That's because they have boobs...(jk)
To make things equel, the penis joke was funny.

Who gives a crap about size? It's brain SPECIALTIES that are different - male and female brains work differently.

Despite what the PC crowd and the extreme left wingers may claim, we're not all equal. Black people have a lower IQ on average and a higher tendency towards diabetics but have a greater average height, Asians tend to be better at math but are shorter, etc. but when the two sexes it's no different - men have better spacial sight, are better at focusing on a single task, are better at analytical tasks, are stronger, etc. while women are better at multi tasking, languages and other aspects that are more intuitive to learn instead of being clearly defined. All this on average, of course.

What this means that, yes, each is better at certain professions and skills - and despite left wingers often using them to disprove what is really fact, school figures are at least partially skewed here because girls tend to be better studiers too, so when people drag up numbers and say "look, the difference isn't that great", then you have to consider that studies showed that girls study 30%+ more to compensate and are more eager to prove themselves - not to mention that they don't take into account the fact that only girls who are, for example, better at math will take a course that involves math - they don't take into account the amount of girls that decides not to take math because they're not as good at it (where I live, the classes involving advanced math were at least 80-90% male to give you an idea). Ironically, they'll then complain that there aren't enough girls that want to be an engineer when most girls won't even take the lower courses needed to take you on the path to becoming one - it's not a question of not wanting to, it's a question of not being good at it. If you look at languages, there's waaay more girls there for a reason and you don't hear them go "oh the poor men, look at how translators and such are almost all women! That can't be!" Hypocracy at its best.

Bottom line: in general, we each have our weaknesses and if you want to complain, bitch to nature. We can't help genetics but to pretend it's not so, is laughable. That's like claiming creationism is true as well - it's outdated and goes against what science has taught us just because you ideologically want to believe the hippy fairy tale that we're all equal. Newsflash: we're NOT.

That's not actually true. The reason why black people typically score poorly on IQ tests is that they aren't normed to the population and test things which aren't valued by the community. Similar reason for why black people frequently do poorly in school, asking questions for which the teacher already knows the answer isn't typically valued in that community, and as such students are not typically prepared for such silliness.

Also, people aren't the same between groups, but on the whole, there's little reason to believe that it isn't pretty even.

Last I heard, they compared different brains around the world and their brains were less capable of performing certain mental tasks leading to lower IQ - doesn't make them dumber - IQ is an arbitrary thing after all and IQ tests test the specific areas that count as IQ. People wrongfully link IQ to intelligence - there's many types of intelligences, based on many kinds of theories. So if they perform worse at those tests, they still have a lower IQ but that doesn't mean they won't score better on other tests. It's just that the IQ test is the most commonly used, even if it's far from perfect and only tests a very specific part of a brain's abilities (especially the part that sees patterns).

EDIT: Also, I don't claim to be an expert. We studied this in detail at school (I majored psychology) where it became obvious that this ridiculous notion of equality was a true myth. Even if society strides towards equality in rights and such, it's completely, and I mean COMPLETELY ignorant to force it in areas where either men or women generally dominate exactly because they're naturally better at it.

I personally wouldn't recommend putting any stock in that. The size of the various structures in the brain is primarily influenced by use, not genetics. And that's been pretty reliably demonstrated through experimentation.

It's kind of an inhuman experiment, but they did sew one eyelid of kittens shut, and later removed the stiches. The result ultimately was that the brain areas that were related to processing information coming from that eye were not usable for that purpose and had been repurposed for other things.

Likewise, if you don't practice math, you're unlikely to ever get very good, but if you spend a lot of time on it, the areas that process that sort of information will develop more fully.

You see the same thing in pretty much every area of neurology, areas which aren't used tend to atrophy similar to the process with muscles, and areas that get a work out tend to expand into less used areas adjacent to them.

EDIT: And for the record, it's clear to me that you don't mean any of what you're saying in a racist or other sort of bigoted fashion.

You're confusing two different areas though - you confuse the core "mechanics" with the ability for a brain to adapt. By your logic, there should be no difference between animals because most animal brains are very similar in design and ours is nearly identical to certain animal brains, and that's utter nonsense of course - even between sub-species (wolves vs dogs, for example), there's been plenty of proof of differing skills and intelligences so you can't just dismiss the differences based on brain usage and re-purposing. It's a myth that women are worse at math because they're expected to be worse at it if you ask me - it's simply the truth that genetically, we're different.

We were animals one time, using instincts and relying on the specialties of our brains to survive and the male's strength is that of survival, hunting, the female strengths those to protect, of balance, intuition, tending to the old and young, etc. It would do our ancestors a disservice to just ignore the past and pretend we always existed as intelligent beings.

Oh, and indeed, it's not racism or sexism to point out positives and negatives. This is exactly what I mean - the ridiculous PC culture stands in the way of truth and reality. It's almost like a cult the way people are allergic to anything that doesn't show we're not all perfectly equal which is nonsense of the highest degree. Why would it even matter if some groups of people or some races are better or worse than others - there's always compensation of sorts in nature. It's much more logical to say "yes those differences exist, I accept that" then be a narrow minded fool that goes "no no, that's racism! White and black people are the same! There's no differences!". Even just medically speaking that's a joke, ask any doctor - diabetics is just one example but each sex has different diseases that are popular, despite many being possible for both sexes (men have a higher chance for heart attacks for example). But let me leave it at that - PC is my enemy.

That's why I recommend switching to MAC. ;)

The Masculinity Annihilation Cult? No thanks *runs*

No, you're thinking of the B.o.b.b.i.t.s.

No, I'm not confusing the issue. The brain is a pretty amazing bit of hardware and you'd be shocked at how much variance you can get in terms of how its used.

There is no evidence to support the notion that women are inherently inferior at math than men are. Just as there's no evidence to support the notion that women are better at empathy. I've seen a lot of people over the years try to make those claims, but I have yet to encounter anybody that could back it up in any sort of clinical fashion.

This is one of the reasons why I referred to a study by somebody who actually studies the brain rather than somebody who studies thinking. It's a very different situation when you can actually stick electrodes in places or watch changes in the fMRI than it is if you're inferring what's going on there. The amount of possible study is somewhat limited as to truly nail it down in humans it would take a lot of torture and mutilation, but the conclusions in animal studies are pretty reliable, and it definitely could be studied, if just difficult to conduct a large enough study to conclusively demonstrate it.

True it's not perfect, but the whole notion that there is a genetic cause for this isn't one which is founded with credible research. There just isn't enough genetic variation to justify the conclusion.

He's not confusing two different things. The distinction between what you call the 'core mechanics' and 'ability for a brain to adapt' is a confusion. Brains aren't built to a genetic blueprint, they grow by a process of competition and selection between neurons. It's very complex and very poorly understood, and making bold proclamations like the Darwinian storytelling you've indulged in in the second paragraph is no more scientific than the kind of 'PC culture' you're trying lambaste.

The book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" makes an interesting point about the intelligence of various people throughout the world. If anything, evolution would suggest that so-called "primitive" tribal peoples may in some ways be smarter than us Westerners. This is because the worlds these people live in are significantly more violent and require much knowledge about the environment just to survive. By contrast, in an industrialized nation, even the biggest idiot can generally survive and procreate. Idiots tend to have have a lesser chance of survival in primitive societies.

errm...I'm still contemplating whether to write something in that thread dealing with feminism or not. but i really feel compelled to write something here. IQ of every individual is something that is the result of nature+nurture. I don't know which black people (that is, from which countries) were used as samples and when the research was done, but in terms of the latter they may have been in a less favorable position.

As for math, when I was in high school, the best mathematicians in my class were girls, and at my university there are (many) more girls majoring in math than guys which naturally includes highly advanced math classes. And we're talking about ~60 people per generation. However, there are many more guys majoring in physics, and the difference gets huge with electrical and mechanical engineering.

In my country there is no bias when it comes to girls and math, but from what I understand in many other countries, especially the usa, there is. So much that girls get discouraged before even trying.

As for engineering (mainly electrical and mechanical) in my opinion it's not a matter of ability but a matter of interest. A girl can own math but chances are she won't be interested in wires, electricity, machinery. Why is it so I am not sure, it could be because it is considered male and embedded as such in the female subconscious, but it could be biological. I sincerely don't know. However I think that young women nowadays defy the old "women afraid of technology" stereotype, so in the distant future the situation might be very different than nowadays. Generations of nurture apparently become nature, and the male/female roles nowadays are vastly different than in the past.

As for languages, in my country some of the most well known translators are male :P I can imagine however that there are more female simultaneous interpreters/translators. And if we're talking about linguistics, if I am to consider the authors of the books I've read and sources cited, there are tons of male linguists. Oh and for the record, I am a science/tech freak, love all things electrical, and am much, MUCH better at "traditionally male" things than "female" ones.

I have read once how an old research showed that women on average have 10x more white matter than men, and men 6.5x gray matter than women (related to intelligence). Gray matter = processing centre, white matter = interconnection between the centres. But it's an old reseach, and I don't know how biased it was. Personally I would rather die than accept as a fact that men are better at things analytical than women, regardless of any result of any research (which can be too easily manipulated). I know way, way too many exceptions to this so called rule. Also aren't women those who are always accused of being overly analytical? :PPP I will grant it however that men on average tend to be better at things spacial.

Oh and regarding the brain as such, the brain is in a way a muscle like any other. As it has already been said, the more you use it the better it will work. The more you use it for certain types of tasks the better the neural pathways for that certain task will be. It's especially important for kids up to a certain age whose brain is still developing. Look at any kids' department of any store and look at the toys aimed at boys and toys aimed at girls. 'Nuff said.

I'm not trying to be bigoted or whatever but some here like Red have a point.......if someone says we're not all equal and that there are differences then someone will always chime in to shoot it down or explain it away......even if the person's statements can be proven true or are shown to be true.

Just because we should be fair to each other and treat others equally doesn't mean automatically that we're all physically/etc equal in all aspects.

Okay... I don't have any real issue with the point you are making here in regards to the idea that different racial, ethnic, or gender groups may have various strengths and weaknesses that are measurable... after all, elves are better in the forest than dwarves, but dwarves are better underground... (that's all based on science, right?)

But as a member of the community that stands on the left, quite a distance from center, I feel only a little compelled to make a few comments.

First, the term "PC" has absolutely no worthwhile meaning. It started in the sixties and seventies as a media philosophy to use more inclusive language in news reporting. Replacing chairman with chairperson, for example, is simply an attempt to recognize that in these modern times, the chair might well be a woman. The unfortunately named "political correctness" movement, however, has been vilified on the right and over the years has mutated into a slur used by many to merely justify statements that are in fact simply offensive.

If one were to say, "blacks are lazy people who would rather leech the public dime than do an honest day's work," then I'd be pretty justified in calling that statement racist. At which point I'd be accused of being "politically correct." And if being politically correct means calling out bigoted bullshit, then I fail to see what would be wrong with that... but it doesn't mean that, and as it used today, it doesn't mean anything at all... or at least not anything of worth.

And as for these extreme left wingers, I can't recall when anyone of my stripe made the claim that every human being is equal to every other human being. Anyone with the basic power to observe knows that isn't true. The idea of equality isn't about natural equality in measurable qualities like intelligence or strength... It's about equality under the law. In America, from where I am speaking, the poor black woman, the young gay man, the elderly retiree, the white blue collar worker, the butch, the baker, the candle stick maker, all have equal access to government and equal protection under the law. We are all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the court. We can all apply for a driver's license. We can all use the library. We can all start a small business. We can all register to vote.

At least, in the ideal, that is how it is meant. That ain't how it works in practical reality, but that is another topic on another day...

Unless you meant those clove cigarette smoking, black beret wearing, hybrid Marxist/anarchists who hang out by the subway station and hand out Lyndon LaRouche leaflets... yes. Those guys are loonbats.