At Last! I’m okay after all, and so are the ladies too….
Turns out this great book I’m reading (Why men don’t listen and Women can’t read maps) acknowledges we are different because nature designed us that way for good reasons. Phew! I’m off the hook….
Ever go to the fridge and can’t find the butter no matter how hard you ‘look’? Yet my wife goes there and finds it immediately. Her favourite expression to me in such situations is “if that was a snake – it would have bit you by now” Her definition of a man is ” a woman without common sense”
Men are ‘hunters’ so we have great long distance ‘tunnel vision’ but women take care of the home (by nature – not social preferences) – so they have almost 180 degree peripheral vision to protect the ‘nest’. That’s why men are often caught ‘ogling’ at another woman – we have to turn our heads, but women can ogle other guys without being detected.
Fascinating stuff.
Which brings me to the map reading problem. In ancient times men were traditionally the lunch-chasers, so we would all starve if men weren’t good at spatial ability. Stuff like being able to calculate speed, movement and distance of prey. Generally boys ‘see’ better in three dimensions than girls. It also explains why computer games are so addictive to boys.
Us men are problem solvers, which explains why we can’t take criticism, whereas women don’t focus on the problem so much, but get great comfort by talking about it (and since men aren’t so good at listening – you can see why this also leads to problems…)
Now I understand why sports tend to be male dominated (and admired mainly by men); ball skills for example, are a demonstration to the watchers of great ‘hunting’ skills. Whereas women will admire them for their tight rear ends – read the book to find out why…
Now, before you start labelling me as sexist, read the above book first, as it puts my comments above in clear perspective. But for now, it gave me great comfort about the things I’m not so good at, and a better understanding of those my wife finds difficult. And vice-versa too…
Final quote from the book: We are who we are because of hormones, we are all the result of our chemistry.
I feel so much better now I know it’s not really my fault….
There is however, ONE thing that us humans ARE ALL good at and is totally independent of gender …
… Learning!
Which means we can ALL take advantage of easy step-by-step bites of harnessing the standard framework that ensures ALL project are successful. I’m talking about THE framework call PRINCE2.
You want to find out what the ruckus is all about? Hop on over HERE and find out!
