Paula

I’ve often said that in online conversations, when the parties don’t know each other’s gender, that it’s almost comical how people try to guess anyway. Many times I was presumed to be male, and once was even reprimanded for “shirking my duty as a father and husband” because of my egalitarian arguments. I got a major laugh out of that one. (Yes, I finally told the guy I’m female, and he was strangely silent after that.)

The internet is a good case study in mistaken presumptions about male and female brains. I’ve seen very emotional posts by males, and very technical posts by females. And as we know, females can be very hostile and aggressive, and males can be gentle and nurturing.

My point is that the “exceptions” disprove the rule. Were our behavior and thinking dependent upon our physiology, there would be no exceptions at all. In fact, the idea of gender-based thinking and behavior is exactly like race-based arguments. It ignores the “exceptions” which disprove the rule.

(blogged about that a while back)