The Difference Between Men and Women

12 Feb 2007 36 Comments

by niceheart in Roadblocks

He’s gotta have it.  She can wait. 

They’re not the same in their beds or in their heads. 

Does she really talk more?  And why doesn’t he listen? 

Why do women go to the bathrooms in groups? 

Are we shaped by society or is it nature’s design? 

Gender – it’s bigger than sex. 

This is the introduction to the ABC 20/20 Special – The Difference Between Men and Women that got me hooked. 

Here are some excerpts from that show that will answer the gender myths and will make you understand not only your partner but also your sons and daughters. 

We often joke that women are less able to read maps and men just don’t ask questions.  But is there a scientific explanation for this?  In an experiment, students were blindfolded and led through a maze of tunnels underneath a campus.  When asked where a college building was, women rarely knew, but the men showed a better sense of spatial relations.  In another experiment, students were taken to a cluttered room and asked to stay there for two minutes.  They were then moved to a different room and asked to remember what they saw in the other room.  Women proved to have a better memory and even gave detailed answers.  The men answered, “I don’t know.  There was some stuff there.” 

A study on babies showed that girls sat up without support earlier than boys did.  Boys crawled independently away from their caretaker earlier than girls. 

Newborns were also observed and it was found that males startle more than females.  Females rhythmically mouth, they suck on their tongues, they move their lips and so forth than males do.  Male babies make less eye contact with their mothers than female babies.  Could this explain why men don’t listen?  The male brain has a harder time processing the female voice versus the male voice. 

Why do men fall asleep after sex?  It could be that men have more orgasms than women do. 

Do women have Adam’s apple?  Yes, although it is less prominent than men’s.  The Adam’s apple is actually a thyroid cartilage and testosterone causes it to enlarge.  A few women celebrities that have prominent Adam’s apple are Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock and Nikki Hilton. 

Who snores more?  Men, because they tend to drink and smoke more.  Besides, women have wider air circumference.  And when men gain weight, they gain more weight around the neck. 

Who cheats more?  80% of women remain faithful.  65% of men are faithful. 

Are women the worst drivers?  Men think that they are better because of the mechanical thing.  But actually, women are safer drivers.  Men take more risk and display reckless behaviour.  Men are more impatient on the road.  They are more likely to get into accidents, speed more, drive drunk and have twice as many fatal crashes as women.  A World Health Organization study says that masculinity may be hazardous to health. 

The Female Brain

 

 Is there such a thing as the female brain?  Is that why women go to the bathroom in packs? 

Male brain and female brain look the same at birth.  Female is nature’s default setting.  Only after a surge of testosterone do the boy’s brain begin to look male. 

Right out of the womb, the girl is already better at reading faces and hearing human vocal tones.  For the next two years, the girl’s ovaries will pump adult levels of estrogen.  From six to nine months, the boy’s testicles will be flooded with adult levels of testosterone. 

You can tell a boy, “Don’t touch that,” over and over and they won’t listen.  There’s also a difference at the way girls and boys play with each other.  Girls are much more collaborative.  Boys are much more aggressive.  They don’t want to share.  The biological reason is the brain wiring. 

Animal studies allowed scientists to map human emotions and gender differences.  Areas for emotional memory and communication are larger in the female brain and this perhaps explains why women remember fights and men insist they never happened. 

Women use 20,000 words a day. Men use 7,000. 

At puberty, there is an explosion of hormonal surge as the teen girl brain emerges.  These hormones dramatically reorganize her circuits driving the way she thinks, feels, acts and even obsesses about her looks.  Studies show that surges of estrogen trigger her need to be sexually desirable to boys.  The male brain reorganizes too.  It is flooded with testosterone and he becomes absorbed in sexual fantasies and the need to masturbate. 

Girls mature faster than boys.  Girls’ brains are two years ahead during puberty.  Boys usually catch up in their late adolescence or early 20’s.  Boys think about sex every 52 seconds, girls, a few times a day.  It takes longer for boys to make sense of their emotions. 

When it comes to sex, boys take the lead or their brains do.  The amygdala, the part of the brain that controls sex, is twice as large in males.  The hippocampus, the part that controls emotions, is twice larger in girls. 

Why do girls go to the bathroom in groups? 

There’s a hormone that is released when girls are more intimate with each other, like talking.  The oxytocin is a hormone that is released in the brain that’s kind of a feel good hormone.  That hormonal rush gives them pleasure.   The same rush as drug addicts get from taking cocaine.  

What about sex?  Women need to be in the mood.  And men say they don’t get enough. 

Read about the Brainwork Behind Sex here.