In general, do women think differently than men?

[TK421]

I think that’s a pedantic reply. What I meant was that there’s no inherent bias to the female or male mind that should, in general, prohibit one form taking public office or sharing in government or intellectual matters. It has been stated by the Church that men and women ought to participate in public life in equal measure.

I also thought I should comment on the last part. You’re subtly coloring the Church again with your own designs. The Church doesn’t operate according to demographic quotas. It has never stated that men and women ought to participate in public life in equal measure. The Church is silent on women in the workforce (and politics), which is an implicit acceptance, since the Church has never had to give an explicit “go ahead” for anything to be okay, or the list would go on forever. It simply speaks up when something is wrong, such as what needed done when the birth control in the form of a regular pill hit the market in the 1950s.

If a woman participates less in public life than her husband, that is her affair and she requires no justification for it. Her vocation may be more private in nature compared to others.

 

[SimmieKay]

If you do any kind of survey or study of human attitudes or behaviours, you will find some gender differences come up - certain traits are much more common in men than in women, and vice versa. However, what I think we should be clear, is these are only averages, and individual women and men can deviate from those averages. If certain personality traits are commonly associated with (say) men, and if an individual woman shows them strongly, that doesn’t mean she is any less a woman, she is just different from the statistical norm (the same point applies with the genders reversed.)

Sometimes people abuse averages and generalisations, which are true for large groups of people but of course admit individual exceptions, as some kind of universal essentials which they are not. We should evaluate people on the basis of their individual characteristics and abilities, not on the basis of gender-based generalisations which may not apply in every individual case.

Simon

 

[ethereality]

From all I have seen from almost three decades on this planet, it’s not a question of sex, but of gender, i.e. the masculinity-femininity spectrum: There are effeminate men who behave (i.e. think) more in accord with female stereotypes, and masculine women who think more in accord with male stereotypes. It’s more a question of hormonal influence on the brain than the person’s sex, I think.

Going a step further, I see this as a challenge to the Church’s theology of the body, positing inherent differences due to sex. It seems rather than sexual difference is only sexual difference between men and women, i.e. how gametes are delivered, whereas everything else is “up in the air” so to speak.

I’d like to be proven wrong.

 

[ethereality]

And before you far-righters come in with the whole TOTB spiel - it’s catholic teaching that men and women are intellectually equal.

You seem angry, to have thrown a label at anyone who would dare to contradict you, and as if that label is a dirty word …

I don’t know what you mean by ‘right’, but I guess I like to respond to challenges : The Church does not teach equality in terms of sameness. Rather, as “Catholic Answers Live” has stated, St. John Paul II taught that everything men and women do, they are called to do with all of their being. That is where sexual difference comes in (and how diversity is supposed to work), and how one achieves sexual fulfillment even while celibate.

So it seems it is false to suggest that there is no difference between how men and women think: At the very least, men think with male bodies, and women think with female bodies. Equality means sameness (2+2 = 4 means ** ** = ****, what is on the left is the same as what is on the right): Men and women are not equal. They have an equal amount of dignity.

Specifically, I would guess that hormones and the physical structure of the brain affect how one thinks. (But see my earlier reply: There seems variation and overlap between the sexes.)

 

[TK421]

Also Quid, the bolded part of your post is worth talking about"

I think that’s a pedantic reply. What I meant was that there’s no inherent bias to the female or male mind that should, in general, prohibit one form taking public office or sharing in government or intellectual matters. It has been stated by the Church that men and women ought to participate in public life in equal measure.

No it hasn’t. You’re coloring the issue with your own passion & vision. The Church isn’t a political or social arm that advocates prescribing and maintaining demographic quotas in order to satisfy select human interpretations of justice. Whether women participate less, the same, or more in public life isn’t the Church’s business to begin with. Whether a woman’s life is very public or very private is primarily an issue between her and God, depending on the vocation she is called to.

The Church is silent on women in the workplace/politics, which is an implicit acceptance of it, since it has never needed to give the green light to allow behavior, otherwise the list of permissible things would go on for forever and nobody would be able to keep track of it. It simply speaks up whenever it needs to identify something that is intrinsically contrary to truth & justice.

 

[fisherman_carl]

In my experience different women are so different from each other that it can be difficult to generalize. In Catholic thinking women seek intimacy, and are immanent; while men are distant. Negatively speaking, This means women can talk your head off. And, men can be too distant that they neglect the needs of their spouse and family. Positively speaking, women seek closeness and foster relationships, and are immanent in situations with people. And men because they can distance themselves from a situation can for instance more easily run into a burning building to save a child. And, this is also why God is typically a father figure. Because God is not immanent in creation to the degree of being creation. He is separate from creation, or distant from it, but at the same time able to be present in it.

Why is earth always a mother? No one ever says ‘father earth’. It is always ‘mother earth’. It is because the earth is immanently with us. In a sense we are a part of the earth and it is part of us. It is more like a mother than a father.

 

[fisherman_carl]

Catholicism recognizes differences between the two.

This is about masculinity and femininity. The culture would say there is no difference between men and women. That is why they can not understand things like a male only priesthood. They think of it as a neglect of women’s rights. When in fact it is not about equality or rights at all. But about recognizing the different roles of men and women. This flies in the face of the culture that no longer recognizes any gender roles in the name of women’s equality. And looks at anything with suspicion that does not give equal roles to men and women because after all in their minds men and women are exactly the same and should be capable of doing the same things. However, it is not about capacity, but about how we are naturally made. This goes back to natural law. Men for instance can not give birth. Women are naturally mothers. Not men. Likewise men are naturally fathers, not mothers. Women can not get someone pregnant. They need men for that. God designed us different, not to compete with each other for roles, but to compliment one another.

 

[petra22]

Catholicism recognizes differences between the two.

This is about masculinity and femininity. The culture would say there is no difference between men and women. That is why they can not understand things like a male only priesthood. They think of it as a neglect of women’s rights. When in fact it is not about equality or rights at all. But about recognizing the different roles of men and women. This flies in the face of the culture that no longer recognizes any gender roles in the name of women’s equality. And looks at anything with suspicion that does not give equal roles to men and women because after all in their minds men and women are exactly the same and should be capable of doing the same things. However, it is not about capacity, but about how we are naturally made. This goes back to natural law. Men for instance can not give birth. Women are naturally mothers. Not men. Likewise men are naturally fathers, not mothers. Women can not get someone pregnant. They need men for that. God designed us different, not to compete with each other for roles, but to compliment one another.

A BIG Thumbs Up!!!

 

[ethereality]

However, it is not about capacity, but about how we are naturally made. This goes back to natural law. Men for instance can not give birth. Women are naturally mothers. Not men. Likewise men are naturally fathers, not mothers. Women can not get someone pregnant. They need men for that. God designed us different, not to compete with each other for roles, but to compliment one another.

Your argument appears to be, “We have different pelvic design, therefore our minds are also different.” This argument does not convince me, especially if you assume that the mind is spiritual, i.e. not physically-generated.

So far, no one has said anything that necessitates the explanation that men and women think differently, rather than it being a function of hormone levels. Again, see effeminate men – including those who self-identify as homosexual – who are just as big into relationships as your stereotypical woman, and we might ask for (name removed by moderator)ut from women in the military (I know of a lesbian in it I could theoretically contact) or those who have adopted careers in engineering or mathematics.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

Perhaps you could discuss this difference with my wife,
She would assure you we are different,
Plus my Dear Mother in law,she would explain it as well…
We are very different ,in how we prioritise etc

 

[fisherman_carl]

Your argument appears to be, “We have different pelvic design, therefore our minds are also different.” This argument does not convince me, especially if you assume that the mind is spiritual, i.e. not physically-generated.

So far, no one has said anything that necessitates the explanation that men and women think differently, rather than it being a function of hormone levels. Again, see effeminate men – including those who self-identify as homosexual – who are just as big into relationships as your stereotypical woman, and we might ask for (name removed by moderator)ut from women in the military (I know of a lesbian in it I could theoretically contact) or those who have adopted careers in engineering or mathematics.

No that example was about how men and women are naturally different but complimentary to eachother. Not specifically about how they think. It is true regardless of how they think actually. Only a male can impregnate a female regardless if he believes he is a woman or a homosexual.

As far as the differences between some immaterial mind between men and women I do not know of any Catholic teaching on that. Only that our minds are somehow linked to our brains while in our bodies. Thus, if the brain is different that would effect the mind. If someone has brain dammage that effects their mind. Similarily, if a man’s brain is different in some aspects to a female then that could also affect the mind.

As far as men and women thinking differently that would be a study for psychology. And I think there have been many studies that suggest this. Not too mention our everday experience suggests there are differences. Why do women wear dresses? Certainly our physiological differences must affect our thinking. Unless you think we are disconnected minds floating around.

psychologytoday.com/blog/hope-relationships/201402/brain-differences-between-genders

 

[fisherman_carl]

See also uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2013/12/verma/

 

[HelenRose]

Case in point: The Supreme Court ruling on Abortion, and the latest ruling on Same Sex Marriage, and the part played by women and some men, including Catholics.

I can’t say about other men and other women but I can say about my husband and me.

My husband is a manager of a rural water company. He understands things, equipment, water rights. He has a prodigious memory. He analyses and understands complex problems.

I see thing in a general manner. I can sum up a personal situation or business situation immediately but I won’t have the facts, figures and numbers to back up my understanding. He listens to me and then works out the details.

Also, case in point. We made a trip to Berlin Germany some years ago to visit my daughter-in-law’s family. We took photographs. His photographs were railways, pipes, machinery, complicated building works and buildings. My photos were family, people and events etc.

So his mind and my mind do not work anything alike. But we do compliment each other. We learn from each other and share our different views of life.

 

[HelenRose]

I can’t say about other men and other women but I can say about my husband and me.

My husband is a manager of a rural water company. He understands things, equipment, water rights. He has a prodigious memory. He analyses and understands complex problems.

I see thing in a general manner. I can sum up a personal situation or business situation immediately but I won’t have the facts, figures and numbers to back up my understanding. He listens to me and then works out the details.

Also, case in point. We made a trip to Berlin Germany some years ago to visit my daughter-in-law’s family. We took photographs. His photographs were railways, pipes, machinery, complicated building works and buildings. My photos were family, people and events etc.

So his mind and my mind do not work anything alike. But we do compliment each other. We learn from each other and share our different views of life.

But, after have said all that I thought of our closest and dearest friends, Dick and Debbie. It is the opposite with them. Debbie is very detail oriented and Dick thinks in a generalized way. So who knows?

 

[petra22]

Just BECAUSE of our physical differences, YES, we think differently. There are chemicals in our brains and bodies that coax and pull and push us. From a very early age, males realize they have a part of their bodies that women don’t have. Girls realize it too, some sooner than others. Much of our lives is spent trying to figure out what we are supposed to do with these body parts. It is a BIG deal and it takes a lot of THOUGHT. YES men and women think differently. They can’t help it. But, like my granny always told me…“there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” (not to offend animal lovers, that was my granny speaking…)
I asked my husband to make a small cot for our grandson to sleep on when he comes here to visit. Does that sound simple? In my mind it did. But the words “small cot” made some picture in my husband’s mind that turned into days of work. It looked nothing like what I had in my mind and was so sturdy and intricate that the kids took it home with them and now I still need a simple little cot for the grandson to sleep on when he comes to visit…

We all have different paths to get to eternal life… That’s what we are HERE for…