The Oil Drum

These accounts of polarized sex differences seem as exaggerated as the old PC argument that everything in this sphere is socially constructed. The lesson from the serious research seems instead to be that while these polar opposites do exist, they constitute a small fraction of females and males. For example, most males care about their kids and even other people's kids more than C and C systems in the military. Few males fit the stereotype of the f--- 'm and forget 'em tough guy. And in any case a lot of those guys are simply hiding such gross feelings of inadequacy that they wet their beds and would only be moved by peak oil arguments if diaper sales were threatened.

Seriously, trying to craft messages for hoary and polarized cartoons of appropriate sex roles seems unwise. People respond to price signals as well as credible arguments that their kids and their kids' kids are threatened by contemporary irresponsibility.