Don't have time right now to think up an answer, but if you want to read an interesting book on the subject, find Carol Tavris The Mismeasure of woman (I own a copy if you want to borrow, but it's enough of a classic that it should be available thru libraries)
Part of its point is the many ways society treats maleness as normal/default, so women are defined in comparison (and treated as problems), rather than just accepting differences. The example that comes to mind most readily is the frequent exhortations that women have low self-esteem and/or need assertiveness training. Maybe instead, men are too self-centered and need to work on being more cooperative and less authoritarian. Boys score higher than math, so girls need extra help in those subjects. But nobody goes on about boys needing extra help in English... And when girls recently did start scoring higher than boys, pundits went on that maybe there's a fundamental problem with the ways schools are set up in general... See http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/12/11/the-boy-crisis-part-2-boy-brains-and-girl-brains/ Or physically, the way medical science treats the female reproductive system as a specialty, while all doctors are trained in the male body as default. Likewise, the way pharmeceuticals are tested, or how airbags are geared towards men's bodies while women often have to have their cars customized because they're too powerful and injure smaller women...
Anyway, tangential and I'm rambling, but I think you'd find it interesting.
The female reproductive system is way more complex, and prone to error/disease than the male system. This is not a bias issue, just a fact of human nature. Sex - men can ejaculate in a woman and walk away. The woman has a complex 9 month process after sex (if pregnancy occurs). Many STDs are almost symptom free for men, but very painful/damaging for women. These facts are not the fault of the medical profession. Notwithstanding any amount of PC propaganda, woman have more risks related to sex. Therefore they need to take more precautions. This is not 'fair', but it has always been true.
We're on the same page, though I would have phrased things differntly.
Differing sexual parts mean men and women are subject to differnt STDs, though the bulk of STDs are pretty much the same for men and women as sex is only a medium of transfer (think: HIV). There are also plenty of non-STD diseases which are gender unique (prostrate cancer, and such), most of which seem based around the sexual organs from what little I know.
In terms of the contest, I think I'll toss this one out for having "direct involvement in reproduction", so no cookies for you this time, unless I make an extra batch.
I've not heard of The Mismeasure of Woman before, but I like your description of it. I'm also pretty sure the title is joking about The Measure of a Man, which is the first solid hard science book on Egonomics (lots of numbers and stuff).
The Amazon.com reviews make it sound like she goes overboard, but if she's got lots of reliable facts, I think I'll add it to my next Amazon Purchase. I trust your reviews over theirs, so it's already in my Amazon shopping cart.
Part of its point is the many ways society treats maleness as normal/default, so women are defined in comparison (and treated as problems), rather than just accepting differences.
The example that comes to mind most readily is the frequent exhortations that women have low self-esteem and/or need assertiveness training. Maybe instead, men are too self-centered and need to work on being more cooperative and less authoritarian.
Boys score higher than math, so girls need extra help in those subjects. But nobody goes on about boys needing extra help in English...
And when girls recently did start scoring higher than boys, pundits went on that maybe there's a fundamental problem with the ways schools are set up in general... See http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/12/11/the-boy-crisis-part-2-boy-brains-and-girl-brains/
Or physically, the way medical science treats the female reproductive system as a specialty, while all doctors are trained in the male body as default. Likewise, the way pharmeceuticals are tested, or how airbags are geared towards men's bodies while women often have to have their cars customized because they're too powerful and injure smaller women...
Anyway, tangential and I'm rambling, but I think you'd find it interesting.
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Sex - men can ejaculate in a woman and walk away. The woman has a complex 9 month process after sex (if pregnancy occurs). Many STDs are almost symptom free for men, but very painful/damaging for women. These facts are not the fault of the medical profession.
Notwithstanding any amount of PC propaganda, woman have more risks related to sex. Therefore they need to take more precautions. This is not 'fair', but it has always been true.
Reply
Differing sexual parts mean men and women are subject to differnt STDs, though the bulk of STDs are pretty much the same for men and women as sex is only a medium of transfer (think: HIV). There are also plenty of non-STD diseases which are gender unique (prostrate cancer, and such), most of which seem based around the sexual organs from what little I know.
In terms of the contest, I think I'll toss this one out for having "direct involvement in reproduction", so no cookies for you this time, unless I make an extra batch.
Reply
The Amazon.com reviews make it sound like she goes overboard, but if she's got lots of reliable facts, I think I'll add it to my next Amazon Purchase. I trust your reviews over theirs, so it's already in my Amazon shopping cart.
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