It is actually true that half of my ancestors were women. Yes, I am half woman. It is surprising, even to me, but I see now that explains why I like to laugh, to talk but am not able to watch much football. When there is a really big game on, I watch, attentively and with admiration. Even as a teen-ager, with a sister and no brothers, I wondered about the female approach to life. I read the other day that about 80% of American women have read a book in the last year while about 60% of American men have. I read a lot. It is cheaper, faster and easier to read about a botanist in the early 1800's than to visit one or be one.
An organization mostly for senior citizens around here, L.I.F.E., is something like a local Chautauqua, an organization that offers talks by locals, often retired professors, and trips to nearby points of interest. More women join than men, 60-65% female. During discussions, I often hear opinions expressed by both genders. Very often, the women are insightful and logical but they seem notably more peaceful than the men.
It seems clear to me that women are more often attracted to an approach that tries to please, to befriend, to avoid ruffling feathers, while men are more likely to disagree for the sake of disagreeing, to object, to list shortcomings and limitations of a proposal. It is no news that men are more assertive than women or that women can be turned off by assertiveness, argument and attack. They seem to reject such qualities as being childish, irritating, a waste of time.
I can see that we can play a party game, where the men say negative or assertive things and the women make quiet and soothing statements, both in accord with the general picture of male energy and female care and condolence.
Men often actually enjoy bumping, body checking and generally crashing into each other. Of course, with enough force, with a concussion or deep bruises or torn tendons, it is not fun. But some fairly rough contact feels good. Now if there is one thing I have learned from Margaret Mead's "Male and Female" and Masters and Johnson's "Human Sexual Response", it is that the human sexes are not all that different. I have met a mother of a woman hockey player and also a woman roller derby skater who did lots of body checking and blocking, seemingly with pleasure. Maybe a verbal disagreement or challenge is the senior's equivalent to knocking someone into the boards on the rink or throwing the opponent to the mat. I have heard of men taking a very severe blow from another and feeling in awe of the amount of power and precision that went into the effort.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
