Without devolving into eugenics territory, what biological differences (personally the brain, but any can do) are there which may result in meaningful and noticeable traits (like greater height and physical strength, tetrachromy, e t.c)?

_Randy_C · 2020-03-07T18:39:32+00:00

A) I’m not well versed in brain structure and abstain from answering.

B) Current research suggest that within the Homo Sapiens norm, brain size is responsible for less than 1 standard deviation from the norm.

C) It’s unclear to this point as to why males are represented to a higher degree at both ends of the IQ spectrum.

D) To the extent that male brain abnormalities cause disproportionate amounts of persons with higher IQ (spectrum variables with greater capacity in such areas as mathematics and spatial awareness); the highest reachable positions within these fields will probably always be disproportionately male.

On the average, females tend to have better language skills but, again, because of male brain structural differences (such as mild forms of autism), males will continue to be atop of most fields.

Personal choice to go into fields one enjoys because they are inherently better at it causes these discrepancies in equal distribution and should be seen as a choice and not a problem. Closing the gaps in these regions is unnecessary but genders choosing to take positions in fields that are considered opposite of the norm shouldn’t be disparaged for doing so.

RossParka · 2020-03-07T20:35:14+00:00

There are no gaps. There are broad distributions of traits, and if you bucket people by sex there are substantially overlapping distributions with different means and variances.

Your life will be shaped by your traits, not by the traits of some aggregated stereotype of your sex.

Sexism means mentally assigning people to buckets by sex and then thinking about the buckets instead of the people. If you want to see the world as it really is, don't be sexist.

Demonspawn · 2020-03-07T22:20:04+00:00

While researching to reply to a post here, I ran across this and thought you might be interested:

http://theconversation.com/not-just-about-sex-throughout-our-bodies-thousands-of-genes-act-differently-in-men-and-women-86613

Ketsuni · 2020-03-07T23:26:18+00:00

B) Among some species there has been correlation. Among humans, however, the size is proportional to the body, with smaller people having more compact brains/smaller synapses.

C) Women have 2 X chromosomes, so if there's a problem with one, the other can typically cover for it. In boys, however, the much smaller Y chromosome doesn't have enough genetic material to close this gap. That's why, at least with X-linked issues, boys tend to represent the majority.

D) There have been mixed studies on how much is nature and nurture. The general consensus seems to be that boys and girls tend to gravitate towards activities that strengthen these individual skills, and that these skills are promoted as they are raised. For example, baby girls are often spoken to more and treated more delicately. Baby boys are seen as more hardy and encouraged in more physical play. I believe the gaps can be closed, because we've seen in other studies (like mental rotation tasks) that these skills can be taught and that learning curves are similar. It's a very difficult topic, however, with many diverging theories and changing variables.

sloths_templar508 · 2020-03-08T03:39:14+00:00

A: doesn't matter, a sperm whale's brain is the size of a small child, but that doesn't mean they're smarter
B: [see A]
C: if you were to plot all the IQs of men and women on a graph, genders separated, the women's graph would look like a massive spike with few on the lower end, almost all in the middle and a portion at the top. While the male graph is much more of a gentle hill, a higher number of the mentaly disabled, more than the disabled male number but less than the average women for average iq, and a slope downwards as we reach the top iqs of men. basically women are more average, men are much more spread out. nobody knows why.
D: there is no gap when you compare men to women of the same IQ, it just happens to be that men occupy a larger proportion of the IQ spectrum

excess_inquisitivity · 2020-03-07T19:07:16+00:00

Women can be men and men can be women. Physical differences are meaningless.

Except that men are evil and stupid.

Some men are both. They call themselves "feminist allies."

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