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From: welsch@houxu.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Male/Female Roles
Message-ID: <301@houxu.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Jan-84 22:38:16 EST
Article-I.D.: houxu.301
Posted: Fri Jan 27 22:38:16 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 31-Jan-84 02:36:16 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 33

(to the eater of first lines)

If we are going to discuss the topic that Tom Twiss has proposed I
recommend some ground rules to try to keep the pitch below a "flame"
level.  The ground rules are:

	1. Provide a reference for all controversial work referred too.

	2. References should be no more than 10 years old.

	3. Leave personal biases out of the discussion.

	4. No anecdotes.


To start I, I would like to make the proposal that genius's tend to boys.
The reference is Science, 23 December 1983, Vol. 222, No 4630 page 1312,
article "Math Genius May Have Hormonal Basis" by Gina Kolata. The article
refers to a study Norman Geschwind, a neurologist at Harvard medical
school. He has proposed that left handedness, immune system disorders,
autism dyslexia, stuttering and giftedness in the arts, music, and
mathematics can be linked together. Specifically, he theorizes they are
all caused by an excess of testosterone or unusual sensitivity to
testosterone during fetal life that alters brain anatomy. More interesting
after Geschwind made his predictions, Benbow and Stanly at Johns Hopkins
University did a study and found Geschwind's predictions held up
beautifully. Since boys are more exposed to testosterone in utero is more
likely for them to be mathematically inclined. It is also more likely for
males to suffer from autism and dyslexia, ie. males are more
variable than females.

							Larry Welsch
							houxu!welsch