Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
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Animal studies suggest that there may be a
biological factor in maternal behavior; mothers of
rhesus monkeys punish their male babies earlier
and more often than their female offspring; and,
they also touch their female babies more often and
act more protective toward them.
The definitive research on hormones is still to be
done, but one trait thought to be affected by
hormones is aggressiveness. In all cultures,
investigators report, male infants tend to play more
aggressively than females. Some suggest that
female may be as aggressive as men — but with
words instead of deeds. However, it has been
established that the female hormone estrogen
inhibits aggression in both animal and human
males. It has also been proved that the male
hormone androgen influences aggression in
animals. For example, castration produces tractable
steers rather than fierce bulls.
The influence of androgen begins even before birth.
Administered to pregnant primates, the hormones
make newborn females play more aggressively than
ordinary females. Moreover, such masculinized
