Rarely do I have a chance to peruse the Sunday NY Times, but my parents bought this weekend I got to bring a couple sections home with me. Here are a couple articles that piqued my interest. (You'll need a free user id to access the stories)
My Son, the Cyborg
This was a very annoying piece that was kinda, sorta about videogames. All it said was, "Here are a bunch of stereotypes. Here are some new studies. We still don't know what's true, but we're skeptical." It was worthless, but I read in anyway because I liked the photograph.
Soldier Field Renovation Brings Out Boo-Birds
The NYT looks at the reactions to the new Soldier Field. I haven't seen it since the construction just began, but friends have told me it looks ridiculous. Now there are a lot of people scrambling to spin this the right way. Read the article if you're interested in architecture, Chicago and craziness.
A Strength Not Yet Tested, Not Yet Known
Why Don't Women Watch Women's Sports?
The first was more interesting because it gave a good cursory explanation of the dominance of men in competitive sports. I could explain it for you, but the article is short so you can read it yourself. The second looked at why men watch more women's sports than women. Both articles mentioned that men have a natural competitive attitude -- since they have historically tried to woo women by proving their dominance over other men -- that leads to a greater interest in competitive sports. The big question is whether this is a nature or nurture situation.
Digital Artists Find a Muse in SARS (And Each Other on the Internet)
A look at the SARS folk art that has been on display at Boing Boing all month. It's nice to see it get some good recongnition.
06/18/03 5:27 PM
Nature v. Nurture: I've always held the belief that there is a combination of both nature and nurture in overt and generalized gender differences such as those we see in sports. That is, nature, in my opinion, establishes a framework that left to its own would lead to men with more aggressive/competitive tendencies than women.
Nurture however surely has a strong influence on this as well, but I don't believe it’s as dramatic an influence as some would argue. Nurture may accentuate the natural differences but cannot explain on its own the almost universal gender differences we see in areas such as sports.
06/18/03 6:55 PM
Well put tjk. I'd definitely agree with you on those points. It seems like everyone, including myself on occassion, likes to lump things in one category but it's rarely the right answer. It should be fairly obvious that it's a combination of the two.