Man VS. Woman

Reading the article "Social Animal" by David Brooks I realized that there is such a difference between men and women culturally and genetically. Brook says, "For some reason, today's high status men do a lot of running and biking and so only really work on the muscles in the lower half of their bodies. High status women, on the other hand, pay ferocious attention to their torsos, biceps, and forearms so they can wear sleeveless dresses all summer and crush rocks with their bare hands. (2) I find it interesting that they are doing the complete opposite of each other. To be honest I would think it was the other way around. You would think men would be the one's working on their biceps and torsos so that appear strong and intimidating and woman would work more on their lower halves, especially because nice legs are so important to most woman. We all want our legs to look nice when were wearing shorts, or a skirt. Which most powerful woman seem to wear a lot, more than sleeveless shirts and dresses. Another thing that I would think to be the opposite of stated is the fact that "men fall in love faster and are more likely to believe that true love lasts forever" (7). As society has developed, and as I have grown up I have never heard much about the men being the ones to fall in love first or for them to believe in true love at all really. Society has made it for men to almost look down on true love and avoid it. In movies if a guy truly falls for a girl he gets made fun of by his friends rather than praised. Yet, when a girl truly falls for a guy and is in love her and her friends start jumping around and they go out to celebrate. It's weird that so many topics are generalized and the way we make them out to be is actually the opposite of what it truly is. 

Another difference stated in the article was when Brooks was talking about how men and women choose their mates. And the psychology behind it that we don't even realize. He says, "Woman everywhere tend to prefer men who have symmetrical features and are slightly older, taller, and stronger than they are" (5) and woman are "compelled to choose a man not only for insemination but for continued support" (6). Where as "Men could pick their mates based on fertility" and "he liked what he saw, from the waist-to-hip ratio to the clear skin, all indicative of health and fertility" (5) Men psychologically want a girl that appears healthy and fertile and woman psychologically want a man who is strong and supportive. And know matter how much one denies it, it is usually always the truth. It is something in our brain that we can't control, that's what psychology is. I find it interesting that these type of things are genetically planted into our brains. It also said in the article that a woman "rejected men who wore Burberry, because she couldn't see herself looking at the same patter on scarves and raincoats for the rest of her life" (6) and "She would have nothing to do with men who wore sports-related jewelery, because her boyfriend should not love Derek Jeter more than her.  (6)  This I do understand because it is something that we develop over time and realize for ourselves. You use your past experiences and knowledge to learn what you want and don't want. However, those are only the material things and we can only control that aspect. We can't control what first attracts us to someone, which never ceases to amaze me.