GENDER WORLDS NEED NOT COLLIDE WHEN VENUS MEETS MARS

WRITER: RICHARD T. BOSSHARDT, M.D., FACS THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN GO DEEPER THAN JUST GROOMING AND GETTING DRESSED IN THE MORNING

Ilove women. My wife is a woman. My mother was a woman and so were my grandmothers. My daughters are women. Ditto my employees. Women define my life; they brighten and enliven it. They look, act, and think differently from men. Without them, life would be drab and dull, and certainly uglier. Imagine a testosteroneladen world filled with unkempt, unshaven, and probably smelly men hunting, playing sports, and scratching themselves. Not a pretty thought.

For those who argue for total equality between the sexes, Mother Nature must shake her head at such nonsense. There will never be biologic equality if only for one simple fact: women birth the babies. Nature has equipped them with unique physical and physiological attributes to ensure the survival of our race. Nature has also gifted them with a vital ability to endure and forget pain. It has been said that if men had babies, all families would have only one child. I believe that.

There is a long-running discussion between the sexes, which never seems to be resolved, as to which is the stronger. As so often happens with such questions dealing with complex subjects, the answer is it depends.

If we mean physical strength, men get the nod. Testosterone allows men to bulk up more from exercise than women. Women cannot bulk up like a man, unless they take male anabolic steroids. Joanie “Chyna” Laurer of World Wrestling Federation fame was an example of muscle-bound womanhood, but her assertions that she never used male steroids always fell flat in the face of her bulging muscles, lack of body fat, and acne. Given the bald-faced lying by athletes when faced with allegations of steroid use, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. Unenhanced and pound for pound, men are stronger. However, when it comes to endurance, things get interesting. In timed and measured events, such as track and field, men run faster and jump higher and further. The male advantage extends to long races, such as marathons. But then something fascinating happens. In ultra-races that are 31 miles or more, women compete on equal footing with men and often beat them outright.

The reason women do so well in endurance events is unclear. Men have bigger hearts, bigger lungs, and more muscled legs. Studies suggest this may be the crux of the matter. A smaller size can be an advantage in ultra-distance running due to less wear and tear on the body, less energy expenditure relative to time on one’s feet, etc.

How about intellect? Until 2010, the prevailing wisdom was women reigned intellectually until puberty, and then males took over leading the IQ race by a few percentage points. However, recent studies have indicated girls have reversed this advantage and are now slightly ahead of boys, regardless of age. Money spent on these studies seems to me to have been needlessly spent. Any husband could have confirmed this without expensive research. Advantage: women… slightly.

When it comes to longevity, women still hold the winning hand, but their lead is dwindling. In 1979, women outlived men by almost eight years. This had decreased to a gap of a little more than five years by 2005. The reasons are not completely understood, but some possible explanations have been advanced. One is the relative longevity of men has increased because they no longer perform as much manual labor. The other is the relative longevity of women has decreased because of entering the workforce in greater numbers and as a result, have become susceptible to once predominantly male maladies, such heart disease and high blood pressure. In addition, women still have the added pressures of raising children and caring for aging relatives. Women still win, but for how long?

Two areas in which women are significantly behind men are obesity and anxiety disorders. When it comes to being overweight, men lead women slightly. However, when it comes to morbid obesity, women predominate 2 to 1. This is not a race anyone should want to win.

In terms of anxiety disorders, women, again, lead the sexes. For nearly all anxiety disorders, the prevalence ratio for women to men is 3 to 2. In my practice, more than 75 percent of my patients are female and it is my experience that middle-aged and older women not using antianxiety medication are the exception rather than the rule.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, it is apparent that women are different from men. Women are more relational, more nurturing, less aggressive, and more emotional. Many ancient civilizations venerated women, holding them in high esteem even, at times, to the point of worship. But the march of progress has seen a diminished status for women, except as they have sought to be more like men: ambitious, aggressive, and assertive. One of my surgical mentors, Dr. Leonard Shlain, wrote a fascinating book called The Alphabet Versus The Goddess in which he proposed that the lowered stature of women in society coincided with the rise of literacy and the progress this enabled. Think about the modern world. Porn, arguably an exploitation of gender, is almost entirely a male province. Aggressive behavior and violent crime?

Males predominate. Who are the despotic leaders of countries? Chavez, Castro, Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jongun, and Putin. Where are the women despots? I would suggest that humanity could benefit from more of the female perspective and less of a male one. Vive la différence!