Not so different in the end

The similarities between men and women

Men and women don't always
agree with each other.
We can have different goals desires, ideas and
actions … sometimes. Other times, we are
very much in synch. If you stop and think a
bit about biology, it turns out that men and
women are a lot more similar than most of us
realize.
Sometimes focusing on the similarities
between males and females can help us
towards a better understanding of where
behavioral differences actually come from.
Differences in biology

 These are evolutionarily, and practically, important and they do matter. Females have
babies (gestate and give birth) and lactate, and males do not.
 Our hormones are the same. They function the same ways and we all have the same
hormones … there are no “male” or “female” hormones. There is some important variation
in hormone levels and patterns, and there are some differences in how the hormones
interact with male and female bodies either.
 There is substantial overlap in the process and patterns in entire endocrine system. That's
what the woman's body does. Man's body does it either.
 Men and women have more or less the same amount of
sex in the same kinds of ways across the lifespan.

 Married women report lower interest in sex with their husbands the longer they’ve been
with them, and younger men report higher frequencies of masturbation and interest in
visual pornography. Men have a sexual behavior of their own. So is women.
Behavior

 Individual variation in our species is really important and the fact that the sexes overlap as
much. Misrepresentation of woman biology and evolutionary patterns in females by
focusing only on the differences while ignoring the overlaps facilitates a myopic view that
inhibits good science. Man does either.
 Media depictions of men and women as fundamentally "different" appear to perpetuate
misconceptions - despite the lack of evidence. The resulting "urban legends" of gender
difference can affect men and women at work and at home, as parents and as partners. As
an example, workplace studies show that women who go against the caring, nurturing
feminine stereotype may pay dearly for it when being hired or evaluated. Men do either.
  Men could throw farther. So could woman.
 Woman can be physically aggressive. Either can Men.
Finally, Hyde's 2005 report looked into the developmental course of possible gender
differences - how any apparent gap may open or close over time. The analysis presented
evidence that gender differences fluctuate with age, growing smaller or larger at different
times in the life span. This fluctuation indicates again that any differences are not stable.