Mars and Venus

I've been thinking about the differences between men and women quite a bit lately.

1. Joe and I had a discussion recently about how we often have misunderstandings rooted in our disparate ways of communicating. You see, he demands logic in every way, from sentence structure to thesis to conclusion. I, on the other hand, say it like it comes, straight from my brain. Unedited.
2. I only have girls and often wonder what it would be like to have a boy and if I want to raise a boy (they are truly a different breed). With boys, you have to be on guard physically, and with girls, it's all about emotional wants and needs. I don't think I'm equipped to handle both physical and emotional exhaustion at the same time.
3. We just had a playdate at our home and there were 10 kids, 5 years of age and under in our home (3 boys and 7 girls). It was very clear from that experience that boys and girls think and play differently.
4. I read 2 separate articles (one in Newsweek dated 1/30/06 and the other in Parents magazine from March) about all the fascinating neurological and genetic differences between boys and girls. For example, short-term stress improves memory in boys, but has the opposite effect on girls, which suggests that boys perform better under pressure (timed exercises and contests). Whereas female brains appear to respond better to long-term stress, which implies that girls are more resilient over the long-run. Boys also are more receptive to movement, while girls respond to colors and textures. And girls' brains are actually larger in the area that interprets events and triggers complicated feelings like sadness and empathy. Boys' brains are relatively larger in the area that handles raw, impulsive emotions like fear and anger. There's more to our differences than meets the eye.
5. Joe and I were watching a special Dateline report on sex offenders. Out of all the offenders they interviewed and caught, not a single one was a woman. Also, a friend of mine from Houston was telling me how her church's nursery has a policy that no men can change diapers in nursery; not even the father of the child. The men at that church were fully supportive, to say the least. At first I thought that sounded a bit extreme and sexist, but in actuality, you rarely ever have to be concerned about women molesting a child. This is also the reason why there's not much of a market for male nannies and why male OB/GYNs have been on a decline. Sorry to say it, but men are more prone to perversion. There's just no other explanation.
6. Reading a friend, Chie's blog triggered a hot topic in our home that still baffles me to this day: why do men spend so darn long on the porcelain throne? I can prepare a complete meal and cook a pot of rice in the time it takes Joe to go #2. I, on the other hand, went and came back in a few short minutes sometime between #2 and #3 of this blog. Is it just another tactic to get away from us women and be alone? If men's brains are more geared to action and motion, why is it that they are so slow in this area? Any theories?