When it comes to discovering knowledge and wisdom, God has spoken that we may find it in two areas:
- evidence from the natural created world (Romans 1:20, Psalm 104:24, Psalm 19)
- declarations from God's Word. (John 17:16, 2 Timothy 3:16)
We are held accountable for the knowledge we have received from both Scripture and nature (Romans 1:18-32) and due to our sinful nature we suppress the truth and are bent towards perverting the plain truths found in nature and turning away from what is plain about God and man and worshipping creation rather than the creator. So it is no wonder that with issues that for thousands of years the differences between men and women were understood widely throughout all cultures and within the space of 50 years have been rejected. We claim to be enlightened and more educated so much so that we have outright rejected what has been plainly obvious to almost all other generations and societies.
Yet this must not deteur us because God's Holy Spirit overcomes our suppression of the truth! Jesus tells his people that "when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13) and that we who are regenerated "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) which instructs us so much so that John Calvin said of the study of God's word that " theology is thinking Gods thoughts after him".
The argument I intend to support is this:
- Whilst leaving room for individual uniqueness and variations that deviate from the norm, Men and women are fundamentally equal but different
- These differences have their roots in our unique biological make up as men and women
- These differences are present at birth and are amplified according to individual hormonal and genetic traits
- Men and women are not only differently gifted in anatomy and physiology but also in behaviour.
- That our differences are not inferior or superior but a blessing, a good gift from God. They enhance all areas of life including pair bonding, duel parenting, and extensive division of labour.
Sociocultural studies
Maccoby and Jacklin conducted a landmark review of psychological literature on the subject of gender differences. They made a complete survey of the literature to determine whether there was consistent experimental support for any of the traditional gender stereotypes. They found that the majority of studues revealed that males scored higher in levels of aggressiveness, dominance, self-confidence, and activity level. Females scored higher on verbal ability, compliance, nurturance, and empathy scales. Women tend to socialize more intimately with a few friends. Men are more apt to form larger groups. (The Psychology of Sex Differences (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1974, pp 349-355)
Ethological Observations
Ethologists are students of animal and human behaviour who draw generalizations regarding social behaviour across animal and human groups. Their studies have found that among most higher social mammals studied, males are more aggressive than femals and take dominant leadership roles in social groups. (G. Siann, Accounting for Aggression: Perspectives on Aggression and violence (Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 82-92) Males tend to be more territorial, tend to build a hierarchical social order, involved in breaking up squabbles of lesser ranking makes, females, and juveniles and set directions and courses of action for a group as a whole. (I.S. Bernstein, "Anaylsis of a Key Role in a Capuchin Group," Tulane Studies in Zoology 13 (1966): 49-54) Females on the other hand are more involved in parenting, nurturing, are not driven by competitive, territorial or hierarchical urgesly and equally with other females. They tend to socialize more horizontally and equally with other females and be less confrontive and combative and more interested in building and maintaining social bonds. They are peacemakers and conformists to group expectations. (M Daly and M Wilson, Sex, Evolution and Behaviour (Boston: Duxbury Press, 1978), pp 55-59)
Anthropologist Observations
Anthropologists find similar kinds of universal sex-specific behaviours among human cultures. "Of two hundred fifty cultures studied, males dominate in almost all. Males are almost always the rule makers, hunters, builders, fashioners of weapons, workers in metal, wood, or stone. Women are primary care givers and most involved in child rearing. Their activities centre on maintenance and care of home and family. " (Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006). nd this is represented through the activities they engage in which often involve making pottery, baskets, clothes blankets, etc. They gather food, preserve and prepare food, obtain and carry firewood and water. They collect and grind grain. (G Murdock, "The Common Deonominator of Cultures," in The Science of Man in the World Crisis, ed. R. Linton (New Yorl: Columbia university Press, 1945), pp 123-143) The very fact that these universals transcend divergent animal groups and cultures suggest that there must be more than a cultural basis for these intrinsic sex differences. All this being said, the data points to builogical predeterminants of gender-related behaviour. Indeed, "as we survey the biology of mammals and humans in particular, we find sex related differences in all of the organ systems, including the brain and nervous system." (Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006).
Sex differences in hormones
Sex hormones are found in vastly different concentrations in males and females. Males begin producing gonadal testosterone at about the sixth or seventh week of gestation. This has an immediate effect on all of the organ systems, such that heart rate, respiratory rate, red blood cell couts, and brain structure are already sexually divergent at birth. The male testosterone level is two or three times that of the female until puberty, at which time it becomes, on the average, fifteen times higher than that of a female. Females produce about twice the estrogen of males prior to puberty and eight to ten times the estrogen after puberty. (j Stein, ed., Internal Medivine, 2nd ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1987) pp 2331-2338)
Sex differences in the Peripheral Nervous System
Researches have found that women, on the average, have a more acute sense of touch, perception, hearing, smell and taste having such things as finer body hair and scoring higher on the two point discimination test where pin pricks were able to be placed more priximately on the skin then with men. (Durden-Smith and Desimone, Sex and the Brain, pp. 71-73) This makes them monitor their invironment more completely with more discimination giving them ad advantage in child care and social interaciton. They are thus able to pick up subtle environmental cues, such as a baby's cry or cough, or telltale odors or sounds that might escape the less disciminating male system. Some reports show that females have finer discrimination of colour, particularly in the red end of the spectrum, can tolerate brighter lights, and see better in dim light, while men can read finer print and are better at night vision (Glucksman, Sexual Dimorphism, p 100) which can aid females in detecting rashes or slight flushes in infants and children that may reveal fever or diseases or read emotional content of faces such as anger, sadness or fear giving women a general advantage in social interactions.
Sex differences in the limbic system
The Lumbic system is a ring of interconnected structures in the midline of the brain around the hypothalamus, involved with emotion and memory and with homeostatic regulatory systems. The actual thresholds to set off responses in the limbic system differ between males and female). In males, testosterone stimulates the production of neurotransmitters in the hypothalamic area. This excess of neortransmitters waiting in readiness in the synaptic areas tends to lower the threshold of response in males, such that less stimulation is required to set off behavioural responses to such things as food, sexual, or threat stimul. Elevated estrogen in females has the opposite effect, inhibiting synaptic firings in the brain region and requiring more sensory and cognitive stimulation in order to elicit the same response. (B. Mcewan, "Neural Gonadal Steroid Action," Science 211 (1981),:1303-1311) "This may explain male tendencies to be more reactive and quicker to act and to make decisions. It may also explain feminine patience and tolerance of more stimuli without reaction. These differences may explain the gender-specific reactions of males and females in sexual interactions. It may also explain why females are more patient with children."(Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006).
Mayor has done much research on the types of aggression manifest in various animals and found that of the seven types of aggression, three of these are found primarily in males, one primarily in females, and three seem to be found equally distributed between males and females. (K.E. Moyer, The Psychobiology of Aggression (NY:Harper and Row, 1976), pp. 3-25) It has been reported in rats, cats, dogs, monkeys and humans that the area of the hypothalamus associated with aggression is up to eight times larger in males than females. (R.W. Goy and B.S. McEwan, Sexual differentiation of the Brain (Boston: M.I.T. Press, 1980), pp. 109-111) It has been shown that men have have significantly larger preoptic and amygdalae areas than women, which stimulate predatory aggression showing that the causes of differences inhuman aggresssion do have a biological basis. (D.F. Swaab and E.Fliers, "A Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus in the Human Brain," Science 228 (1985): 1112-1114)) It may be, then that males gravitate to competitive sports, thrive better in a competitive business world, enjoy argumentation, hunting, fishing, more than females because of such reasons as this. This may also be the reason that in higher mammal and human societies, it is the male that leaves the group during postpubertal maturing for such things as adventure-seeking, while females stay in the group remaining bonded to their mother.
There is, then, a strong correlation between the amount of testosterone and the intensity of these behaviours. Among men there is a strong correlation between testosterone level and sexual activity and aggressive behaviour. "Juvenile delinquents and criminals incarcerated for violent crimes have, on the average, twice the level of testosterone found in the normal male population. (Of course, this does not excuse such criminal behaviouror imply that it is unavoidable,) " Gregg. XYY syndrome men (having an extra male Y chromasome) have elevated levels of testosterone making them more aggressive and twenty times more likel to have problems iwth the law (R.T. Rubin, J.M. Reinish and R.F. Haskett, "Postnatal Gonatal Steroid Effects on Human Bejhaviour," Science 211 (1981):1318-1324) Men are more likely to be aggressive, assertive, confrontive, and reactive, not so much because of cultural expectations as because of their biological predispositions. The human male drive for power, wealth, fame, and resourses may thus be rooted in hormones and brain differences.
Maternal aggression, described as females responsing to impending danger or harm to their offspring, is common to mammals. This response, which is partucularly strong during lactation, may be facilitated by prolactin, the hormone causing milk production. (Moyer, Psychobiology of Aggression, pp3-25) It may also facilitate maternal instict and bonding. This may explain why mothers are often more protective and aggressive in intervening on a child's behalf than fathers. Female-infant bonding appears to be innate. THe baby's cries trigger involuntary responses in the mother such as oxytocin secretion, nipple erection, and pupul dilation. There are no such responses in males, and male bonding is likely a learned response. (Goy and Mcewan, Sexual differentiuation of the Brain, pp, 109-111).
Conclusion
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these physiological differences predispose males and females to certain behaviour and aptitude learnings dependent on gender. Whilst it does not automatically follow that because men and women may have different gifts, the traditional roles are the only way they may be expressed. "Yet is seems very significant that these different firts correspond very well to the different roles given to men and women in Scripture... Our culture has changed, and the demands for traditional roles may have varied, yet our basic, God-given physiological differences have not. "(Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006). If It is true that men and women are different then, trying to teach women to behave like men, and men to behave like women is extremely damaging. We must therefore, take a step back from popular culture and look afresh at scripture and ask 'what reasons could God have possibly given men and women different bodies and different roles'?
Ethological Observations
Ethologists are students of animal and human behaviour who draw generalizations regarding social behaviour across animal and human groups. Their studies have found that among most higher social mammals studied, males are more aggressive than femals and take dominant leadership roles in social groups. (G. Siann, Accounting for Aggression: Perspectives on Aggression and violence (Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 82-92) Males tend to be more territorial, tend to build a hierarchical social order, involved in breaking up squabbles of lesser ranking makes, females, and juveniles and set directions and courses of action for a group as a whole. (I.S. Bernstein, "Anaylsis of a Key Role in a Capuchin Group," Tulane Studies in Zoology 13 (1966): 49-54) Females on the other hand are more involved in parenting, nurturing, are not driven by competitive, territorial or hierarchical urgesly and equally with other females. They tend to socialize more horizontally and equally with other females and be less confrontive and combative and more interested in building and maintaining social bonds. They are peacemakers and conformists to group expectations. (M Daly and M Wilson, Sex, Evolution and Behaviour (Boston: Duxbury Press, 1978), pp 55-59)
Anthropologist Observations
Anthropologists find similar kinds of universal sex-specific behaviours among human cultures. "Of two hundred fifty cultures studied, males dominate in almost all. Males are almost always the rule makers, hunters, builders, fashioners of weapons, workers in metal, wood, or stone. Women are primary care givers and most involved in child rearing. Their activities centre on maintenance and care of home and family. " (Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006). nd this is represented through the activities they engage in which often involve making pottery, baskets, clothes blankets, etc. They gather food, preserve and prepare food, obtain and carry firewood and water. They collect and grind grain. (G Murdock, "The Common Deonominator of Cultures," in The Science of Man in the World Crisis, ed. R. Linton (New Yorl: Columbia university Press, 1945), pp 123-143) The very fact that these universals transcend divergent animal groups and cultures suggest that there must be more than a cultural basis for these intrinsic sex differences. All this being said, the data points to builogical predeterminants of gender-related behaviour. Indeed, "as we survey the biology of mammals and humans in particular, we find sex related differences in all of the organ systems, including the brain and nervous system." (Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006).
Sex differences in hormones
Sex hormones are found in vastly different concentrations in males and females. Males begin producing gonadal testosterone at about the sixth or seventh week of gestation. This has an immediate effect on all of the organ systems, such that heart rate, respiratory rate, red blood cell couts, and brain structure are already sexually divergent at birth. The male testosterone level is two or three times that of the female until puberty, at which time it becomes, on the average, fifteen times higher than that of a female. Females produce about twice the estrogen of males prior to puberty and eight to ten times the estrogen after puberty. (j Stein, ed., Internal Medivine, 2nd ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1987) pp 2331-2338)
Sex differences in the Peripheral Nervous System
Researches have found that women, on the average, have a more acute sense of touch, perception, hearing, smell and taste having such things as finer body hair and scoring higher on the two point discimination test where pin pricks were able to be placed more priximately on the skin then with men. (Durden-Smith and Desimone, Sex and the Brain, pp. 71-73) This makes them monitor their invironment more completely with more discimination giving them ad advantage in child care and social interaciton. They are thus able to pick up subtle environmental cues, such as a baby's cry or cough, or telltale odors or sounds that might escape the less disciminating male system. Some reports show that females have finer discrimination of colour, particularly in the red end of the spectrum, can tolerate brighter lights, and see better in dim light, while men can read finer print and are better at night vision (Glucksman, Sexual Dimorphism, p 100) which can aid females in detecting rashes or slight flushes in infants and children that may reveal fever or diseases or read emotional content of faces such as anger, sadness or fear giving women a general advantage in social interactions.
Sex differences in the limbic system
The Lumbic system is a ring of interconnected structures in the midline of the brain around the hypothalamus, involved with emotion and memory and with homeostatic regulatory systems. The actual thresholds to set off responses in the limbic system differ between males and female). In males, testosterone stimulates the production of neurotransmitters in the hypothalamic area. This excess of neortransmitters waiting in readiness in the synaptic areas tends to lower the threshold of response in males, such that less stimulation is required to set off behavioural responses to such things as food, sexual, or threat stimul. Elevated estrogen in females has the opposite effect, inhibiting synaptic firings in the brain region and requiring more sensory and cognitive stimulation in order to elicit the same response. (B. Mcewan, "Neural Gonadal Steroid Action," Science 211 (1981),:1303-1311) "This may explain male tendencies to be more reactive and quicker to act and to make decisions. It may also explain feminine patience and tolerance of more stimuli without reaction. These differences may explain the gender-specific reactions of males and females in sexual interactions. It may also explain why females are more patient with children."(Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006).
Mayor has done much research on the types of aggression manifest in various animals and found that of the seven types of aggression, three of these are found primarily in males, one primarily in females, and three seem to be found equally distributed between males and females. (K.E. Moyer, The Psychobiology of Aggression (NY:Harper and Row, 1976), pp. 3-25) It has been reported in rats, cats, dogs, monkeys and humans that the area of the hypothalamus associated with aggression is up to eight times larger in males than females. (R.W. Goy and B.S. McEwan, Sexual differentiation of the Brain (Boston: M.I.T. Press, 1980), pp. 109-111) It has been shown that men have have significantly larger preoptic and amygdalae areas than women, which stimulate predatory aggression showing that the causes of differences inhuman aggresssion do have a biological basis. (D.F. Swaab and E.Fliers, "A Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus in the Human Brain," Science 228 (1985): 1112-1114)) It may be, then that males gravitate to competitive sports, thrive better in a competitive business world, enjoy argumentation, hunting, fishing, more than females because of such reasons as this. This may also be the reason that in higher mammal and human societies, it is the male that leaves the group during postpubertal maturing for such things as adventure-seeking, while females stay in the group remaining bonded to their mother.
There is, then, a strong correlation between the amount of testosterone and the intensity of these behaviours. Among men there is a strong correlation between testosterone level and sexual activity and aggressive behaviour. "Juvenile delinquents and criminals incarcerated for violent crimes have, on the average, twice the level of testosterone found in the normal male population. (Of course, this does not excuse such criminal behaviouror imply that it is unavoidable,) " Gregg. XYY syndrome men (having an extra male Y chromasome) have elevated levels of testosterone making them more aggressive and twenty times more likel to have problems iwth the law (R.T. Rubin, J.M. Reinish and R.F. Haskett, "Postnatal Gonatal Steroid Effects on Human Bejhaviour," Science 211 (1981):1318-1324) Men are more likely to be aggressive, assertive, confrontive, and reactive, not so much because of cultural expectations as because of their biological predispositions. The human male drive for power, wealth, fame, and resourses may thus be rooted in hormones and brain differences.
Maternal aggression, described as females responsing to impending danger or harm to their offspring, is common to mammals. This response, which is partucularly strong during lactation, may be facilitated by prolactin, the hormone causing milk production. (Moyer, Psychobiology of Aggression, pp3-25) It may also facilitate maternal instict and bonding. This may explain why mothers are often more protective and aggressive in intervening on a child's behalf than fathers. Female-infant bonding appears to be innate. THe baby's cries trigger involuntary responses in the mother such as oxytocin secretion, nipple erection, and pupul dilation. There are no such responses in males, and male bonding is likely a learned response. (Goy and Mcewan, Sexual differentiuation of the Brain, pp, 109-111).
Conclusion
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that these physiological differences predispose males and females to certain behaviour and aptitude learnings dependent on gender. Whilst it does not automatically follow that because men and women may have different gifts, the traditional roles are the only way they may be expressed. "Yet is seems very significant that these different firts correspond very well to the different roles given to men and women in Scripture... Our culture has changed, and the demands for traditional roles may have varied, yet our basic, God-given physiological differences have not. "(Greg g johnson, Schreiner,Piper, Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Crossway, 2006). If It is true that men and women are different then, trying to teach women to behave like men, and men to behave like women is extremely damaging. We must therefore, take a step back from popular culture and look afresh at scripture and ask 'what reasons could God have possibly given men and women different bodies and different roles'?
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