May 07, 2003

genderizing

Apparently I have a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html">male
brain
. (It must be a bit confused finding itself in my female body, though
that could explain a few features of general outline.) This is not a great
surprise, given my curriculum vitae: degrees in engineering and sciences, more
male than female friends, interest in processes, good at English but more
fascinated with linguistics and history than fine lit'rachure, and so on. If you
go by stereotypes, I'm a guy ... until you look at the polished toenails,
drawerfuls of lingerie and cosmetcs, fondness for shopping, shelves full of
authors like L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, and others whos fan bases tend to
be composed of individuals with two X chromosome.

The authors of that
article and the designers of the study it's based on do make the point, several
times, that brain type does not necessarily go by gender; a woman can have a male
brain (obviously) and vice versa. It leads me to wonder, though, (with that
systematic mind they say I have) why they pandered to stereotype by labeling the
types male and female in the first place. Why not just say, as so many other
personality tests do, that some people are people-oriented while others are
problem-oriented? That way you don't have to keep explaining that no, you don't
mean that word in the way in which every other speaker of ENglish expects it to be
used.

And maybe, you'd weaken the stereotypes just a little more,
making it just a bit easier for each child to grow up in his or her own way.

Posted by dichroic at May 7, 2003 11:34 AM
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