I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s with the understanding that there wasn’t much difference between men and women.
It was the genesis of the so-called “women’s liberation movement,” and I embraced it – totally.
My mother worked hard and had an admirable career as a restauranteur.
For the most part, I treated the women in my life just as I would treat the men in my life.
Then, in the early 1990s, I read a book called “Men Are From Mars, Women of From Venus,” which explained men and women are actually very different. It was a shock to me, even though my earlier radical-left perspective had shifted.
The book was anecdotal and written by a non-scholar, but it had the ring of truth. It articulated for readers what they may have observed in relationships for themselves, but didn’t comprehend or acknowledge. That’s probably why it sold 50 million copies.
That book came to mind for me this week when three Republican women in the U.S. Senate announced they would not be voting to repeal the imploding Obamacare legislation, despite the fact that two of them had previously voted to do so as recently as last year and the third had campaigned on a promise to do so.
That’s when this over-generalization with the ring of truth hit me: Men are Republicans, women are Democrats.
The sexes really do think differently.
And, of course, all the polls confirm what I am saying. Far more women vote Democrat than do men. Far more men vote Republican than do women.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. These are the exceptions that prove the rule.
For instance, my wife is no Democrat.
Barack Obama is no Republican.
But there’s something about the way men and women look at the world, perceive things and draw conclusions that’s just – different.
I’m tempted to say women are more emotional and driven by their hearts, while men are more pragmatic. But, of course, that would make me a bigot. Can’t have that. So, perhaps it’s best if I just throw out this observation and let people draw their own conclusions.
In general, are there real differences in the way men and women see things, the way they behave, the way they make decisions?
At this stage in my life, as the father of five girls and grandfather of three girls and one boy, there’s not even a doubt in my mind. The idea that the only differences between girls and boys and women and men has to do with social conditioning and cultural constructs is laughable.
We come out of the womb with huge differences beyond the anatomical. The differences are profound. They are ingrained, innate, part of the way we were created in the beginning.
And maybe this explains, in part, how three supposedly Republican women in the U.S. Senate could be so obviously wrong, misguided, confused, foolish, inconsistent and unreasonable it makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs.
I was hoodwinked by the propaganda of my generation. I admit it. I believed we could overcome all the “stereotypes” – and maybe we can. Maybe we should. But we should not be denying reality and truth in the process.
Men really are different from women. Women really are different from men.
That doesn’t mean men are qualitatively better than women. It doesn’t mean women are qualitatively better than men.
It just means different – and, as far as I am concerned, thank God for it!
As they used to say in France, “Viva la difference!”
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