AudlemOnline Logo Link

The differences between the sexes

29th July 2007 @ 2:02pm – by Anne Draper
Back home  /  News  /  The differences between the sexes
default

I have had the pleasure over the last few months to talk to Audlem WI and Probus on the subject of how to live with the opposite sex. The fact is we are different, not better or worse, just different. Over the thousands of years of our evolution our brains have developed to adapt to our roles and the skills we need. I should of course add a caveat here that I am generalising about both sexes, there are people who do not conform to the 'stereotyping', so please bear with me.

Men and women have developed some key skills over time. Men have honed spatial awareness skills, they have an instinctive knowledge of direction, they are more likely to take risks and venture into the unknown, they enjoy playing with gadgets/ toys and linked to this DIY in all its forms is of interest. Their eyesight in the dark is better than that of women. They are also able to focus and concentrate on one task to the exclusion of other distractions, this can mean sometimes that they cannot do more than one thing at once.

For women they have honed their ability to establish and develop relationships, due to the brains evolution they can multi task easily, they talk with ease, their peripheral vision is wider than men's.

If we look at the issue of talking, women use it as a means to develop relationships, men tend to use it to pass on information. Men can be short, literal and direct in their speech and will be silent on occasions. Women are more indirect, verbose, tend to dislike silences and can change subject numerous times in one sentence. They can also have one conversation and be listening to another going on next to them at the same time. On average, research estimates that men use 7000 means of communication – speech, body language etc per day and women use 20,000!

It is not difficult to see the immediate imbalance we have to contend with. Women will also jump into a conversation and 'overlap' with another speaker, their aim is to keep the conversation going. Men tend not to do this but to let the speaker finish before saying anything, so this overlapping from a man's perspective is interruption, which is unwelcome. In an article this size I cannot really do justice to this particular subject, so apologies if it seems rather glib and superficial.

If I might finish by offering a couple of tips to both sexes to try to improve communication. For women, don't interrupt men, let them finish what they have to say before joining in. Be more direct in what you want to say, men appreciate this rather than being obtuse or beating around the bush. For men, listen when a woman wants to share her troubles with you, but don't offer her the wisdom of your solution to the problem, she wants you to listen not solve it for her. When she asks about something try to give her the level of detail in your response that she needs. An example might be 'how was your day dear?' Answering 'fine' is simply not enough to satisfy a woman's curiosity and need for detail.

I hope you have found this of interest. If there is any group who would like me to give a talk on this subject please contact me, Anne Draper, on 01270 812547.


This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.

Get In Touch

AudlemOnline is powered by our active community.

Please send us your news and views using the button below:

Village Map

© 2005-2024 AudlemOnline
Visitors Today 0 / Mar 20,794