Genetics 101 - A class in why men do not live in your world. Course prerequisite: Philosophy 101
Professor: Pirate

Disclaimer: This course is a 100 level course and is a VERY basic introduction to some very complex issues. Some of the material has been oversimplified to carry through the ideas we would like to present here. A fuller, more complete discussion of these complex issues will be found in upper level Genetics courses should you want further complexity and a fuller examination of the material.

Right up front - the reason men and women are so different is genetics. No, not the obvious, "He's a boy and I'm a girl." Much deeper. (This would be a good time to read over Philosophy 101 if you have not yet). Consider, we each - man and women - feel the genetic drive to reproduce. But that drive is set to vastly different criteria in the sexes.

Women have one egg a month. There is a small window where she can get pregnant, and once pregnant she is unable to conceive additional offspring until at least 9 months later. Many of you know how difficult that few day window each month is. Some have cramps, others experience mood swings, others just get unbelievably horny. This "PMS" is your body screaming at you to get pregnant and propagate the species, and it can be a difficult time to say the least.

But on the upside, women have like 3 weeks a month without the genetic pressure to propagate - and get 9 consecutive months of relief when they get pregnant (it's like a reward from your genes for listening to them). This time gives you lot's of ability to explore things unrelated to propagation, and women in general use it to great advantage. Specifically, women have time to explore their feelings and emotions and do so with relish.

Men, on the other hand, make about 300 million sperm per day. That's 300,000,000 per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, their entire adult life. By the time he is 26 (say 10 years into adulthood) he has manufactured over a trillion sperm, compared to the female's 120 eggs. Theoretically, a single man could impregnate an entire group of ovulating women each day of his adult life (and indeed, some "players" seem intent on doing just that!) The point here is that men, unlike women, NEVER get relief from the genetic pressure to propagate the species. Male genes never let up from puberty onward.

Think PMS that never stops. Never. That is the male reality. Men have little time to explore emotions and feelings - they are too busy repressing them (imagine a male acting in accord with his genetic instruction to mate almost non-stop - he would be a social outcast at the very least no?) Men learn from a young age to keep themselves in check, and have to keep themselves there by force of will.

Historically, perhaps much less today then ever in all of human history, women have been vulnerable during the period starting at conception and through the years of their offspring's early childhood. Watch birds in a nest outside your window for a real-world example of this. The female sits on the eggs (yes, I know there are some species where the male sits & the implications of this are vast but not in the nature of this course). Traditionally, since survival is a necessary component of propagation, a woman had to find the mate most likely to insure HER survival (and that of her child). Simply the strongest was not enough, intellect was an important factor as were loyalty, compassion, and a host of others. In other words, a woman's genetic needs for a mate were fairly complex.

What's more, a woman could not afford to just have sex with whomever she fancied, as she would likely die without the necessary support of a mate during pregnancy and child-rearing. Men have a genetic responsibility to see their children raised also. But, while a woman can have only one "litter" per year, men can father dozens. And for the species survivability goes way up in numbers.

So, genetically anyway, women can propagate with any man - but choose a mate based on his survivability value. Men can survive on their own (well, long ago perhaps - I sure know a lot of helpless men this day and age), and choose a mate(s) based on her propagation value. So we are seeking, males and females, two completely different - but complementary - things. And if it weren't for that 300 million per day genetic pressure cooker, modern men and women would live harmoniously and blissfully, each fulfilling the opposite side of the human genetic directive. But the pressure cooker is there, always. Forget it at your peril ladies.

Certainly times have changed, but genetics runs on a much slower clock than we do. It will take hundreds, perhaps thousands of years for the genetic programming to catch up with where we are as humans today. But consider these things when dealing with men. Are all men easy? Well, pretty much. But like many women have overcome much of their genetic programming through force of will, many men have overcome theirs too. We are all on a path to somewhere else as the human race, but time will tell exactly where.

In the meantime, do consider that men in general have little ability to explore their own emotions and feelings. They have developed logic and reason as a poor substitute, and are condemned to live there by a society that will not, or can not, allow men to live as they were designed to live. Women call men stupid, and in this they are absolutely correct. Men will never be able to explore the world of emotion and feeling. Have pity on them, they live in an artificial world created largely to protect you from the consequences of their actually being in touch with their own (over-sexed) emotions.