mathematics; Sociology; Social Science / General; Life Sciences - Human Anatomy & Physiology; Child rearing; Sex differences
First sentence: If gender identities have changed dramatically, we would see it most clearly among the junior ranks of university faculties.
Description: "Contemporary discussions of sex differences typically assume that they are determined by society rather than biology. It is society, we hear, that teaches little girls to be feminine and little boys to be masculine; it is society that tells women to respond to babies and men to respond to sports. Reflecting the fashionable idea that male and female roles have been "socially constructed," most commentators speak of gender instead of sex. Because men and women are virtually interchangeable, so the argument goes, men should do an equal share of domestic and childrearing work so that women can compete equally outside the home." "There's one problem with this beguiling vision of androgyny: whatever we might like to believe, as Dr. Steven Rhoads shows, sex distinctions remain a deeply rooted part of human nature. In Taking Sex Differences Seriously, Rhoads assembles scientific evidence demonstrating that these differences are "hardwired" into our biology. They range from the subtle (men get a chemical high from winning, while women get one from nursing) to the profound (women with high testosterone levels are more promiscuous, more competitive and more conflicted about having children than those with average levels)."--BOOK JACKET.