CHAPTER XVI

NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEXES

The Biological Basis of Sex. The characteristics of the sexes and their relative positions in the social system have received attention from the earliest times, yet the wisdom, or the folly, of the ages has not sufficed to yield a solution. While present theories concerning the character of the sexes are not nearly so crude and extreme as the old ideas, still a distinct difference of opinion exists concerning the nature and extent of sex differences. Jacques Loeb says that men and women are physiologically different species; while Mrs. Wooley, in reviewing recent literature on the subject, notes a general trend towards the opinion that " there are probably few if any psychological differences of sex which are of biological origin."

Reasonable ground for both these attitudes may be found, and it is even possible that they are not nearly so divergent as they seem. The facts of inheritance would lead to the assumption of a fundamental equality of the sexes. Inasmuch as children of both sexes inherit traits indiscriminately from either parent, it is reasonable to suppose that no great divergence of ability could take place. On the other hand, inasmuch as sex affects the whole nature of an individual, it would not be surprising to find a difference in the expressions of the same traits in the two sexes. Just as physical features which a daughter may inherit from her father are modified and softened to conform to the feminine type of face, so mental characteristics might be adapted to and fashioned by the nature of the sex which receives them. In other words the sexes may be equal psychologically and still not be identical.

The problem of differences in sex characteristics is complicated because there are two possible sources from which they may have been derived. They may be traceable to original biological differences, or they may have arisen in response to differences in modes of life. Most investigators seem to be interested in the biological source only and when divergent traits are shown to result from new habits and interests, they are dismissed as of no fundamental significance. If however the majority of women should continually, and perhaps inevitably, have special interests, or modes of life, tending to develop traits peculiar to themselves, the resulting divergences between the sexes would be of considerable importance to the sociologist.

From the biological point of view sex characteristics are traceable to fundamental differences in cell structure. The protoplasm of the cell is continually undergoing a chemical change known as metabolism. The protoplasm is broken down through use and is built up again through the assimilation of nutrition. The former process is known as katabolism and the latter as anabolism. This fundamental process of metabolism differs in the two sexes, the rate being higher for the male than for the female. Formerly it was said that the male was more katabolic and the female more anabolic; but, inasmuch as this characterization might imply that one process could go on without the other, biologists now express the same idea by saying that the sexes represent different levels or rates of metabolism. The difference in the rate has been found to be about 6%. The higher rate for the male cells results in greater activity, and the lower rate for female cells favors the storing of energy.

A recent development in the study of biological sex characteristics traces them to glandular secretions. Several ductless glands in the body pour into the blood their secretions, called hormones. These secretions have different compositions in the two sexes, and what is known as the "secretory balance” determines the chemical composition of the blood, and is the basis of the difference in metabolism. The hormones are now supposed to be the original causes not only of differences in metabolism but of all the differences in the tissues and the organs of the two sexes. Sex then is, in the last analysis, a matter of the chemical composition of the body which in turn is associated with the combination or balance of the secretions from the various glands.

#

· Psychological Characteristics of the Sexes. The differences in the chemical composition and in the cell structures of the sexes are reflected in the entire physical and mental makeup of each sex. Based on their biological characters, Professor Geddes makes the following shrewd deductions concerning the personal qualities of the two sexes. “Males are more energetic, passion?

, ate, and variable. They lead in progress. Females are more conservative and stable. Males are stronger, have more independence and courage, and are capable of spasmodic bursts of activity. Females show more constancy and sympathy, and they are capable of more patient continuous effort. They show more appreciation of details and more rapid intuition, while males show greater disregard for details and a stronger grasp of generalities."

In order to obtain a more exact quantitative statement of mental qualities, psychologists have conducted numerous laboratory experiments, with the general result that mental differences were found to be fewer and less clearly marked than was anticipated. Contradictory results have often been reported by different investigators from similar sets of tests. In laboratory tests, as well as in other methods of observation, it is almost impossible to separate influences due to original biological differerences from those arising out of environmental influences. If tests are made before adolescence, it is possible that fundamental sex differences will not be manifest; and if they are made after adolescence, environmental influences will have had plenty of time to make their impression.

In conducting psychological tests allowance has to be made for two physical differences which are now generally agreed upon. Girls are physiologically older than boys by a year and a half to two years; and this fact causes them to show general superiority up to about the age of sixteen, when boys begin to make a relatively better showing. On the other hand boys have more muscular strength than girls; and this fact alone causes them to excel in some kinds of tests.

by Dr. Helen P. Thompson. She found that men showed a

' marked advantage in motor ability, strength, rapidity of movement, and rate of fatigue; and a slight advantage in precision of movement. Women were superior in the formation of new coordinations. Men were slightly superior in manual dexterity, and in ability to make very delicate and minutely controlled movements; while women showed greater ability to coördinate movements rapidly in response to unforeseen stimuli. Women showed decidedly better memories, and they were slightly more rapid in associative thinking. Men showed superiority in ingenuity. Social consciousness was more prominent in men, and religious consciousness in women. But, contrary to the generally accepted idea, she found little difference between the sexes in the degree of dominance by the emotions.

On the whole Dr. Thompson thinks that original mental differences in the sexes are slight. She attributes the superiority of the male in various tests involving muscular control to his greater physical strength; and other differences, in her opinion, arise chiefly from diversity in training and in mode of life rather than from the biological nature of the sexes.

Studies by more recent investigators have brought out other distinctions, some of which are of significance. Professor Karl Pearson, from his reports on more than 3,000 school children collected primarily for the study of heredity, brings out incidentally certain differences in traits between boys and girls, from which it appears that boys are more athletic, noisy, self-conscious, and quick tempered, and girls are more shy, popular, and conscientious.

Professor Thorndike ? reported upon a number of traits, in some of which sex differences were appreciable and in others practically negligible. The most noticeable difference was that women are much more likely to be interested in persons and men in things. An appreciable superiority for men was found in accurate and orderly retention of what is read, in love of sedentary games, independence, zeal for money making, and quickness in recovery from grief. Women showed appreciable superiority

2

1

in industry, adroitness in manual work, emotionality, impulsiveness, temperance, and desire for change. Slight differences in favor of women were found in activity (of the aimless sort), dissatisfaction with oneself, religiousness, excitability, sympathy, patience, risibility, talkativeness, gaiety, and vanity of person. Slight differences in favor of men were found in love of sports, and in humor. It will be noticed that Thorndike disagrees with Miss Thompson in regard to emotionality. He finds emotionality and other similar traits appreciably stronger in women than in men.

Professor Burnham ? in a review of recent literature concludes that mental differences in the sexes are not strongly marked; or at least, concerning many characteristics, he finds the testimony conflicting, and no general agreement reached. He believes that convincing proof exists of differences in the emotional life and in suggestibility; but he finds no satisfactory evidence of significant differences in mental ability or in the ability to accomplish different kinds of work.

While laboratory tests are no doubt useful in problems of this kind, they have their limitations and too much reliance should not be placed on the results. In the first place the tests themselves may be inadequate to measure fully the character or quality studied. And in the second place the laboratory method is too restricted to yield a complete solution of the question. It is too much like trying to ascertain the difference between plants by using the microscope. Some similarities and some dissimilarities may be found by such 'minute comparisons, but a more general observation at a distance would also be revealing. And however similar two plants may seem when they are immature, there is always the possibility that they will bloom differently at maturity.

Professor Jastrow, in a broader and more penetrating analysis than those based solely on laboratory tests, points out that the male with his greater physical strength shows more of the fighting instinct, accompanied with aggressiveness and desire for mastery; and these underlying qualities develop into greater male initia