In the following viewpoint, Deborah Blum contends that while biological differences play a part in forming gender roles, those differences are amplified by cultural and environmental influences. She maintains that certain biological disparities, such as testosterone's part in making men more aggressive, do influence personality. However, Blum argues, these biological differences are tempered by factors such as a person's upbringing and work environment. Blum is a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the author of Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women.
As you read, consider the following questions. You will be expected to post your reflections on all THREE of the questions.
1. According to statistics cited by Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, how often did the man start the fight?
2. In the author's view, at what age will a child who is raised in a less traditional family develop a traditional sense of gender roles?
3. What happens to the testosterone level of a person who loses a game, according to Blum?
Please click on the box in the upper right hand side of the article to enlarge.
Biology and Culture Article
Publish at Scribd or explore others:
1. According to statistics cited by Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, how often did the man start the fight?
ReplyDelete-With domestic partner murders, 51.8% of the time, the man starts the fight. Also, 75% of the men use guns during this killing.
- I expected that answer because I think of males as being more aggressive than females.
2. In the author's view, at what age will a child who is raised in a less traditional family develop a traditional sense of gender roles?
-At 6 years old.
- I thought that the children would develop a traditional sense of gender roles between the ages of 12 and 13, since that is when puberty hits.
3. What happens to the testosterone level of a person who loses a game, according to Blum?
-The level of testosterone would drop.
- That is an interesting fact because I believe that if you are losing a fight or a game, your brain and your instincts are telling you to keep fighting, not to give up. I didn't know testosterone was involved in competition.
1) The man starts 51.8% of domestic partner murders. This statistic didn't surprise me because it just seems common for a man to be aggressive than women and turn their anger towards their spouse into violence.
ReplyDelete2) A child raised in a less traditional family does not develop the traditional sense of gender roles until about the age of six. Since the parents teach the child that both genders are capable to doing the same duties around the house, the child is not aware of the stereotypical roles until they see traditional families. The age of six is around the time a child should be entering elementary school, which would affect his idea of gender roles because they are very prominent in school.
3) The level of testosterone drops when you are losing a game. I found this interesting because usually when someone is losing a game, they become more competitive and have a stronger desire to win. In many situations, if someone is losing, they become aggrevated and begin to yell, which I think would increase the testosterone level.
1. In conflicts in which a woman killed a man, the man started the fight 51.8% of the time in domestic cases. It is surprising that half of women use guns to kill the man because the woman would somehow have to plan to kill him on a certain day in order to obtain a gun. I can't believe that women would even attempt to kill with a gun because it seems like it would be hard to obtain one without a license and then getting caught.
ReplyDelete2. A child who is raised in a less traditional family will develop a traditional sense of gender roles at six. This statistic is interesting because it seems like kids wouldn't truly learn gender roles until later possibly around age 10 or even older. This article says that in a traditional family, gender roles are set around age 2 or 3, which seems very young.
3. When a person loses a game, the testosterone level falls. It seems like testosterone levels should do this because after a fight or game, one typically does not have a strong urge to repeat waht just happened.
1. when the man is the killer he is mainly the main aggressor and the one to start the fight.I agree with this statement, men are much more aggressive than woman are in general, so their actions take on a high level of aggression.
ReplyDelete2. If a person wins a game, their testosterone level rises. This is understandable because men have tendancy to be much more competitive than woman so they get more excited when their team wins. They are also more aggressive in games than women are.
3. Woman with high professions have a higher level of testosterone than stay-at-home moms. This is suprising, I did not think that there was a connection between the two, but in a way it makes sense.
1. When a woman killed a man in a fight, the man started the fight 51.8% of the time. I think that this statistic makes sense, men are generally more aggressive then woman, so the fact that they would star fights more often agrees with this.
ReplyDelete2. A child who is in a family with less traditional gender roles forms a traditional sense of gender roles around age 6. If the men and women share work equally in a house, this behavior would be an influence on a child, and they wouldn't know about more traditional roles of men and women until they were older and surrounded by more people.
3. According to Blum, the testosterone level decreases in someone who loses. Testosterone makes people more aggressive, so having a decreased level after losing would make sense because they wouldn't want to keep fighting after a loss.
1. Blum says that in a conflict when a woman kills a man 51.8% of the time the man started the fight. This may be true that men are more aggressive but only in the physical sense. Woman are ten times more aggressive when it comes to emotional attacks on both sexes. woman dont like to resort to physical action but they love to break you down with their words.
ReplyDelete2. In a less traditional family a child should learn basic gender roles around 6 because that is when the children are given some of the responsibilities that are stereotypically associated with their gender. Like boys mow the lawn and girls clean up after dinner and such.
3.when you win a game your testostorone level tends to go up which causes gloating and all that but for losing i think it differs between the sexes cause i know when i loose i just get more angry which is the testostorone level raising in my body but i feel like woman it goes down because they are less competitive then males.
1. According to the stats the man started the fight 51.8% of the time. Which would say the woman was acting in self-defense.
ReplyDelete2. With a child growing up in a less traditional household their role gender senses show up at age 6. They seem to grow up in a household filled much more with sharing toys and chores.
3. The testosterone level is high in an athlete or someone preparing for a competition. But in a loss the testosterone level drops due to the persons lack of drive. After a loss a person is usually down and unhappy.
1. According to Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, 51.8% of the cases show that the man started the fight. This was not striking because it also says men are usually the more aggressive gender, so it would be likely that the woman would need to defend herself during a fight that the man started.
ReplyDelete2. A child who is raised in a less traditional family will develop a traditional sense of gender roles at around the age of 6. The people outside of his immediate family probably affect the child more when his parents are the ones promoting equality in gender roles. When the child starts noticing other children his age acting a certain way he will realize that it is normal for him to act that way as well.
3. The testosterone level of a person who loses a game lowers. This makes sense because a person does not have a desire to continue fighting after they have already lost. However, I could also see the level rising because some people get even angrier after a loss, which would make them more aggressive and have more testosterone.
According to the article, when a woman kills a guy, the guy started the fight 51.8% of the time. At first when I read that, I thought it was pretty much 50/50 and not that interesting of a statistic, but compared to the percent of times when a man killed a woman and the woman started the fight (12.5%), the first percentage was so much higher it convinced me of the significance of this information. Society might condone men being more aggressive than women, but I think society discourages murder equally between the genders, so these statistics show that men are biologically more apt to aggression than women.
ReplyDeleteWhen children are raised in families who focus on equality and sharing, they generally learn traditional gender roles around the age of six, this is a little after when they arrive at elementary school, and about when boys and girls stop playing together. So gender roles get learned quickly because children start playing with other kids in their gender who probably have grown up with more common gender roles.
When someone loses a game, their testosterone level drops. This makes sense in the context she explained it in: if you’re in a life or death battle and losing, it makes sense to stop fighting. It’s not as dangerous for testosterone to go up during a sports game if you’re loosing, so that will sometimes happen, but I think it is fairly common to get quiet and start to give up as you are losing a game, and the winning team will get louder.
1) Men start the fight 51.8% of the time when a woman kills the man.
ReplyDelete2) Between 2 years old and 3 years old.
3) The testosterone levels will rise.
Here's the quick factual answers that Blum provides:
ReplyDelete1. In physical conflict where a woman killed a man, the male combatant instigated the conflict 51.8% of the time.
2. A child raised in a "less-traditional" family will develop a traditional sense of gender roles by the age of six, (at least in Blum's opinion).
3. Upon losing a game, an individual's testosterone level drops. Blum suggests that this is evolutionarily logical.
And here's my personal reflections:
1. I don't know why Blum focuses so heavily upon men and testosterone. In my opinion, her views would be better supported with more information about the effects of notably female hormones, such as estrogen. About this fact in particular: I don't think that this is the strongest piece of evidence that Blum presents. 51.8% doesn't really seal the point for me. This means that if you took 1,000 instances when a woman killed a man, 518 times the male started the conflict, and 482 times the female started the conflict. That means that just 36 more instances occurred when men instigated their own death, than when a woman instigated his death. One last thought about these facts I have is that, from the perspective of a male, I feel that Blum's choice of statistics vilifies men and testosterone. All of her info points to some murderous, crime-causing nature of men. I think it sets the wrong tone.
2. This fact I'll buy. From one of the "less-traditional" families, 6 years old was about the time that I had an understanding of gender roles. Not coincidentally, that was also when I started going to school, where social constructs and stereotypes clearly tend to run deep.
3. I can understand why testosterone levels might drop after losing some sort of competition that has very clearly been lost. But even still I question why the heightened levels of testosterone may not persist or climb even afterwards. There are certainly many, many individuals out there whose aggression is fostered by defeat and become even more combative. One example that quickly comes to mind is sports rioting. In very close, tense athletic competitions (like Super Bowls or maybe a few soccer matches or World Series Games), the losing team occasionally picks up their damaged pride and pours takes their frustration to the streets. I remember footage of the Oakland riots several years back, which were surely violent and aggressive, even though the game had already been lost. As for Blum's feeling about the connection between testosterone levels and defeat, I don't think that her Stone Age combat reference holds true. Surely it can be ambiguous who the victor is in hand-to-hand combat (not that I'd know), but in such a life or death situation, a loss of testosterone could prove to ultimately be what betrays one-self and lead to defeat. And I can definitely see that when an individual is being battered with a club, their testosterone production could drop, because I'm sure that the body figures that it has plenty of other complications to worry about first.
If it is not yet clear, based on this excerpt, Blum and I don't exactly see eye to eye on everything.
1. Men start the conflict over half the time(51.8% when the woman ended up killing the man. This does not surprise me because in many situations a man gets over aggresive and then ends up losing when the woman defends herself
ReplyDelete2. Some people say that it starts as early as 12 months, but most agree that a childdevelops gender roles in their toddler years up until the age of 6 when they are in their early friendships
3.if someone loses their testorene drops which makes sense because when someone wins they get a lot more excited, it coincides with adrenaline, someone gets pumped and if they win they stay pumped but if they lose they feel all down on themselves
1) Men start the violence about 51.8% of the time. I guess it doesn't surprise me. To be honest, if we do follow the "stereotypical" male action, the statistics would be even higher.
ReplyDelete2) At the age of six. I thought it was young for a child to be truely aware of their gender. But then again, it's the time when these children go to school so they see the gender differences.
3) Their testosterone level will drop. I guess that can make sense. If we were society and to follow the stereotype, most would associate testosterone to "manliness." And winning the game gives the competitive level higher and more a dominient feeling-pretty manly. Meanwhiling losing a game would put that person in a submissive "feeling/position"-not so manly.
1. According to statistics, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, the man start the fight 51.8% of the time. I expected this, because it makes sense in an evolutionary sense for men to be more aggressive than women. However, I would be curious to know what these statistics count as the man "starting" the fight. For instance, would passive aggressive behavior on the woman's part, leading to aggression on the man's part, count as the man starting the fight, or the woman?
ReplyDelete2. In the author's view, a child who is raised in a less traditional family will develop a traditional sense of gender roles at 6 years of age. I think this makes sense, because children start to be exposed to other children at around that age - maybe a little earlier. At school, kids usually play with kids of their gender, and maybe start going to their houses, so it makes sense that they pick up the traditional sense of gender roles that the children raised in more traditional families have.
3. When a person loses a game, their testosterone level will drop. This is interesting, because even though in the situation of a fight, it would make sense to become less aggressive if you're losing, however, it doesn't seem as intuitive in a game. Some people get more aggressive after losing a game - if you're a "sore loser," you are probably more riled up if you lose a game than if you win it.
1. In conflicts in which a woman killed a man, the man starts the fight 51.8% of the time. This does not surprise me as males are prominently more dominant and aggressive.
ReplyDelete2. Some say that the age is 12 months, some say 2-3 years old. This does not surprise me either because children should be treated as individuals and cannot be lumped into the same category with something like this.
3. The level of testosterone falls if one encounters a loss in a game. This, like the others, does not surprise me because testosterone acts as a chemical rewards system in that the bodily chemical is a key part of motivation in activities like sports where physical action is the most important thing.
1) In 51.8% of the cases where a woman killed a man, the man started the fight. This makes sense in terms of evolution – males are more aggressive. However, I am surprised that it is so close to 50/50.
ReplyDelete2) A child’s sense of gender roles will remain more flexible until they are about six if the are raised in a less traditional family. This makes sense because this is when they will really start to be exposed to people and ideas outside of their home. At this age they start to be exposed to society’s ideals rather than their family’s ideals.
3) The testosterone level drops when a person loses a game, because it could be dangerous to have a hormone urging you to fight if you can’t win. This surprised me because it often seems that people who have just lost are more aggressive. But those who win are often very aggressive too, they just might try not to show it because you’re supposed to be gracious to the loser.
1. Over half the time, 51.8 % to be exact, a man started a fight with a woman, though the woman inevitably killed the man. This is not surprising because males are known to be more dominantly aggressive.
ReplyDelete2. Some say a child's sense of gender roles will be established a the age of twelve months, though most agree that this doesn't begin to develop until the age of six when the child is socializing.
3. The testosterone level of a person who loses a game lowers. This makes sense because most people are not accepting of failure and so have more adrenaline to do better if they are losing.
1) According to Blum when a women murders a man, that man started the fight in 51.8% of the cases. It's not surprising to me that this is the case because men usually are more aggressive then women.
ReplyDelete2)What Blum says is that if a child is not raised in a traditional family then their sense of gender doesn't really come into focus until they are around six years old. I agree with what Blum says because this is the age when kids are starting school and coming into more social environments.
3)When a person loses a game, their testosterone levels will go down. This kind of surprised me and at the same time it didn't. People who lose games do seem really angry, but they also appear to be less aggressively emotional than the people who won the game.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. According to statistics cited by Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, the man started the fight in 51.8% of the cases. This doesn't surprise me, because testosterone levels play a large part in aggression.
ReplyDelete2. Rather than between the ages of 2 or 3, in Blum's view, children who grow up in a less traditional family start to understand a more defined sense of gender roles at around 6 years old. This makes sense because it is at about 6 years old when children really start to experience the world without their parents by their sides all the time. They probably start to formulate ideas about gender as they play with other kids their age.
3. According to Blum, when one loses a game or event, or finds themselves in a relatively more stable environment, their Testosterone levels decline, whereas in opposite circumstances, they increase. This idea sort of challenged what i would have expected, because those in a position of losing something tend to get angry about it, from what i've seen. But I do agree with the environmental stability peice.
1. In 51.8% of the conflicts in which a woman killed a man, the man started the fight
ReplyDelete2. According to the author, children who are raised in a family with less traditional gender roles develop the sense of traditional gender roles around six years old (compared with 2-3 years old if they are raised in a household that emphasizes traditional gender roles)
3. If a person loses a game, their testosterone levels go down.
Sammy and Jackie's joint post
ReplyDelete(this author likes clauses separated by commas more then me)
short and sweet (like me (Jackie))
1.51.8%
2. Age six in a less traditional home "we all do the dishes Joshua" <--- necessary?
3. testosterone rises in response to competition and threat
1. According to Blum, 51.8% men start the fight in the conflict when women kill men. I didn't find this very suprising because one studies show that men are more agressive but also statistacally around 50% is not significantly important if it is a 50/50 situation. I am not even sure from this data can prove that men start the fight majority of the time because there is such a small difference.
ReplyDelete2.Blum believes a child who is raised in an untraditional family develops a sense of gender roles by the age 6. Blum says these children have more flexable sense of gender and this is when children usually get more influence by society.
3.Blum says a person who loses a game there testosterone level drops. If the person wins the level will increase. this makes sense cause testosterone goes along with moods of being happy and sad.
1. According to statistics cited by Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, how often did the man start the fight?
ReplyDelete-51.8% of men started the fight in conflicts in which the woman killed a man. I do not find this surprising, actually I would have thought the percent of men would have been greater.
2. In the author's view, at what age will a child who is raised in a less traditional family develop a traditional sense of gender roles?
Blum believes that in a less traditional family, a child will develop a sense of gender roles by age 6. I do not really agree, or like, Blum's example of a non-traditional family. She described them as a family in which all the members do the dishes. This implies that in traditional families only the women do this work. Honestly, that is rather offensive. I hope Blum is aware that this is the 21st century and not the 1950s-women no longer simply stay at home and do the house work.
3. What happens to the testosterone level of a person who loses a game, according to Blum?
According to Blum, a person's testosterone level increases and decreases based on if they win or lose a game. She says that if a person wins, it rises and if they lose, their testosterone level falls.
1. In domestic conflicts where a woman kills a man, the man started the argument 51.8% of the time. I'm almost surprised that that percent isn't a clearer majority.
ReplyDelete2. Blum believes that children who grow up in traditional families learn traditional gender roles by age 2-3 years, while children that grow up in less traditional families learn gender roles by about age 6. Those numbers make basic sense to me. I would say that by preschool or kindergarten, I had a pretty good sense of gender roles. I actually remember having this conversation with a boy in my class in kindergarten about whether it was ok for him to like pink.
3. According to Blum, testosterone levels rise when a person wins a game, and fall when a person loses. At first I was actually a bit surprised by this, because I would have thought that people get agressive and upset when they lose. However, in thinking about my own experiences, I always feel kind of sad and down on myself when my team loses a soccer or basketball game, and pumped up when we win. So I guess that makes sense.
1. 51.8% of the time, the man is the one who starts the fight. To be honest, I was a larger percentage.
ReplyDelete2. A child who is raised in a less traditional family is thought to develop a sense of gender when they are about 2 or 3 years of age.
3. When a person loses a game, their testosterone levels decrease.
1. In domestic conflicts in which the woman ended up killing the man, 51.8% of the time, it was the man who started the argument. I actually found this striking, because I expected the percent to be greater. I guess I assumed that the stereotypical aggressive men would start more problems than they actually do.
ReplyDelete2. A child raised in a less traditional family typically develops a sense of gender roles around the age of 6; but in a traditional family setting where they are clearly mapped out, around the ages of 2-3.
3. Lose game, testoserone goes down. Win game, testoserone goes up.
1. The man started the fight 51.8% of the time. Sadly no information is cited regarding the source or method of data collection.
ReplyDelete2. According to the author, children in less traditional families develop a sense of gender rolls around age 6 while children in traditional families learn these gender rolls around age 2-3.
3. According to Blum, when a person loses a game their testosterone level will fall but if the win a game their testosterone level will rise. I would have thought it more likely that both a loss and a win would have increased testosterone as they are both attributed in this article to either physical activities or people observing physical activities.
1. In domestic fights between men and women, statistics show that men initiated the fight about 52% of the time. I expected that to maybe be even a little higher.
ReplyDelete2. Children don't start to comprehend their gender roles until the reach around the age of six. Up until that point children in untraditional families don't witness gender sterotypes at home. This changes however when they enter school for the first time.
3. The testosterone level of a person falls when they lose a game, which I found pretty obvious. When a person is upset like that their energy and motiviation are reduced.
1) I think it is crazy that if men get killed by women in a fight the men started the fight 51.8 percent of the time. I actually thought that this is a pretty high percentage. I thought that if men get killed, women usually start the fights, but it seems to me that i was wrong.
ReplyDelete2) The author insists that in traditional families, children learn gender roles at around 2-3 years. This makes sense to me, because if parents give girls dolls to play with, and dress them more girly-like they will more likely get a gender earlier.
If the family is less traditional a kid usually gets his gender roles when it is 6. Although it is said in the work, i do not really agree with that. I personally think that small kids do really know what gender they are, pretty regardless of the parents' roles. It does also not fit into Freud's theories.
3) Blum says, that if a person wins a game its testosterone level raises usually. But if a person looses a game, the testosterone level falls. i didn't know that before because i thought that both, winning and loosing, bring adrenaline and excitement so that this would make the hormone level rise.
1. When a woman kills a guy, the guy started the fight 51.8% of the time. This percentage didn't really surprise me because men are usually more aggressive than women.
ReplyDelete2. In a less traditional family, a child usually establishes gender roles around the age of 6. I agree with this because the environment that a child is brought up in has a major effect on how they will be later in life.
3. If a person looses a game, the testosterone level falls. When a person wins a game, the testosterone level rises.
1. According to Blum, a man started a fight between a man and a woman 51.8% of the time. She also states that when the man was the one committing the kill, the man was also likely the one to start the fight. I think Blum's statistics make sense because men are typically the more aggressive gender.
ReplyDelete2. Blum says that a child who is raised in a less traditional family will develop a sense of gender roles by age 6. A traditional family who makes it clear to the child what women are "supposed" to do and what men are "supposed" to do, develops the sense of gender roles earlier at 2 or 3 years old. Blum states that research shows that a less traditional family gives a child up until the age of 6 "a more flexible sense of gender roles"
3. According to Blum, for someone who loses a game, their testosterone level decreases. It also decreases in the world of dating when men are in a "stable and supportive relationship". She says that testosterone level in men rises if a competitive game is won or if a relationship starts to dwindle.
1. In 51.8% of the cases in which a fight led to a woman killing a man, the man started the fight. This is really close to 50/50, so this statistic alone I don't think proves that men are more aggressive.
ReplyDelete2. A child who is raised in a less traditional family will develop a sense of gender roles by the age of 6.
3. Blum says that the testosterone levels of a person who loses a game tends to decrease, while the testosterone of a person who wins a game tends to increase.
1. About 51.8% of the time it is the man who starts the fight in a fight between a man and a women. If you take in all the stereotypes about men being more aggressive and stronger than this statistic makes sense.
ReplyDelete2. According to Blum a child raised in an nontraditional environment will typically have a more flexibly idea of gender roles until about age six, verses a child raised in a traditional home which will give him/her his or her ideas of gender roles at the age of 2 or 3.
3. According to Blum if someone loses a game their testosterone levels decreases. And when they win their testosterone levels increase.
1. Blum says that from her research, in conflicts in which a woman has killed a man, 51.8% of the time, it was the man who started the fight. There are many stereotypes of men where this statistic would technically prove those stereotypes correct.
ReplyDelete2. Blum says that a child who has been raised in a family enviroment with nontraditional gender roles, does not have an idea (a flexible idea) about gender roles until age 6.
3. According to Blum if someone loses a game or if someone is watching a game and their favored team is losing, their testosteone levels decrease. Whereas if they are winning, they increase.
1)In domestic conflicts where a woman kills a man, the man started the argument 51.8% of the time. Going by the “stereotypical” male actions, this is almost surprising to me. I thought that the percentage would be significantly higher than this just because it’s widely agreed upon that males are more aggressive than females.
ReplyDelete2)According to Blum, a child in a less traditional family will develop a sense of gender roles by the age of 6. Personally, I think that the grasping the sense of gender roles probably happens at different stages for different people. I don’t think there is a select age when children completely understand, I just feel like it varies from person to person.
3)Blum believes that testosterone levels rise when a person wins a game and does the opposite when a person loses.
1. In the fights in which a woman kills a man, the man started the fight 51.8% of the time, whereas when the man kills a woman, she only started the fight 12.5%. This can, indeed be explained by levels of testosterone, or perhaps by women being more paranoid of men.
ReplyDelete2. Children in less traditional families develop their gender identities at age 6, and children in traditional families develop gender identities at age 2-3. I wonder, though, if for intersexuals it would be different, or it traditional homes would just make them more aware of what they really are.
3. When a person loses a game, their testosterone level goes down, and when a person wins the game, their testosterone level goes up. This accounts for the feelings you get when you either win or lose.
1. The statistics say that 51.8 percent of the time a man was killed by a woman, the man had started the fight. That actually does not surprise me very much. Anger can drive people to do lots of things, and especially when there is a person driving it. Males are more aggressive naturally anyway.
ReplyDelete2. A child raised in a less traditional family develops a traditional sense of gender around age six. This also makes sense to me because if there are no outside forces during the ages where kids are most sheltered by their family, they are mostly used to their influences. Once they are around age six is when they have mostly been to school and with other kids who start to define their gender.
3. The testosterone level of someone who loses a game lowers. When a person loses, they don't have as much drive and intensity as before. Nothing is making them competitive and anxious anymore, so the level lowers.
1. According to Blum's statistics, in 51.8% of conflicts, the man started the fight. I find it odd that Blum talks mostly of men killing women, when women have just as much capability to kill men in the event of conflict.
ReplyDelete2. At age six, children raised in a less traditional family develop a traditional sense of gender roles. It is stated that before this age, children have a more flexible sense of gender roles.
3. According to Blum, the testosterone of a person who lost a game will fall. It seems as if testosterone shadows the feelings of a person.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. According to statistics cited by Blum, in conflicts in which a woman killed a man, how often did the man start the fight?Statistics say that, in such conflicts, the man started the fight 51.8% of the time. Maybe I'm reading this statistic the wrong way, but it doesn't seem all that surprising. First of all, it seems reasonable that, with random chance, about 50% of the time, the man would be the aggressor, and the other 50% of the time, the woman--no matter what the outcome was.
ReplyDeleteI'm also curious as to Blum's definition of "starting a fight"--does it refer to provocation, verbal or otherwise? Or are we only counting from the time when someone throws the first physical blow? The beginnings of fights are tricky to discover; it could have been triggered by any number of things. Just saying. I mean, I'm openly feminist, and I believe that aggressive male behavior is one of the founding banes of humanity. But still, reality isn't always black and white; perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to point fingers and place blame.
2. In the author's view, at what age will a child who is raised in a less traditional family develop a traditional sense of gender roles?According to Blum, a child raised in such a setting will not develop a traditional sense of gender roles until about the age of 6, at which point (I would assume) s/he becomes exposed to the norms of the greater world through school or other activities.
3. What happens to the testosterone level of a person who loses a game, according to Blum?The testosterone level of a person who loses drops, which makes sense, since failure doesn't exactly lend itself to continued aggression. This makes sense in the context of alpha males/domination--the one who is conquered must necessarily experience a drop in testosterone, feel subdued, less dominating. Less--dare I use so vulgar a term?--manly.
...huh. The formatting hates me today, apparently. Sorry for double- (well, triple-) posting!
ReplyDelete1. In conflicts where a woman killed a man 51.8% of the men started the fight. I found this shocking because usually amoung adults it is the women starting fights or saying something to their man. However, it escalastes when the man stays the wrong thing. Or maybe it is the action the man did; cheating perhaps.
ReplyDelete2. Until the age of 6 a child who is raised in a less traditional family develops a traditional sense of gender roles. They take longer than traditional kids because they maintain a more flexible sense of gender roles.
3. When a person loses a game their testosterone level falls. The testosterone because during a state of failure your body doesn't become aggresive.
-CANDiCE
1. The article had said that in domestic partner murders in which the woman killed a man, 51.8% of the murders were instigated by men. However, I don't fine the number enough to accuse men to be more 'aggressive.' As Sam had said, the numbers are fairly close.
ReplyDelete2. I found it very surprising that kids often knew their genders by the age of 2 or 3. In a less traditional family, they would find their gender by age 6. Since I have a baby brother, I could relate to this. By reading this article, I realized how much gender pressure we placed on the baby. And it wasn't like it was done consciously.
3. When a person loses a game. their testosterone falls. I think the author skims over this part of the article. The connections to our evolutions didn't really satisfy me.
Overall I though the author was overly accusing of the male sex, even though there was a disclamer that it was general.
1. In 51.8 percent of the cases were a woman killed a man, he started the fight.
ReplyDelete2. Until about six years old a child maintains a more open view of what gender is in less traditional families. This includes the applying of this perspective to themselves.
3. Testosterone falls with a loss.