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Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

nature.com

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Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#21

Post by demallien »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #3
FD3SA wrote: post #2

It is my sincere hope that this understanding becomes pervasive in society, such that the inane social movements based upon naught but angry emotional mob mentality become part of history. As it stands, young boys are medicated with psychiatric drugs for beings boys, and this is deemed acceptable by society. Boys are failing at every step in public institutions, with higher drop out rates at all levels of schooling.…

The truth lies somewhere in the middle, as it often does. It's fallacious to assume that there are no inborn differences between men and women. It's equally fallacious to insist (as many do and will, probably citing this study) that there are vast and uncrossable gulfs between men and women, and that anyone who crosses those gulfs anyway must be some sort of deviant. Humans are complex, the product of both nature and…

Yes. I didn't read the whole paper, just the abstract, but I would not be surprised to learn (based on previous studies) that the difference between men and women is smaller than the variance amongst men, or the variance amongst women, which is the case for nearly all non-primary sexual differences between men and women.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#22

Post by sliverstorm »

Fomite wrote: post #14
mudil wrote: post #12

That's exactly why we don't have many women in tech and most readers of HN are guys. All this political correctness and attacks on PG are simply BS: men and women are different. Not better, not worse, just different. It's evolution of sex, stupid. PS. My previous comment on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7041221

How does this explain fields where the gender balance has drifted considerably over time?

Fields can drift too.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#23

Post by Fomite »

sliverstorm wrote: post #22
Fomite wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this explain fields where the gender balance has drifted considerably over time?

Fields can drift too.

My field hasn't substantially in terms of it's goals, aims or methods - and if anything, has moved towards more male-dominated fields, yet has gone from "All men" to a slight majority of women.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#24

Post by sliverstorm »

jb17 wrote: post #4
FD3SA wrote: post #2

It is my sincere hope that this understanding becomes pervasive in society, such that the inane social movements based upon naught but angry emotional mob mentality become part of history. As it stands, young boys are medicated with psychiatric drugs for beings boys, and this is deemed acceptable by society. Boys are failing at every step in public institutions, with higher drop out rates at all levels of schooling.…

I don't think anyone is denying physical differences between people with XX and XY chromosomes. I also think it's common knowledge by now that sex influences the development of diseases (which is what the paper is about). What the debate is usually about is inequalities in social power relations and whether these can be attributed to what you call 'social conditioning' or biology. This paper doesn't contribute anythi…

I don't think anyone is denying physical differences between people with XX and XY chromosomes.

What the debate is usually about is inequalities in social power relations and whether these can be attributed to what you call 'social conditioning' or biology.

Why is this even a question? We already know:

- Powerful men tend to be taller than other men

- Women tend to be shorter than men

There's an understood physical difference that is more than likely playing to unbalance social power relations.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#25

Post by mudil »

api wrote: post #17
Fomite wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this explain fields where the gender balance has drifted considerably over time?

Kudos sir or ma'am. The same argument can be levied at racism. If you go back to the year 1000AD, it's obvious that Europeans are of vastly inferior stock. The Chinese and the Arabs were doing optics and stuff while the Europeans were basically playing in the dirt.

These things are completely different. Races are not different species. All people are the same: race does not matter.

Sexual roles (the evolution of sexuality) is a completely different game. Ever thought why peacock has a tail but not peahen?

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#26

Post by sliverstorm »

Fomite wrote: post #23
sliverstorm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fields can drift too.

My field hasn't substantially in terms of it's goals, aims or methods - and if anything, has moved towards more male-dominated fields, yet has gone from "All men" to a slight majority of women.

And this field would be...?

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#27

Post by adamnemecek »

s_baby wrote: post #8
jb17 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I ever encountered that argument, and when I see people arguing against it, it always seems to be a straw man. The argument I've encountered goes more like this: Because there has been historical oppression, we can't easily distinguish the influence of that from biology and should remove the oppression before we come up with biological theories that justify the oppression. That seems reasonable to me.

Speak for yourself. I personally know a lesbian couple that forces their boy to wear dresses, play with dolls, and talk down anything traditionally "male". I completely agree with your original post but it's hard to deny there's a turd in the feminist kool-aid bowl and no one is willing to pull it out.

Sounds a bit like child abuse. And when I say a bit I mean a lot.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#28

Post by mudil »

mudil wrote: post #12

That's exactly why we don't have many women in tech and most readers of HN are guys. All this political correctness and attacks on PG are simply BS: men and women are different. Not better, not worse, just different. It's evolution of sex, stupid. PS. My previous comment on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7041221

Those of you who downgrade my comment should put that PC stuff aside, and consider reading about the evolution of sexuality. Such as "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley, and "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" by Geoffrey Miller.

All your wishful thinking will never make women and men the same.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#29

Post by api »

mudil wrote: post #25
api wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kudos sir or ma'am. The same argument can be levied at racism. If you go back to the year 1000AD, it's obvious that Europeans are of vastly inferior stock. The Chinese and the Arabs were doing optics and stuff while the Europeans were basically playing in the dirt.

These things are completely different. Races are not different species. All people are the same: race does not matter. Sexual roles (the evolution of sexuality) is a completely different game. Ever thought why peacock has a tail but not peahen?

I don't think anyone is arguing that males and females are identical. The problem is when the current social state of things (e.g. few women in CS) is used to make unwarranted extrapolations about what those differences are without strong biological supporting evidence. It's a weak argument since social effects have not been excluded at all from your model.

Re: Widespread sex differences in gene expression in the human brain (2013)

#30

Post by api »

mudil wrote: post #28
mudil wrote: post #12

That's exactly why we don't have many women in tech and most readers of HN are guys. All this political correctness and attacks on PG are simply BS: men and women are different. Not better, not worse, just different. It's evolution of sex, stupid. PS. My previous comment on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7041221

Those of you who downgrade my comment should put that PC stuff aside, and consider reading about the evolution of sexuality. Such as "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley, and "The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature" by Geoffrey Miller. All your wishful thinking will never make women and men the same.

Nobody's arguing they're the same.
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