I approach things from a biological/genetic perspective. “sex” and “gender” are synonymous–being synonyms for biological sex. Therefore they are essentially biologically derived, as there are extremely few XXY or other abnormalities.
HOWEVER, many people study gender in a sociological/psychological manner–self perception and societal roles. For people who look at the term “gender” as more synonymous with “gender roles”, the argument very much that “sex” and “gender” refer to two very different attributes of a person. Hence there would be no fundamental agreement between the two until the definition in the OP that we are dealing with is specified in my mind.
How does the 2 year old boy being rowdy and jerking ‘his’ toy away from the other kid, right before using it for a blow to the offender’s head, compare to the 3 year old girls sitting together quietly holding dolls in this matter.
I have a unsubstantiated hunch - boys act like boys (from biology) and merely expand the natural inclinations, upon aging and being reinforced by observation of older boys and men. And the same for girls.
Sex is obvious. Much of gender roles are learned. I have noticed a trend that holds true for the vast majority of men and women I meet. I think this part is biologically encoded:
Women nurture.
Men provide.
I want you to think about a child falling over and skinning his knee. If mom’s there she hugs him and calms him down first (nurture). If dad’s there “calm down, it’s not that bad. Let’s go wash it out and get a bandaid.” (Provide)
Think about (hetero) people dating. What do men overwhelmingly go for? Women who give them attention, empathy and care. They make good mothers and life partners.
What do women overwhelmingly chose? Men who provide (socially, monetarily, emotionally). Notice the shift away from powerful physiques making men prizes to big bank accounts. That’s because it was the ability to provide that was attractive all along.
It’s silly to try and put 7.4B people in a box. But that’s my simpletons’ guide to gender roles.
My point is that the gender roles are reinforcements of the existing biological directives.
Boys are hardwired to act, like, desire in most ways that do not need gender training to reach.
But get eggheads in a university who see 1 out of every 1MM that has a hiccup in this genetic hard wiring, and all of the sudden, boys only learn to be boys because of social programming - asinine.
Respectfully, while your observations are understandable given where (and when) you live, socio-anthropological work on gender roles and expectations in other cultures do not bear out your assumptions. And before we start making generalized assumptions about fundamental/ineluctable differences between males and females that ‘must’ be attributed to biological hardwiring, we have to consider very carefully the gender roles/behaviors evidenced by disparate cultures/groups.
Well it’s about comedy on one level, the other is perhaps there are innate differences in motorskills and whatever other skills required for this sport.
IIRC don’t women have different center of balance. Would that affect their abilities here?
I don’t think there is any question that there are some major differences between a real woman and a real man. Strength being only one of them. Bruce Jenner can wear a dress 7 out of 7 days a week. But, I don’t suggest you make fun of that fact as he will hand you our head. Are there real women who can hand you your head? Sure but they are true outliers, mma champions, boxers etc.
Why are you doing this? Who is claiming that there are no differences between the sexes? Then again I have not been reading this particular thread so forgive me perhaps this has already been asked and answered.
So the summary is that Margaret Mead goes to the Asian Pacific with preconceived notions and observes the cultural interactions of people whose language she doesn’t understand. Her conclusions are independently debunked by other researchers. Further research indicates that basically all cultures have distinct gender roles that are fairly consistent across cultures, although the strength of those distinctions varies from person to person.
The conclusion of the rainbow slide show is that we need more research because the existing research doesn’t really support what they want to believe.
Without any scientific knowledge and only the power of observation
Caveman drawings show men spearing animals, dragging women by the hair, and fighting each other, while women are gathered together raising children and crops - venerated for fertility and beauty. Nothing changes between then and now except men still fight, try to spear animals with economic ability, and spend the rest of their time watching fighting (sports, chat rooms) or chasing women to drag to the cave; while women have kids, raise them and crops as much as their non materialistic time allows, and spend chunks of time daily (for their entire lives) harvesting personal beauty.
This holds for millennia and across cultures worldwide. So why are a few exceptions enough to say there is no rule. Germans have relatively matriarchal society, but men go to work, war, and chase women.
In the end I will ask a question - if masculinity and femininity are not wired into the majority by biology, why the same roles for thousands of years and the overwhelming number of cultures? Simply because men can physically control women? Too hard to believe.
