[LMB] OT: gender and brains

[Azalais Aranxta]

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007, anmar mirza wrote:

> On 11/15/07, Peter Newman <pnewman at gci.net> wrote:
> >
> > Azalais Aranxta [malfoy] <tiamat at tsoft.com> wrote
> > > I've met a lot of women who don't like camping (particularly the
> > > variety who are of the opinion--like me--that no vacation counts
> > > as a vacation if you have to wash just as many dishes, only
> > > without hot running water) but can't say as I've ever met a man
> > > who confessed to disliking it.
>
> > I like the outdoors only when it is between 58 degrees and 75
> > degrees and has no bugs, rain, wind, noise, or scents.
>
> I think that shared accomplishment is important to maintaining
> a bond in a relationship.  In my case it has to do with being
> outdoors.
>
> The upshot of this is that these things are important to me and
> it was important to choose partners who could share them.
> I've watched several friends (male and female) who became
> involved with people who were less active than they were and
> they pretty quickly abandoned the things they used to love
> doing.  Maybe they would have anyway, but I want to be with
> someone who matches me so that doesn't happen. As for the
> benefits, I firmly believe that staying active is the key to
> staying young and healthy.  The people I know who have the
> least problems with aging are those who remain active.

Anmar, there's something slightly proselytising-sounding about
this whole post.  I have never said you or anyone else who loves
to be out in the wild is wrong or that it is wrong for people to
want to share their passions and while I am perfectly aware that
I would have an easier time if I were more active (working on
that) the fact that I don't typically come back from trips into
the deep woods able to go to work the next day is quite
compellingly a reason not to go.  (Pine sap in the air = epi-pen
for me.  Blast of cold air in my face = asthma attack.  Grass
against my skin = hives.  Went caving once, liked it okay
till we had been down there 3 hours and suddenly I was
absolutely convinced that the walls were closing in on me and
I was going to DIE.  NOW.  &c.)

I too have experienced "choose the wrong partner/friends, spend a
lot of time doing things that bore me and give up a lot of things
that don't" vicariously and in my own life.  I agree that it's a
bad thing, and shared accomplishments are good, but I don't want
my partner to decide for me what they should be; most of my
relationships have come from working together to produce
something creative.

~malfoy :)

****************************************************************
Azalais Aranxta (~malfoy)
ataniell93 on LiveJournal and Vox
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/malfoymadness

"I know the true world, and you know I do. But we needn't let it
think we all bow down." --Christopher Fry