What makes boys different from girls?

Yesterday was a day in which i hardly stepped more than 50 m from my room. Yet, the diversity of the interactions with different persons made me silently asses the differences between a certain A and B, between X and Y, and therefore, of course, i started wondering about the difference between XX/XY.




Biologically

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes within each cell; 22 of these are alike in both males and females. But, "...when we come to the 23d pair, the sexes are not the same. . . every woman has in her cells two of what we call the X chromosome. But a man has just one X---its mate being the much smaller Y." Sex differentiation takes place immediately as the male or female begins to develop within the womb. The sex hormones --primarily estrogen and testosterone--have a significant impact on the behavior of males and females. The neuro-endocrinological evidence is clear: The high level of testosterone in males drives them toward dominance in the world, while the lack of high levels of this hormone in women creates a natural, biological push in the direction of less dominant and more nurturing roles in society.
It is also argued that there are significant brain differences, that one gender has one side more developed than the other, more specifically, it is said that men have the tendency to use the right side of the brain while women, the right side. All the verbal, sorting, detail-oriented side of the brain is the left one, while the spatial intuitive nonverbal side is the right. And yes, research shows that a woman speaks twice as many words as the man has done even before the age of 2.
Also, women seem to have an enhanced awareness of "emotionally relevant details, visual cues, verbal nuances, and hidden meanings. Similarly, while male infants are more interested in objects than in people, female infants respond more readily to the human voice than do male infants. But the difference between the male and female brain is not evidence of superiority or inferiority, but of specialization. One opinion states that men and women are like the right and left leg- different, but neither better than the other. And most importantly, you need both in order to move forward.

Psychologically

Among all the theories that emphasize the differences there are some that promote the similarity among the genders. Also, Alice Eagly's gender role theory claims that boys and girls learn the appropriate behavior and attitudes from the family and overall culture they grow up with, and so non-physical gender differences are a product of socialization. In conclusion, one can say that commonality across cultures and species implies some biological basis, but the fact that the situation is changing reflects the power of socialisation. [...]

The usual stereotypes are the following :
- Men are more prone to taking risks;
- 60-75% of women prefer feeling and 55-80% of men prefer thinking;
- Males are generally more aggressive than females;
- Women are more emotionally expressive and responsive;
- Women express their feelings without constraint, except for the emotion of anger;
- Women score higher in Agreeableness - tendency to be compassionate and cooperative Neuroticism tendency to feel anxiety, anger, and depression and Empathy - capacity to recognise or understand another's state of mind or emotion;
- Women pay more attention to body language and nonverbal communication;
- Women laugh, gaze and smile more;
- Women anticipate negative consequences for expressing anger and aggression;
- Men are overwhelmed by women's expressions of emotion.
- Men control their feelings and restrain from expressing them;
- Men are stoic.
- Men show emotion to communicate dominance.

Differences in communication styles:
- Men tend to talk more than women in public situations, but women tend to talk more than men at home.
- Females are more inclined to face each other and make eye contact when talking, while males are more likely to look away from each other.
- Girls and women tend to jump from topic to topic, but boys and men tend to talk at length about one topic.
- When listening, women make more noises such as “mm-hmm” and “uh-huh”, while men are more likely to listen silently.
- Women are inclined to express agreement and support, while men are more inclined to debate.

These and many others are present in "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" - the book by John Gray that concentrates more on the psychological aspects and on the conflict solving strategies between the sexes. An example of the theories it offers is that women complain about problems because they want their problems to be acknowledged, while men complain about problems because they are asking for solutions. But it emphasizes the fact that the "Martians" and the "Venusians" are just stereotypes and cannot be applied blindly to any individual, as every person is unique in his or her own way. It was a best seller as it offered answers to a lot of questions, but it also raised a lot of critique, as it would have been normal, given the fact that the theme is very controversial. Especially as the femminist communities argued that the book was sexist and that it prioritized the needs of men over the ones of women. The book almost assesses the correctness of the praze mostly used by husbands in marital fights with their wives, " you are like from another planet !!!"

Conclusion

These days stereotypes are harder and harder to sustain - one that definitely seems to have disappeared over the last two decades is that girls have less motivation to achieve. Even the clothing model has changed with the appearance of the unisex pieces. The world is working towards equality of the genders and people fight for equal rights, especially education. Some scientists even asses the possibility of sex differences disappearing by the middle of the next century. Also, all the studies that have been conducted cannot be considered accurate as all are based on averages. As one very intelligent person once said, there are 3 kinds of lies: lies, dammed lies and statistics.