Monday, February 28, 2005
Gender Relationships
The continuing Larry Summers gender pseudo-scandal is a good place to start. In monkeys, the gender differences in performance disappear with age and training (which may be essentially the same thing). So, by implication, any gender differences that do exist should be relatively easily addressed.
Another study suggests that gay men read maps both using 'male' strategies such as direction and distance, but also using 'female' strategies such as landmarks, but that lesbians did not use 'male' strategies in addition to 'female' ones. If it is to be believed, this is an interesting finding; I have, however, some reason to doubt that it will not be born out by further research. First of all, it makes little sense that there would be a gender shift here for gay men and not for lesbians, whereas most previous research has found them in lesbians but not in gay men (though rarely reaching significance or conclusiveness). Second, this kind of study is so vulnerable to Type 1 Errors I just have a hard time buying it, especially with such a small n (80).
Whether gay or not, people seem to keep wanting to get married. Well, now you can add a severely gross element to your already-sickeningly-sweet wedding celebration, by having your wedding rings lovingly crafted from you and your partners' cultured bones. Now, as a scientist and probably the least squeamish person I know, I have to say: "Ew. That is nasty. Don't do that. Ew."
Another study suggests that gay men read maps both using 'male' strategies such as direction and distance, but also using 'female' strategies such as landmarks, but that lesbians did not use 'male' strategies in addition to 'female' ones. If it is to be believed, this is an interesting finding; I have, however, some reason to doubt that it will not be born out by further research. First of all, it makes little sense that there would be a gender shift here for gay men and not for lesbians, whereas most previous research has found them in lesbians but not in gay men (though rarely reaching significance or conclusiveness). Second, this kind of study is so vulnerable to Type 1 Errors I just have a hard time buying it, especially with such a small n (80).
Whether gay or not, people seem to keep wanting to get married. Well, now you can add a severely gross element to your already-sickeningly-sweet wedding celebration, by having your wedding rings lovingly crafted from you and your partners' cultured bones. Now, as a scientist and probably the least squeamish person I know, I have to say: "Ew. That is nasty. Don't do that. Ew."
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