Men are different from women. That would seem to be self-evident. They are different in aptitude, skill and behavior, but then, so is every individual person. So why do we make such a fuss about it. It seems not unreasonable to suggest that the sexes are different because their brains are different, but then no two human brains are the same. It is suggested that our culture is in trouble because many women have been brought up to believe they should be as good as a man. Well, why not other stereotypes, that girls are more sociable, more nurturing, more compliant and have lower self-esteem, are hard to sustain. One that definitely seems to have disappeared over the last two decades is that girls have less motivation to achieve.
There are studies about relative abilities of perception, vision sound and touch. Certainly, if you watched a carpenter run his fingers along a planed surface and being able to tell how true it was, you would find it difficult to believe that boys lack tactile sensitivity.
Another is that girls tend to pick up auditory information while boys do better visually. Several studies suggested that, from school age on, boys outperformed girls in areas of mathematics involving abstract concepts of space, relationships and theory. It turned out that these were gifted pupils. The studies said nothing about the average boy or girl.
In general, men are taller and heavier than women. In sports, men tend to outperform women in strength and speed. Women seem to have greater endurance. In spite of many attempts, sports have never become completely unisex.
Men, it is said, are generally more aggressive, physically and verbally, and enjoy taking risks. They play fighting games and enjoy 'dares.' More men than women are convicted for crimes, especially crimes of violence.
Males are more aggressive than females.
Though this finding has been challenged, and the definition of aggression itself questioned, it is a fairly common feature, both of human cultures and of the more complex species, that male offspring are more likely to engage in play fighting and adults more likely to fight. Many workers challenge this, while others assert that it is the primary indicator of masculinity or femininity.
Females have more verbal ability than males, while males have better visual-spatial skills.
The distinction seems to appear at about the age of eleven and, because of the relevance to education, it has received a great deal of attention. Although girls and boys seem to have the same ability for computational arithmetic, teenage boys also seem to do better at the more abstract math. It might seem that a childhood of social experience is the primary factor. However, the biological argument suggests that the hormonal changes of puberty activate previous dormant differences.