Is there a difference between men and women?

[Nick9]

I have been wondering about this for some time. Is there a difference? Apart from the obvious?

I understand that from the ancient times men are usually hunters and providers and women tend to care about the kids.
But we know there are lots of exceptions to this "rule." Can it still be considered a rule then?

Sometimes I think.. aren't we simply humans and just the body shell is of the two kinds? But the mind is one? So if we, in some sci-fi novel, lost our bodies and existed as a mind only, could we tell the difference?

[megumidesu]

chromosomes

[Nick9]

:biggrin: "Apart from obvious"

[megumidesu]

then no ~
i know women who have stereotypically "male" personalities and vice versa ~
so other than their body / dna , there's no 100 % absolute difference ~

(i'm including the ability to grow babies / give birth in "body")

[SolemnBoy]

Since men are GENERALLY stronger in the physical sense, their past roles as hunters etc. were probably just part of a natural development. Today, however, there are certain presumptions of how a male/female should act which kind of bothers me.

I believe that women and men are ESSENTIALLY the same, although obviously society teaches children the opposite so most girls and boys grow up developing different personalities and interests.

[Blue]

Well there are some studies that show a difference between cis and transgender brain structure which explain the difference in male and female brain structure. Now if that affects the soul, consciousness or whatever, I don't know, but there is a difference.

http://transcister.wordpress.com/2012/07...er-brains/

[pellaz]

there are men and women and everything in between.

men have:
less motivation, unable to aprocriate and all the stuff that goes along with children
higher risk takers
higher upper body mass, thinking has to be adjusted by this
...

[spencer]

When it comes defining gender based on your body, I will say that testosterone and estrogen play a huuuuge role on how you think and feel. I know that because I experienced life with estrogen dominating my body and now I am experiencing it with testosterone dominating my body and it changed how I think and feel. My values and opinions didn't change but when I felt sadness I felt it different, when I felt angered I felt it differently and even when I listened to my angry music I related to it differently.

[MisterTinkles]

I have been wondering about this for some time. Is there a difference? Apart from the obvious?

I understand that from the ancient times men are usually hunters and providers and women tend to care about the kids.
But we know there are lots of exceptions to this "rule." Can it still be considered a rule then?

Sometimes I think.. aren't we simply humans and just the body shell is of the two kinds? But the mind is one? So if we, in some sci-fi novel, lost our bodies and existed as a mind only, could we tell the difference?

This was asked by someone in one of my biology classes back in High School.
Here is what the teacher said (Im paraphrasing, since its been a while since I was in class):



The only differences between men and women are the sex organs and levels of testosterone and estrogen. Everything else is nothing but man made shackles placed on humans for labeling or restrictive purposes.

[dfiant]

Hormones and other chemicals work on the body differently, so you would expect to see several obvious differences, and it would be reasonable to expect there would be even more subtle differences between each genders though processes, behaviours, emotions etc, that are not influences by traditions or cultures.