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We can't give the test to people in the 19th century without a time machine. But we can do one better. We can give the test to people who are genetically male
by JamesBarney 9y ago
We can't give the test to people in the 19th century without a time machine. But we can do one better. We can give the test to people who are genetically male but who look like and are raised as female.
Individuals with congenital adrenal hyperplasia look exactly like women and were raised as women.(think Jamie Lee Curtis) but they are genetically male. And they found that these individuals had significantly more male patterned likes and dislikes. This is evidence that at least half of the preference is biological.
- mikeash 9y agoBut is what's biological a preference for specific types of jobs, or is it a preference for what society considers "male" jobs? I don't see how this test could distinguish the two.
- JamesBarney 9y agoIs your alternative hypothesis that women are biologically programmed to conform to society's ideas about what a woman should do, with prenatal testosterone reducing that conformity impulse?
- mikeash 9y agoEssentially yes. Maybe women are typically drawn to stereotypically female roles, and men to stereotypically male roles, and having more male-like hormones causes women to be drawn to stereotypically male roles instead. How does the hypothesis that women are biologically drawn to certain types of jobs, regardless of stereotyped roles, explain the fact that this stuff constantly changes?