Philosophy Now Forum

I know this woman, slightly below fifty years or so, personal Christian, studied theology and law, as we chat, this woman, which is another one who insists on my intelligence (I later took an intelligence test and came out only barely above average) was telling me about her youth referring to her early deeper interests into economics in the form of stock marketing radio listening in primary school, throughout her talk (she is member of "Mensa", Norwegian organization fronting the causes of "intelligent" people as well as offering professional IQ-tests) she referred to this thing she called her "male brain", as she seems to insist that the way her brain works is typically "male" and not feminine. My question is simple: what makes a brain "masculine" and not "feminine" apart from the obvious gender dichotomies like "my penis!", women don't think that as they have no penis, and apart from the endocrinology also, that is, apart from pure differing of substance regulatory systems, like saying "men have more of x-substance and women more y-substance".

What does mathematical inclination make you "masculine" in your brain? Does it have to? Or is this just a tendency which may be more prevalent in males but not significantly so?

The Voice of Time wrote:I know this woman, slightly below fifty years or so, personal Christian, studied theology and law, as we chat, this woman, which is another one who insists on my intelligence (I later took an intelligence test and came out only barely above average) was telling me about her youth referring to her early deeper interests into economics in the form of stock marketing radio listening in primary school, throughout her talk (she is member of "Mensa", Norwegian organization fronting the causes of "intelligent" people as well as offering professional IQ-tests) she referred to this thing she called her "male brain", as she seems to insist that the way her brain works is typically "male" and not feminine. My question is simple: what makes a brain "masculine" and not "feminine" apart from the obvious gender dichotomies like "my penis!", women don't think that as they have no penis, and apart from the endocrinology also, that is, apart from pure differing of substance regulatory systems, like saying "men have more of x-substance and women more y-substance".

What does mathematical inclination make you "masculine" in your brain? Does it have to? Or is this just a tendency which may be more prevalent in males but not significantly so?

I must say you are amazingly honest for a male. Most UP grade themselves on the internet. I don't think I would want to share that my IQ was barely average. Perhaps you have a feminine brain.

I have said much worse things about myself than that a professional IQ-test shows I have barely above average intelligence. You may say that I'm not an "aesthetic person", if you know what I mean.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

The Voice of Time wrote:I know this woman, slightly below fifty years or so, personal Christian, studied theology and law, as we chat, this woman, which is another one who insists on my intelligence (I later took an intelligence test and came out only barely above average) was telling me about her youth referring to her early deeper interests into economics in the form of stock marketing radio listening in primary school, throughout her talk (she is member of "Mensa", Norwegian organization fronting the causes of "intelligent" people as well as offering professional IQ-tests) she referred to this thing she called her "male brain", as she seems to insist that the way her brain works is typically "male" and not feminine. My question is simple: what makes a brain "masculine" and not "feminine" apart from the obvious gender dichotomies like "my penis!", women don't think that as they have no penis, and apart from the endocrinology also, that is, apart from pure differing of substance regulatory systems, like saying "men have more of x-substance and women more y-substance".

What does mathematical inclination make you "masculine" in your brain? Does it have to? Or is this just a tendency which may be more prevalent in males but not significantly so?

I must say you are amazingly honest for a male. Most UP grade themselves on the internet. I don't think I would want to share that my IQ was barely average. Perhaps you have a feminine brain.

LOL. Here is the thing. he most likely DID upgrade his IQ score when he said he was barely average.

The Voice of Time wrote:I have said much worse things about myself than that a professional IQ-test shows I have barely above average intelligence. You may say that I'm not an "aesthetic person", if you know what I mean.

In neuroscience, the male brain is more likely to be better at system solving than the female brain. So, men have an advantage in math, science, engineering. Asperger's syndrome is an example of what happens as a male brain gets really "manly."

The female is more likely to be successful in dealing with people, understanding what they are feeling, thinking, etc., which would give them an advantage in fiction writing, trial law, etc.

However, these advantages are slight and any given woman, like a Lisa Randall, may be far better than a man at math, and any given man, like Gerry Spence, may be far better at picking up emotions in another person than the average woman.

The human brain also adapts to what it is used for. If you spend a lot of time doing math, you build up solid, physical networks in the brain for solving math problems. The same thing happens if you play an instrument, try to read faces, or any activity. So, our ability to learn also makes up for any starting differences that are present. As a result, although there are differences, the differences do not justify different educational methods, etc., as is stupidly being done at a number of schools.