Part 32: All Men Are Alike

During our virgin bike ride after getting new ebikes, my lovely bride said accusingly, “All men are alike”.  I feigned ignorance and innocently replied, “what do you mean?”.  Yet I knew that hitting 35 mph on Whiteside Drive was a new and exhilarating speed record for me and I felt a tinge of remorse at leaving Virginia in the dust.  But to my credit I slowed and stopped at the bottom of the hill whereupon she assaulted me with the phrase, “all men are alike.” Apparently, men my age (slightly over 70+; ok 71 almost 72) should behave a little more responsibly.  But here’s the thing.  There is not a chance in hell that I would tell Virginia that all women are alike.  The death stare would cause my instant evaporation. 

I have never been the recipient of the death stare, but I’ve seen it.  I know its power.  And it is terrifying.  A couple of months ago we were having dinner with some friends and one of the men (approximately my age) rides his bike down his narrow, windy, mountain road and all of his neighbors recognize him as the crazy man with a death wish.  At the time, I also thought he was a bit nuts.  But now, I get it.  It is the same feeling you get while skiing down a mountain slope that maybe is just too steep for your ability and you are flying down the hill at the absolute edge of your skillset; almost out of control but not quite.  And so, Virginia may possibly have been remembering the conversation at that dinner when she announced that all men are alike. 

Since she is a biologist of some renown, it got me to thinking about the biological differences between men and women.  I don’t mean the anatomical differences but the behavior differences.  Would I be a chauvinist if I suggested there may be inherent behavioral differences?  Or does science back me up?  Well, son-of-a-gun, science does back me up.  There are multiple studies showing the differences in a male’s brain compared to a female’s brain and also in terms of neurological function.  I could cite several sources from Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania but that would make this anecdote more credible than it deserves.  Apparently, Virginia is right.  All men are alike.  Well, maybe not alike in all ways.  But, my gentlemen friends, we have definite similarities in brain function.  And in some ways, let me just say, it is quite amazing that our species has survived so long.