Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
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differences between his parents or know which
parent he is expected to imitate. “A useful strategy,”
says Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan, “is to
assume that the earlier a particular difference
appears, the more likely it is to be influenced by
biological factors.” Physical differences appear even
before birth. The heart of the female fetus often
beats faster, and girls develop more rapidly.
“Physiologically,”
says
sociologist
Barbette
Blackington, “women are better-made animals.”
Males do have more strength and endurance —
though that hardly matters in a technological
society.
Recent research hints that there may even be sex
differences in the brain. According to some
experimenters, the presence of the male hormone
testosterone in the fetus may “masculinize” the brain,
organizing the fetal nerve centers in characteristic
ways. This possible “sex typing” of the central
nervous system before birth may make men and
women respond differently to incoming stimuli.
In fact, newborn girls do show different responses
in some situations. They react more strongly to the
