By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Men are different from women… in many ways. Since the start of our life, we are created differently – physically, emotionally, psychologically, mentally. XX chromosomes produce baby girls and XY chromosomes produce baby boys. This is a big difference! These sex chromosomes are like the structural framework of our lives. I would like to make clear, however, that I am speaking on general terms. And although there are many shades of sex and gender, nowadays, nature is still the same. I mean XX chromosomes still produce a girl and XY chromosomes produce a boy.
Let us look closer at the physical difference between a female and a male. At birth and even before birth, we already identify them by their external sex organs. And as immediately, we already differentiate their behavior. What does a newborn baby do? Suckle, pee, poo, “etla”, cry and sleep. A newborn girl cries “engngaaaa….. engngaaaaa…..” (in a singsong) while a newborn boy cries “ngaaa!!!! ngaaaaa!!!!!” (more of a shout). Moreover, a boy generally suckles stronger than a girl. And even before a baby is born, we already see the difference in the pregnant mother. If the baby inside is a girl, generally the mother glows and becomes more beautiful. If it’s a boy, the mother becomes a bit darker and “papangit” or stays as is in prepregnancy.
Invisible to us are the hormones inside our bodies that determine these differences – more estrogen in females and more testosterone in males. You see, both males and females produce male and female hormones albeit in opposite quantities. Yes, nature designed that our bodies produce the sex hormones that we need in the right quantity. Nowadays, modern foods contain these hormones and if we take them in more quantities, then there are bound to be repercussions.
These hormones determine the development, and therefore function, of the reproductive organs, as well as other parts of the body (bone, muscle, body hair, height and weight, etc.). Not only will these hormones affect our anatomy and physiology, these will also influence behavior, as we mentioned above in babies. Believe it or not, there is interconnectivity of body, mind and spirit. The stereotype female behaviors of nurturing, mothering and protection (see how we cuddle babies) are ascribed to estrogen while aggression (see how males get into fist fights more easily), competition and territoriality are ascribed to testosterone. These behaviors are complementary, not competitive, and are designed, I would like to think, for survival, not dominance of one sex over the other. Of course, hormones are not the only determinants to these behaviors but they play a significant role.
A fairly recent discovery is that from a brain connectivity study by Prof. Ragini Verma and colleagues at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. This brain mapping study showed that women’s brains are wired differently from men’s brains. The neural pathways in our brain are like electric wires- they carry messages (like electric current) from different parts of the body to different parts of the brain. We know that the brain then interprets the message then commands the body to react in a certain way. This groundbreaking research showed that women’s neural connections run left to right side of the brain connecting both right and left sides of the brain while in men’s brains, the neural connections are more of up and down the same brain hemisphere. Prof. Verma said, “These maps show us a stark difference—and complementarity—in the architecture of the human brain that helps provide a potential neural basis as to why men excel at certain tasks, and women at others.” The researchers explained “For instance, on average, men are more likely better at learning and performing a single task at hand like cycling or navigating directions, whereas women have superior memory and social cognition skills, making them more equipped for multitasking and creating solutions that work for a group.” The left brain is the logical, analytical thinking part and the right brain is the intuitive and creative part.
What Prof. Verma and group also found out is that this difference in brain wiring occurred just after adolescence. Although they didn’t mention, I surmise that these differences in brain development are influenced by estrogen and testosterone. It appears then that these male and female hormones are so important thus we need to keep them in their natural proportions. Meaning we need to be careful and fearful with those add-ons in your diet, otherwise the development of our young will be altered.
My daughters and I had fun watching a video entitled “A Tale of Two Brains” – a video that is so entertaining and so “true” that has been shared in facebook and e-groups sometime ago. If you haven’t seen this yet, I suggest you do soonest. I laughed till I cried when I saw this one. For those who can’t see it, here’s the gist. Mark Gungor, a pastor and most-sought after speaker on marriage and family says same thing as we have said above – male and female brains are different from each other. Men’s brains are compartmentalized in neat little boxes- like one for work, one for home, one for tennis, and “one for mother-in-law… at the basement.” And each box is separate. When they open one box they will only think of what is in that box. Women’s brains are not that neatly divided – they are all interconnected – home is connected to work to husband to children to…. etc, etc. (I wonder if this makes women better scientists.) Mr. Gungor also says that an important compartment of the male brain is the “nothing box” where men go each time they are stressed – men will stop thinking, if they are in this box. Something women can’t imagine themselves to do. I think even while I am sleeping. According to Mr. Gungor, when we, women, are stressed, we like to talk about what’s stressing us. Geez, what contrasting brains! So if we, women, want sympathy for our woes, some wise man advised us to go to our women friends, not to husband dear or darling boyfriend.
So if your husband or your boyfriend appears dense or just stares you in the face when you ask him why he didn’t sweep the floor, take heart. It is not because he is “bobo” or he doesn’t care for you, it is just that he has testosterone running in his system and he’s brain is wired differently. May husbands and wives understand their differences and live harmoniously and complement each other!
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“When God created man, he made in His likeness. He created them male and female and blessed them.” Genesis 5:1-2a
