Male and Female Attributes

In my work on Gender I propose a distinftion between Man and Woman, which are sex based and genetic in there origin and development
and Male and Female which are Gender based and cultural in their origin and development.

that is if a child is born with a particular chromosome and hormone mix, wherever that child is 'aculturated' or grows up, she or he will still be the Man or Woman they were born with the genetic propensity to be.

If two children with the same genetic mix are 'aculturated' in two different societies with different concepts and traditions and training and expectations of what a MAN and a WOMAN are supposed to be then they will develop the particular MALE and FEMALE traits of their different socities.

The effect of both these influencers of core behaviour, genes and culture, are programmed at the non-conscious level and have been historically hard to distinguish within a culture.

When cultures collide the differences become starkly obvious, and as our modern cultures mix more and more, what it means to be MALE or FEMALE blurs more and more.

And as our science increases we learn that our Gonads determine what it is to be a MAN and what it is to be a WOMAN unquestionably.

Notwithstanding this our common HUMANITY as MEN and WOMEN gives us incredible flexibility, and beyond our life perpetuating SEX roles there is little our ingenuity will not allow us to do either MAN or WOMAN.

The idea of Maleness and Femaleness has been developed over time as a practical, utility function to allow us to achieve more as a group through role and task specialisation, to meet the challenges of life.

As the challenges change the tasks and roles change and so do what it means to be Male and Female, there may even come a time when beyond providing, sexually diverse, DNA there will be no role separation between the sexes.

Given the length of time it took to build the roles it is easy to see why they form an integral part of our identities and our societies. It may not take thousands of years to reprogramme ourselves more appropriately. It will take a few more generations however and some of the gender confusion we see today is that process taking place.