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Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#31

Post by TaylorAlexander »

throw_pm23 wrote: post #25
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #4

In the past 12 months I’ve gone from having normal male levels of testosterone and estrogen to having normal female levels of both. It’s truly amazing and wonderful that we can do this, and I’ve learned so much from the experience. It’s hard to describe the changes precisely, but I’m finding that women make more sense to me and are more interesting to talk to, while I have a lower tolerance for men trying to act toug…

Why would you hope that more people will do this? Do you see any possible downsides at the individual or societal level?

I hope more people do this because for me it feels really right, and I find it beautiful. It’s also helping me understand women more. I think our society would benefit from a better understanding of the experiences of the opposite sex, and people who do this can help share this with others so we all have a better understanding.

I don’t see any downsides to more people doing this.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#32

Post by moonchrome »

ravel-bar-foo wrote: post #24
moonchrome wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You probably just met someone from a non-English culture. The sex/gender distinction is an invention of the past 20 years, and outside of the English world has probably only been picked up by people who interface with English speakers a lot (i.e. academics). I can assure you that Korean makes no distinction: the dictionary translations of the English terms are "sex" and (the full phrase) "one's feeling of one's sex."

My primary language is Croatian - there is a word for sex (spol) and gender (rod). First is biological second is used for grammar.

But I'm just making silly comments because it read to me like he's an alien (or maybe GPT is becoming self aware and posting on forums :) )

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#33

Post by TaylorAlexander »

SomeHacker44 wrote: post #29
Dma54rhs wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What changed your levels or are you just doing experiments?

I wonder if experimentally doing this is reversible. Feels like Banks's Culture. Could be interesting to try, to get a feel for the differences in perspective GP reports.

It’s largely reversible in the first six months or so. Generally breast growth is not reversible and for some people that takes a while to start but for some it begins to happen sooner. You could try it for a couple of months and stop if you feel tender nipples, which is a sign of breast growth activity. Though my biggest changes have come a year in to the hormones due to the way they ramp things up over time. I was taking 2mg E per day at the start and now I’m taking 8mg E and 200mg progesterone (which helps suppress testosterone), so my experience now is much stronger than it was a few months in.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#34

Post by BlargMcLarg »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #31
throw_pm23 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you hope that more people will do this? Do you see any possible downsides at the individual or societal level?

I hope more people do this because for me it feels really right, and I find it beautiful. It’s also helping me understand women more. I think our society would benefit from a better understanding of the experiences of the opposite sex, and people who do this can help share this with others so we all have a better understanding. I don’t see any downsides to more people doing this.

Norah Vincent basically broke her psyche trying to live as a man, and the story has barely left an impact on the status quo. Similar stories exist among transmen rather than women going incognito, even if in their case it would be to pick their poison.

The idea that there are no downsides doesn't mesh with reality.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#35

Post by eldritch_4ier »

moonchrome wrote: post #16
ruszki wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I came from, this notion is basically non-existent. I meant sex. And also, the article didn’t state anything about gender. There is a specific footnote about this.

[flagged]

The vast majority of human cultures across time and space don’t recognize gender in the sense you do. There’s sex, roles, personality, trends, etc but the concept of a man identifying as a woman and vice versa is a very rare one. There are European countries (most recently Switzerland) that outright reject these notions, and they were almost unheard of in the US just a mere decade ago.

What seems like basic reality to you is an American fad to most everyone else.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#36

Post by [deleted] »

0ct4via wrote: post #30
hawski wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think at least some part of the effect for you is placebo for sure. I'm sure not all of it or even the most of it. My wife has lower then normal for women testosterone levels, but she always have been a bit less girly then other females (in behavior, not looks). She felt for example that she had little to no maternal instincts after giving birth to our child.

What basis do you have for making these assumptions? It seems rather unscientific to make such baseless claims about a very specialised area most people don't have knowledge of, and mentioning anecdotes about your wife is totally irrelevant...

[deleted]

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#37

Post by hawski »

0ct4via wrote: post #30
hawski wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think at least some part of the effect for you is placebo for sure. I'm sure not all of it or even the most of it. My wife has lower then normal for women testosterone levels, but she always have been a bit less girly then other females (in behavior, not looks). She felt for example that she had little to no maternal instincts after giving birth to our child.

What basis do you have for making these assumptions? It seems rather unscientific to make such baseless claims about a very specialised area most people don't have knowledge of, and mentioning anecdotes about your wife is totally irrelevant...

No basis. OP gave one anecdote, I gave another one. They seem to contradict each other. That's my point - they are both just anecdotes.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#38

Post by TaylorAlexander »

hawski wrote: post #28
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #4

In the past 12 months I’ve gone from having normal male levels of testosterone and estrogen to having normal female levels of both. It’s truly amazing and wonderful that we can do this, and I’ve learned so much from the experience. It’s hard to describe the changes precisely, but I’m finding that women make more sense to me and are more interesting to talk to, while I have a lower tolerance for men trying to act toug…

I think at least some part of the effect for you is placebo for sure. I'm sure not all of it or even the most of it. My wife has lower then normal for women testosterone levels, but she always have been a bit less girly then other females (in behavior, not looks). She felt for example that she had little to no maternal instincts after giving birth to our child.

Well I wouldn’t say placebo, but some things like an interest in sewing and cooking may be more due to the fact that I’m making a lot of changes in my life and I’m interested in trying new things.

However testosterone and estrogen (and progesterone) pretty seriously affect the mind. There are very real effects beyond just placebo.

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#39

Post by 0ct4via »

hawski wrote: post #37
0ct4via wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What basis do you have for making these assumptions? It seems rather unscientific to make such baseless claims about a very specialised area most people don't have knowledge of, and mentioning anecdotes about your wife is totally irrelevant...

No basis. OP gave one anecdote, I gave another one. They seem to contradict each other. That's my point - they are both just anecdotes.

[flagged]

Re: Taking Sex Differences in Personality Seriously (2019)

#40

Post by quickthrower2 »

082349872349872 wrote: post #17
ruszki wrote: post #7

Is there anything in real life which you divide in two groups you wouldn’t get differences in some metrics on average? I’ve never heard anybody who thought that there was no differences in women and men behaviours on average.

Presumably if you divided into two groups by even or odd age, there will be some difference in average metrics, but not a significant one.

You might find some difference by chance by analysing enough dimensions!
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