We generally accept that men and women are different. Society tells us there are clear differences between men and women, there are things that are acceptable or unacceptable based on whether you’re a man or a woman. But what is the fundamental difference between men and women?
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Women are more maternal than men
Except that not all women are maternal. And some men are.
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Women are interested in people, men are
interested in things.
Except we know this isn’t true in all cases.
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Men are more muscular than women.
Except that some women are incredibly muscular, and some men
aren’t at all. Maybe you could say the most muscular man is more muscular than
the most muscular woman, but if it isn’t true for all men and women then it can’t
be the fundamental difference between them.
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Women can have children, men can’t.
Except that not all women can have children. And it
certainly doesn’t make someone any less of a woman if they can’t have children.
So this is clearly not the fundamental difference between the sexes. There have
been cases of transgender men giving birth. The question is then whether you
would define transgender men as men.
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A woman has a vagina, and a man has a penis.
Except that this is not always the case. Intersex children
are born with both or neither set of genitalia, yet they will grow up to become
either a man or a woman. David Reimer is a famous case of a male baby who
accidentally had his penis removed and so was brought up as a girl. When he was
an adult he rejected his female identity and labelled himself a man, because
that’s what he was regardless of the non-presence of his penis.
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A woman has breasts, and a man has a chest.
Except that some women have flat chests. And some men have
breasts. Some women have their breasts removed. And some men get breast cancer-
proving that men do indeed have breast tissue.
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Men are hairier than women.
Except that some women experience excess hair, and some men
experience a lack of hair. These things are controlled by hormones.
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Women and men have different hormonal levels.
Except that some women experience excess male hormones, and
some men experience excess female hormones.
None of these differences are present in the case of every
single man and woman. And if the difference isn’t present in every case, then
surely it can’t be a real difference between the sexes? So perhaps there is no
fundamental difference between men and women. What do you think?
