RANSVESTIA

began to use tools, they, too, were used in the right hand. Since the right hand is operated by the left brain, nerve connections and coordinations involved in the use of weapons and tools were de- veloped in the left brain.

Since males went on to develop hunting (war), religion (help from the gods for a good hunt or harvest), and finally the administration of the social groups that formed, men's ideas, concepts and ways of handling things became the basis for all modern societies. This is why we have not only a male-dominated society but also a "left-brained" society.

Now I don't want anyone to mistakenly assume that I am implying that there is some difference between male and female brains or that males and females "think differently." Neither is true. The female children of such primitive fathers as I described inherited the same sorts of brain as their brothers did. But the social tasks given them to use their brains upon were different. There was no time pressure for the women as there was for the men in throwing the rock at precisely the right time in advance of the event (hitting the rabbit). That is, it didn't make any difference whether the corn was ground at 10 a.m. or at 2 p.m. or whether the clay pot was shaped in the noonday sun or the late afternoon. The point is that the females had the same brain at all stages of development but they did not have the same types of problems to use it on. Women don't think any differently than men as far as the abilities and processes are concerned but they do generally think about different things. Obviously when the tasks are reversed each can do the other's tasks quite well. I would say that the best housekeepers, cooks, tailors, etc. are in the U.S. Navy and they aren't WAVES either. On the other hand, when a woman wants to get into law, medicine, engineering or science, she can and does do as well as the men do as far as ability is concerned though she usually faces much stiffer opposition from her peers.

Well now, after all that build-up what does all this have to do with our friendly neighborhood FP? The suggestion I would like to make is that in our society, being left-brained as it is, men are given the education and experience to deal with it and to fit into it-they are expected to fit into it. Women can fit into it as I indicated above if they want to. In their case they have a choice; men don't. As a result there is great stress on a boy to develop his left brain talents through toys, problems, sports and competitive attitudes generally to prepare him to fit into some little niche in the left-brained society we live in. You all know that, you've all experienced it. Very little experience,

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