Debate on Psychological Sex Differences
The heated debate on the average differences between the minds of men and women rumbles on. A perfectly rational and psychologically sound article published earlier this week in The Guardian elicited some furious letters from readers.
Helena Cronin makes all the usual and unassailable points about psychological sex differences and then draws evolutionary psychology into the argument. Whether you buy the evolutionary aspect of her argument or not - and many psychologists hate the evolutionary approach with a vengeance - the article does accurately represent the scientific evidence available.
None of the letters published in the paper criticised her science, one in fact admonished her for talking about science at all, saying:
"Helena Cronin is wrong to bring science into a discussion of the possible differences between the minds of men and women."
The real subtext, of course, is political:
"There is much that is offensive in Helena Cronin's attempts to rehash sexual stereotypes as scientific realities..."
By contrast, articles like this one entitled "It is official: Women are better drivers than men", won't even raise an eyebrow. And why should they?
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So you think it is "unassailable" to claim that women are underrepresented in academia because they are intellectually inferior to men, as Larry Summers (himself by the way not a qualified scientist but a career oligarch) insinuated and Cronin defended? And you call that science? You're only ridiculing yourself.
Re the letters: The guy who wrote that it was "wrong to bring science" into the discussion was actually defending Cronin. You should read more carefully.
Hi Piglet,
To your first comment: I think you should go back and read Cronin's original article. Your comment shows that you either haven't read it properly or haven't understood it.
In fact, you have made the quite normal mistake of coming to the issue with a thoroughly closed mind.
To your second comment: No, but he was attacking Cronin, which is what my post is about.
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