I just want to be clear, here...Is it truly your position that there are absolutely zero differences between men and women, psychologically or emotionally, except those that are forced upon them by society's preconceived notions about what men and women should be?
I never said anything remotely like that! There are huge biological differences, which I mentioned in my original comments.
I said that all behaviors are human behaviors, not "male behaviors" or "female behaviors". The idea of what is "manly" or "ladylike" varies from culture to culture, and changes, over time, within a given culture. This is not a radical idea. Any one studying child development (or even basic psychology), anthropology, or who reads social history, is aware of this.
Two very simple examples. In the United States, before Prohibition,it was not considered "ladylike" for a woman to go into a bar, saloon, or other establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. Women did go into those places, but those who did were not considered "ladies" - they were dance hall girls, prostitutes,or other women of ill-repute. (You don't need to read history to be aware of this. It shows up in hundreds of old Western movies and novels. That was certainly fact-based, and not unique to the American frontier.)
Prohibition changed all of that. A women who goes into a bar is not considered to be a "loose woman". Eyebrows may be raised if she is in some bars, especially by herself, but a woman can go have a drink with friends, male or female, and very few people think anything of it.
Another example. As recently as the 1950s, it wasn't really considered "manly" for men to be involved in the care of children, even their own, especially when they were small. If they did so, it was considered to be outside their usual duties as a father, and were forgiven for being clumsy at it. How many 1950s/60s sitcom episodes were based on dad being left alone with the kids, and being befuddled?
Although some people probably still hold to those ideas, modern young dads are frequently very hands on with their kids, and are glad to be involved in a variety of child care tasks that were left to women 50 years ago.
We shape children's behavior from their earliest days. Baby girls are much more apt to be given "girl toys", while baby boys are more apt to be given soft versions of "boy toys". Infants are encouraged, by approving noises from their parents, as they reach around blindly in a play space, when they touch a toy considered appropriate for their gender. All of this is changing over time - but male infants are not born with a preference for toy trucks, say, while their sisters are born with a preference for dolls.
If a woman wants to smoke a pipe,go for it! It's not manly or ladylike; it just is. Fellas, if you have a problem with it, it's
your problem, not hers.
