Nel Question #9: Gender - Perfect Sense

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 127510


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Laura Ingalls Huntley 
<lhuntley at f...> wrote:
> Geoff:
> > I have been married for nearly 34 years and am /still/ left 
clueless
> > by my wife's take on events from time to time; the female mind 
just
> > doesn't touch base with mine. :-)

Laura:
> Geoff, I'm sorry, but I'm going to pick on you for a bit.  Please 
bear 
> with me, it's all in the spirit of friendly debate.  ^_^  I just 
think 
> that this particular stereotype is one that people often take for 
> granted without ever really examining it.  Are you seriously saying 
> that when your wife has a different opinion or perspective that you 
> don't 'get', it's because she's female?  If you can't see her side 
of 
> things, it's because Men Just Can't Understand Women?  Don't your 
male 
> friends ever have opinions that you can't understand?  

Laura:(who is left stunned at the apparent eagerness some men -- 
> including many of her college professors -- to declare themselves 
> stupid and hopeless.)
 
Geoff:
Who said that I am declaring myself stupid and hopeless? I didn't. I 
also object to being called a stereotype.

I said that "from time to time" I can't see my wife's point of view -
 /not/ every time we look at a thing differently. I was trying to 
pont out that your comment about guys being clueless is something 
that surfaces all through life but not every hour of every day. I 
didn't discuss whether I may find myself at a loss with other folk -
male or female.

The fact is that men and women often process facts and events in a 
different way, practically, emotionally and intellectually. It 
doesn't imply any difference in status or intelligence, it is because 
males and females /do/ see things in a different light. If you're 
going to say "men don't understand women", then you must accept the 
reverse as well. To take a (possibly) fatuous example, I can't see 
why my other half wants to watch "Neighbours" every day and she can't 
understand why I want to spend time fine-tuning my website and having 
long email discussions with my two sons on technicalities about the 
Net.

Have you read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" which looks 
at some of the differences in approach to matters by men and women? 
The sexes are different. It would be boring if we all thought 
precisely the same, bearing in mind that in my earlier reply, I also 
pointed up the fact that boys do not all think the same way.

<exits stage left trying to put back the bits which Laura unpicked>