It's disappointing to see so many people here read the title of the article and immediately start the see,-social-differences-are-the-result-of-vast-differences-between-the-binary-sexes wheel rolling again. It's nowhere near a valid conclusion from the article's content. There are racial differences in gene expression (though much smaller), too, but I doubt anyone would upvote it or start a similar conversation about race if an article about it were posted here.
There are clearly differences between the physiology of the average man and the average woman, but those differences appear to be more of a spectrum than a binary split. Given that, I don't understand how people with an axe to grind against the "gender is cultural" idea would like society to look. Why argue against the idea that individual differences are vast, and that the best approach is not to create groups that are defined at birth? What's the alternative being suggested?
Anyone with an extreme emotional investment in the "gender respresentation" issue isn't even going to read the article before proselytizing HN with their beliefs.
This is an article about gene expressions and their correlation to the development of various neurological disorders.
However it mentions differences between males and females... so it's going to trigger a completely off-topic flame war.
It mentions? Mentions? Come on now. It's stated in the beginning of the title of the article, and right in the beginning of the abstract, for crying out loud. "Widespread sex differences"
Seriously, this wasn't even a particularly dense paper to read. The only conclusions one can draw from this research is that "sex differences in gene expression in human brain relate and may even help explain well-recognised differences between men and women in disease incidence and presentation"... I.E. MS, Schizophrenia, AD & Vascular dementira, depressive & anxiety disorders, parkinson's, autism, etc.
People are excited to interpret any random observation in terms of their own prejudices.
>There are racial differences in gene expression (though much smaller), too, but I doubt anyone would upvote it or start a similar conversation about race if an article about it were posted here.
You've been here long enough to know that isn't true. Plenty of people on this site have a passionate belief in the simultaneous superiority of and tyranny of the inferior masses over white males within the civilization that they built with their own hands.
>It's disappointing to see so many people here read the title of the article and immediately start the see,-social-differences-are-the-result-of-vast-differences-between-the-binary-sexes wheel rolling again.
But it's alright to just accept we're all products of socialization as a valid conclusion?
>What's the alternative being suggested?
A nuanced conversation on the interplay of biology and environment. Which there is very little of.
That the most likely scenario is there are predispositions for many traits we consider social. That evolution favors biological variation but also that humans are unique in their ability to adapt to their environment. That anyone trying to pick a side is doing so for political or ideological reasons and is selling you horse shit.
> immediately start the see,-social-differences-are-the-result-of-vast-differences-between-the-binary-sexes wheel rolling again
That's not the wheel I'm interested in rolling. I'm rather interested in critiquing the current humanist-sociological status quo mantra that biological differences are irrelevant or can be abstracted away. A rather large difference between the two goals.
There are clearly differences between the physiology of the average man and the average woman, but those differences appear to be more of a spectrum than a binary split. Given that, I don't understand how people with an axe to grind against the "gender is cultural" idea would like society to look. Why argue against the idea that individual differences are vast, and that the best approach is not to create groups that are defined at birth? What's the alternative being suggested?