Dear FD:
think TD's post on Margaret Mead's work in the 1930s said most of what I would have said, but to reiterate: Mead's observations were actually of a very recent change in the culture due to extraordinary circumstances, and 1) Mead never made the claim that there was no physiological basis for gender roles. Moreover, she never made the claim - as you did - that there was a tribe in which 2)"the women hunt while the men stay home and tend to the children". Perhaps, to avoid embarrassing yourself you should check your sources and read some more up to date work on the subject.
1) Ms. Mead didn't make the claim because she died before a scientific basis to make the statment was discovered. As I said in a prior post, the human genome has been mapped; there are no codons that are male or female specific. That means that every possible gene a man has, a women has. There is no gene on the y chromosome that is not on a X chromosome.
For those of you who believe the bible, this IS in agreement, as Woman (she did not become Eve until AFTER the apple), was a CLONE of Man (Adam). Woman means female-man. Our bodies are exactly the same. Men, did you know you start out female and then later morph into a male? We even have the same genitalia. If you pull out a woman's uterus, it hangs into a penis. If you pull out a woman's ovaries, they hang into gonads. During sex, a woman's uterus erects, just like a penis. Every hormone and man has, a woman has.
In adddition, the Hebrew word translated "complement" is Ezer. It has a meaning such as a business partner. No where does it infer rank; business partners are equal, even if they handle different aspects of the business (family). Additionally, the same word is used to describe Jehovah in relationships. He is hardly the submissive one in such circumstances. Jesus' wife is a co-equal and co-regent.
I DO believe there are differences in how women and men ACT. However, I agree with Ms. Meade that these differences occur because of social programming (nurture), not nature. From the moment we place a boy in blue and a girl in pink we are socializing them. We lower our voices with boy babies and say, "Aren't you a BIG guy!" and we raise our voices with little girls and say, "Aren't you a cutie!" And so it begins....
FD: If there is a physiological basis for gender roles, please state the physiological basis, and cite your references, scholarly works only.
2) I think everyone here knows I was paraphrasing what I learned over several days in the Psychology class. I think everyone here knows the writer of the scholarly work posted was paraphrasing Ms. Meads' work.
I will not be responding to any more posts on this thread. It has become too nasty. FD, I hope you and I are around to speak in 20 years. It will be interesting to compare your opinions then.
Daniel-P: Regarding your love of furry animals...I arrived home last night to find my 6' 4", firefighter, husband's eyes red and swollen from crying all day. Our 15 year-old, 15 pound, Cockerpoo doggie had broken his leg, and needs surgery to fix it. He is old, and has had many health difficulties as of late...not sure he will pull out of this one. LOTS of guys had rather love the furry creatures than kill them! Most of them just aren't strong and powerful enough to admit it.
