Amber Ball
April 10, 2013
English Composition
Kelly Keough
Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus?
Since the beginning of time, there has been a struggle to communicate effectively between males and females. The “battle of the sexes” has been an underlining theme since day one. Communication is defined as the exchange of opinions and thoughts through body language, letters, texting, and social networking. We communicate differently in numerous ways. What are the diversities in the way in which men and women communicate and why do men and women communicate differently in the first place? The differences in communication are apparent through our speech, the way in which we learn, and genetic make-up.
To begin with, men and women are different, to put it simply. Our brains, physical build, and social norms cause a distinct separation between the sexes. For example, putting on eyeliner while driving may look easy but it’s not in the least bit. Texting several people at once and having a twitter, Instagram, and Facebook account can be mentally exhausting. These are all examples of multi-tasking, something that many women find themselves doing on a daily basis. It is a scientific fact that men find it easier to focus on one thing while women find themselves submerged in several different activities going on at once. This is due to disparities in our brains. “Women have about 15 percent more “gray matter” than men. Gray matter, made up of nerve cells and the branches that connect them, allows the quick transference of thought from one part of the brain to another. This helps explain women’s ability to look at many sides of an argument at once and to do several tasks simultaneously” Camille Lewis stated in her essay Born To Be Different? Lewis explains in her essay quite clearly that men and women communicate differently simply because our genetics are different. Females are born with more gray matter than men which explains why women found themselves emerged in several activities at once. It is simply “in our nature”. Men have the ability to focus solely on one activity which would explain why when wives talk about their daily obstacles to their husbands the husbands are more focused on solving the one problem than solving the problem all the while giving their emotional support to their distraught wives.
Furthermore, an experiment was conducted in class. The experiment was meant to understand and realize how men and women communicate differently. The students were separated by gender, and were instructed to draw several different emoticons that exemplified various emotions such as happiness, indifference, excitement, and laughter. The differences in the way males and females drew the emoticons were obvious. Males drew more stick figures and typically plain emoticons. Women were more symbolic and detailed. It was as though females were more in tuned with their left side of their brain. The left side of the brain focuses more on creative and artsy part of our personality. It was a consensus that men are more literal in their ways of communicating vs. women who are use more symbolic methods of expressing themselves. The experiment was based on how males and females communicate differently through texting. “The girls used more symbolic emoticons than the males, who were more literal” stated Kelly Keough during the experiment. Men are more literal due to the lack of gray matter in their brains. The differences in communication are based on the differences in genetics between the sexes.
“Women are better at reading, communicating effectively, and art while guys are better at the more logical aspects of study such as math and science”. This statement is a stereotypical one that countless people have grown to believe. It is also not entirely true. “Researcher Harriet Hanlon found that some areas mature faster In boys. Specifically, some of the regions involved in mechanical reasoning, visual targeting, and spatial reasoning appeared to mature four to eight years earlier in boys. The parts that handle verbal fluency, handwriting, and recognizing familiar faces matured several years earlier in girls” explains Amanda Ripley in her article Who Says A Woman Can’t Be Einstein? Yes, it is true that males grasp the concepts of math and science easier than females do but only at first when our brains haven’t fully developed yet. The male brain develops the ability to understand the concept of math and science hence “mechanical reasoning and spatial reasoning” earlier than females.
The differences amongst the way in which males and females communicate are apparent in our everyday lives. The logic behind all of this is the mere fact that we are genetically built differently than each other. Our brains are, for lack of a better term, hard-wired differently. Males have the ability to concentrate more on one specific task while females have the ingrained ability to juggle several tasks simultaneously. This explains why males are more literal in their speech, body language, and even emoticons. The scientific evidence that shows how males lack gray matter also shows the reasoning behind the differences in emoticons in the field experiment conducted earlier. The way our brains develop are also different. As stated earlier, males develop the ability for more abstract ways of learning earlier than females during the stages of brain development. These differences in our brains cause our ways of grasping certain information to also be different. Girls develop the ability to obtain verbal fluency and communicate earlier than males. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Girls mature faster than boys”. This phrase that is thrown about constantly is somewhat true but in a more social sense. The female brain develops the ability to communicate effectively with others in a more appropriate manner earlier than males’.
In conclusion, obviously friction lies between the communicative ways of males and females. The differences are clearer than a sharp whistle blown in the ear and our differences in the way in which we communicate are a result of our genetic variances. In spite of our disagreements and the fact that Seeing Eye to eye is a constant battle, it’s about time we as human beings reconsider the logic behind the cliché stenotypes and myths that are often said about men and women. We are all people, who at one time or another, lack the ability to express ourselves in an agreeable way. Yes, we are different. Yet, that doesn’t mean we should cease to communicate, care, love, or express ourselves to the opposite sex. Opposites attract, anyway. At least, that’s what they tell me.
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