Men versus women, then?
Imagine a November night like
any other: a man and a woman are having a night out. They are on their way to
the restaurant; he is driving, relaxed. Suddenly a car cut them off; he steers
and avoid the crash, unfazed. She screams and this scares him more than the
averted crash.
This has nothing to do with
steady nerves. Men simply can see better than women in the dark, and they can
evaluate speed and distance of moving objects with more precision. These skills
are a heritage of those times when males needed to hunt swift preys hidden in dark
forests. On the other hand, women can see further, with more details and better
colour perception; they developed this abilities searching food such as fruits
and berries in the woods. As a consequence, men are less likely to get scared
by unforeseen movements, and women prefer to drive in daylight hours.
Another big difference is the
way male and female brains orient themselves. A woman, in giving driving
directions on the phone, will tell her partner to go straight on up to the
supermarket, then turn left; but when it’s her that gets lost and calls him,
she will be told to go on northward. He is sure she can’t get it wrong this
way, but he doesn’t know that female brains orient themselves through close and
familiar spots, such as supermarkets, parking lots or petrol stations. Men
orient themselves with cardinal points. This causes quite a lot of confusion
when exchanging spatial information!
Even the way we hear is
different. Men’s long-range hearing can better perceive far sounds in order to
protect their family from wild animals or enemies; women are wired to notice
what is happening inside their home and the tiny sounds related to babies’
well-being. Generally speaking, men can hear better than women but can pay
attention to one sound at a time only, while women can perceive and take notice
of more sounds simultaneously to take care of their children while doing
something else. This different approach to sound shows during sexual
intercourses too, where women prefer sweet words whispered in their ear while
men like louder reactions from their partner.
Of course, masculine features
can belong to women and vice versa. There are infinite shades, especially in
artistic personalities, in which feminine sensitivity is as fundamental as the
masculine determination in achieving one’s goals. Sensibility and strength are
both required.
Masculine and feminine traits
interact when we produce art, while existing in different proportion in
everyone of us. Our differences are what make us unique and keeping that in
mind we can easily learn to accept ourselves and each other for what we are.
