127 replies to this topic

[reddeath26]

Since men are suppose to be the alpha out of the sexes I don't think women are smarter or meant to be smarter than men. We are suppose to be the ones taking care of them and such.

I am quite interested to know what it is you mean by this part here. You are aware that the way gender is understood, perceived and structured shows great levels of variety both historically and cross-culturally? So then perhaps you would be willing to further develop this part of your post on the way males and females are "suppose" to relate with each other.

[puppet-link]

it's not about if your a woman or a man in my old school there were so many stupid girls who jsut ditched all their lessons to smoke and yet the smartest student was a girli believe it's down to how you live your lifeGPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - Kiba

[Obliv1ousmAn]

I wouldn't say that women are naturally smarter than men. And ya whatever they mature faster usually but that doesnt really pertain to how smart you are. It depends on the person, where they're from, who they grew up with, what they did with themselves etc. I know dudes that can be called genius..and dudes that I want to kill for being so stupid but the same goes for women.i.e.smart girl: " Its a man's world Jared!" hmm thats unfortunately very true WISDOMdumb girl: " Las Vegas is in Nevada!?" ...this girl was in 10th grade dammit!smart boy: well this part I vaguely remember but he connected gang violence and mob psychology -me =Ddumb boy:" I can count just ask my spelling teacher!" ....that was also me T.T

[skulhedface]

For the record, I think it's IMPOSSIBLE to be objective about this question. There's been Albert Einstein just as sure as there's been Marie Curie, and I don't think that gender plays any role in brain capacity, thought capacity, or general intelligence. Think about it-- what about having a penis automatically makes your brain much better? Nothing. Everyone has the potential, be they man or woman, and I think the only reason it's being debated is that sexism prevails to the point where genius women are only now starting to get widespread recognition.

[Klokinator]

Obviously this is a touchy subject, but it's also very UNdebatable as being "smart" varies from culture to culture. I might be brilliant with computers, but in the "outback" that knowledge is entirely useless, yet someone who knows how to make a campfire may be very "smart" in that situation. Being "smart" is entirely subjective to the time, date, location, and circumstances.Let's not forget the very important role childhood and gender stereotyping does in the long term. Let's not forget the role that preconcieved notions about what parents think are "proper" for a girl to say, think, feel, and do, versus what they would say for a boy. These are not factors to be ignored.Let's take the fictional example of Jessica, who is 18 years old. She was an only child, her parents loved her very much and taught her she could be anything she wanted to be. She grew up, joined the marines, made a lot of money, got promoted, grew old, retired, and lived the rest of her life in happiness. She had everything in life handed to her on a silver platter, therefore she took what she had available and utilized it to her fullest advantage.However, this does not take into account the fact that she CHOSE to live this life. Many people have everything handed to them on silver platters as well, but they throw it all away and do something else that doesn't qualify as being successful. (Like join a gang, or maybe do drugs and commit crime, or perhaps just sit around and be lazy all day and do nothing to contribute to society.) Are they less smart, or just lazy? Keep in mind I'm just talking about girls and haven't even started comparing them to men.Where do I even begin? Most CEO's and professionals in the business world are men. It's just a fact, get used to it. Is it because men are smarter though? Far from likely. It's because men have dominated the scene since the earliest recorded history. It's because men are viewed as being better than women, even if that view is not given voice. It's because of sexism and many other "ism's" you can think of. Women usually have to climb a very high ladder, often getting their fingers stomped on on the way up. Few ever make it to the very top.Men on the other hand, often just have to be a bit more cunning, just a bit more aggressive, just a bit smarter than their male and female counterparts, and then golden opportunities are handed to them and they take it happily.Comparing men and women with intellect is a pointless debate, because every single person has their own unique circumstances. I probably didn't elaborate enough, but this should be good enough to get the gist of it.

Edited by Klokinator, 04 January 2011 - 03:30 AM.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

I remember reading an article about this in NewScientist.It was in issue 2802 over a month ago. Basically, the jist of the article? was that the less a psychological or behaviourl trait has to do with reproductive behaviour, the smaller the difference between the sexes. So, the greatest, most noticeable differences between the sexes are height and sexual orientation (women are more likely to be attracted to men and vice versa).Disappointingly for those who want to see a difference between the sexes, Jay Giedd and Judith Rapoport of the US National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, pointed out that most of the effects of sex on behaviour are only around half the size of those on height.Below is a graphic from the NewScientist article that shows some of the differences:?Now intelligence itself is a difficult enough thing to grasp. The question of this topic is meaningless without a decent definition of what it is to be smart, and here we are flummoxed. What does it mean to be intelligent? Is a Kalahari bushman stupider than a white male who can do his taxes or is the white male stupider than the Kalahari bushman for not knowing how to survive in the desert? Does knowledge make you intelligent; and if so, does that mean anyone who knows the speed of light is more intelligent than Albert Einstein, a man who did not know that speed off the top of his head?Regardless, notice how the things we commonly associate with intelligence are pretty low down on the table, meaning that the differences in intelligence are pretty much negligible or even non-existent.I would argue that the topic title is meaningless... even more so considering that the original post wasn't about intelligence but about maturity.