Some Gender Issues

Marilyn Charles quoted similar comments about women made by two male psychoanalysts. Women are the “dark continent” according to Sigmund Freud. Women are “the mystery, the unfathomable other in whose gaze the male lack might be revealed” according to Jacques Lacan.

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An opinion expressed by many men to their mistress is “My wife doesn’t understand me.” A more accurate statement usually would be that he does not understand her. Another gender difference, emphasized by Marilyn Charles, is that most women are angry about their inferior economic and vocational status.

Marilyn Charles identified a physiological attribute of women that contributes to their mystery for men. The monthly cycles of ovulation and menstruation, also the nine months of pregnancy, do not occur in men. The specialized functions of women include giving birth, suckling, and caring for the infant. Men, who lack these functions, thereby do not fully understand the motivations of women.

Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations (2001), reproduced quantitative ratings of masculinity, partly defined as degree of male supremacy. Masculinity was measured in more than 60 nations. The scores were lowest in Sweden and Norway, where the cyclical differences between winter and summer are most extreme. The extreme solar cycles, experienced by both genders, might increase men’s awareness of the importance of women’s physiological cycles.

Women more than men are sociably connected with both genders. The needs and feelings of the spouse are usually perceived more accurately by wives than by husbands.

Reproduction of individuals is a crucial necessity for survival of a species. Sexual reproduction is intrinsically inefficient. The multivariate differences between the genders increase the difficulty of mating by a male and female. The prevalence of sexual reproduction in most species is attributable to the need to maximize diversity of the members of a species. Changes in the environment can result in survival only of individuals who differ in an extreme way, such as largest or smallest, most competitive or most cooperative, most habitual or most innovative.

People are attracted to others with the most similarity to themselves, including the same male or female gender. Mating by maximally similar individuals, including the same gender, would occur more easily. It is thereby understandable that two males or two females sometimes are lovers and marry. They do not contribute to reproduction of the species, but they conform to the tendency for attraction between people who resemble each other maximally.

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Marilyn Charles thereby stated the following: “For some women, the possible choice of a female partner seems to represent a move toward authorizing and authenticating something in themselves that is more accessible through the female gaze than through the male.” This fits in with the much more open acceptance of homosexual relationships in our society.

Large differences among individuals are necessary for survival of a species. Natural selection therefore requires reproduction by a member of two genders, which differ in many attributes.

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