Women and Men

Specifically, the question of whether there is anything more to being 'essentially' male or female (feminine or masculine) than the obvious physical differences. Like most people, I have an unconfirmed intuition that there is. I've been following a rule more or less like this--I won't accept some characteristic as uniquely or essentially female or male (except in a linguistic sense, i.e. 'feminine means such-and-such') unless real evidence can be offered for it (not necessarily hard facts or anything, just some confirmation from experience). Thus far, everything that's been offered to me that seems appealing falls to pieces in the face of the simplest experience, so I have to feel like it's not all that useful. As a man, I have no pressing economic or political need to resolve these questions, so I may not answer them for a while.

Originally created 28 July 1999