How different are we really?

I don't get the difference either. Obviously some people really fit into the stereotypes, but it makes me so mad sometimes when people tell me I am a girl so I cannot do something. When I have car trouble, my dad always says that I can't even try to fix something because I am a woman. Yet I can do more than most men. And if I change a tire on my own, my dad is shocked. To me working on a car is easier for me than walking in high heels. My brother took sewing classes and my family was horrified. But I was overjoyed because now he can hem my clothes for me. Because I sure can't do that!

I'm going to cheat a little here and copy and edit something I wrote in another thread on this issue. This question you raise has been one of the great debates in the social sciences ever since gender studies became so important. There are many things in which there seem to be no gender differences at all, and some in which there are quite distinct differences (for example, mathematical ability, which seems much more a male skill, despite the existence of some very outstanding female mathematicians), although there are many individual exceptions to the trends. There are three schools of thought. The first is genetic determinism, which states that all gender differences are inborn. The problem with this view is that, if held inflexibly as it so often is, its supporters try to insist that all men and all women should behave in the way nature "meant" them to, and the many, many exceptions to the statistical norm are attacked as either "unnatural" females or effeminate men. This leads to the practice of "training" children to behave according to the gender stereotypes that develop from genetic determinism. Thus many girls who might have mathematical skills are directed away from maths because it is not part of the female stereotype. The second view is cultural determinism which holds that all gender differences are culturally determined, by way of that very "training" I mentioned above; so that what we see as feminine and masculine traits are simply conditioned responses to social training. This approach is no less inflexible than the genetic determinist approach, and I believe, in the face of considerable physiological and psychological evidence, is just as ludicrous. The third response is to see that there are, indeed, some innate patterns of behaviour that are gender specific, but that there are many individual exceptions to the patterns, that the patterns are only patterns, not straitjackets, and that there is a considerable cultural element involved. It seems to me a much more balanced approach. While I was studying gender issues I came across some research on brain physiology and gender, part of the split brain research that is so popular. This research suggests that it is the makeup of the corpus callosum, the "bridge" between the two hemispheres of the brain, which has the greatest effect on those trends we label as masculine and feminine. The left hemisphere is seen as being the seat of logic, rationality, and objectivity, and the right hemisphere as being the seat of creativity and intuition, as well as subjectivity. In most women and some men, the corpus callosum is very thick and complex, and this seems to lead to an ability to access the functions of both hemispheres with equal ease. Most men and some women have a thinner, less complex corpus callosum, and appear to have more difficulty in accessing the right brain functions. If this research holds up, then it would explain both why women tend toward subjectivity and men to objectivity and also why there are exceptions to both trends, and more importantly, why some people seem to be able to balance both forms of thinking equally well. It also means that gender differences can, to a large extent, be seen as inherent, although cultural pressures obviously have an effect as well. Lash

i think we differ depend on what culture we are in, and how parents has brought us up. in different cultures only the guys can marry as plenty as they want, in some cultures also guys can only start to tell what he feels and let the lady holds her tongue even she feels that he likes a certain guy. in some countries when they like a person they tell it straight to the point that is why guys are no longer different from girls.