I'm a bit curious, what exactly about gender roles are we attributing to biology?
While biology most definitely plays a role in our behaviour, I really am struggling to think about things about our roles in society that it would impact. The variation in our genetics is far more diversified than 'Oh, you're XX ergo you'll be good at keeping a home and raising children.' Not every man is the same, nor every woman. I would be more tempted to say the overarching societal desires are far more reliant on the environment and perceived gender responsibilities than some theoretical little protein that whispers "you've got junk, you must be strong and never cry."
Firstly, just have to say - nowhere did I say genetics are deterministic. I have posted about the genetics of behaviour in this thread before and I have never suggested that things are that simple. For some diseases sure, gene mutation X will always lead to disorder Y - but when it comes to behaviour things are more complicated.
My overall point in that post was that neither the societal or biological impact upon masculinity is 'set in stone'. I'm guessing the part you take issue with is this?:
However, as biologists we have to recognise that hormones and brain morphology impact us, and whilst biology can be very variable (i.e. compare women competing in the Olympics to what you consider 'average') there are always going to be differences between the sexes that hold true for the most part.
To understand this I think we need to look at it at a systems level. If you have a species with sexual dimorphism as we do in humans (i.e. where the males and females are different from each other) you will end up with a society that favours one sex over the other.
It's no surprise that humans and our primate relatives for the most part have lived in patriarchal societies, because the males are bigger and more aggressive. This is a hard coded biological difference, due in most part to the higher levels of testosterone in primate males compared to females. Genetically, males and females aren't that different, as the Y chromosome is so small. However, the genes that are different have wide reaching effects. Biologically speaking, we all start out female, which is why males mammals have nipples - they grow before the sex determining region of the Y chromosome kicks in and testicles form, and bring about 'maleness'.
I was very careful to state that biology can be variable - but there is no fact in denying that the vast majority of men have higher levels of testosterone than women, which does lend itself to traits like aggression and impulsiveness. In the brain, attention, memory and spatial ability are affected by testosterone levels and thus that could explain the fact that males, in general, perform better at spacial awareness tasks that exploit this.
When we take these facts about male biology together - does that explain why more men, in general, are engineers, architects, builders and carpenters? It certainly goes some way towards explaining why males are more competitive, and historically have been involved in more brutal sports.
Men and women do excel at certain things
in general, and whilst in the past women were discouraged towards becoming doctors and engineers, we're now at a point where there are more women entering biology and medicine than there are men (at least where I'm from). However, engineering is still very much male dominated. I'm not sure as to why, I'm only suggesting that it could be due to the different strengths of male and females.
It is biology that makes human males larger than females, and this fact shaped the evolution of our society into a patriarchal society that reinforced these differences even further. One must remember facts like this when we speak of 'environment and perceived gender responsibilities'.
Besides, none of this means we can't change society into something better. Personally, I recognise that men and women are different, but they're not
that different.
For reference, a lot of these factoids I'm recalling from the book "Y: The Descent of Men" by Steve Jones, which I recommend if you're interested in the biology of 'maleness'.
I guess you're right. I didn't really see it as a big deal and can understand someone getting upset over it. However I believe there's better ways to react than just ending the conversation abruptly.
