At CNN today is a pop-science puff piece that breezily summarizes some of the natural underpinnings of what we all know to be true: men and women are different. The article touches, blithely and matter-of-factly, on differences in body chemistry, brain anatomy, emotions, and cognition.
You’ll certainly get no argument from me; I’ve always thought it absurd to imagine otherwise. But wait a minute: in some quarters, this is heresy. For decades we have been told to believe, on pain of academic or political excommunication, that all cognitive, perceptual, social, and behavioral differences between the sexes were simply a matter of invidious and atavistic cultural stereotyping in the service of male domination. I can understand the motivation, mind you, and to be sure there were indeed many legal and social injustices to be remedied: we should all be judged as individuals, and everyone should be equal under the law. I realize also, of course, that there is plenty of overlap: there are, obviously, aggressive women and sensitive, empathic men. But the fact of the matter, however inconvenient it may be, is that there are general and innate differences between men and women, as is plainly evident across all human cultures — and to suppress the truth in the service of a political agenda is just as blameworthy coming from academic feminists as it is from Republican vice-presidents. (I’m sure Lawrence Summers would agree.)
You can read the article here.