The Male Psyche

I've been taking an online class titled "Understanding the Male Psyche." I have to say--it's one of the most interesting classes I've taken in a long time. Not only will this help me write a stronger, more believable hero (I hope!), it also will help me understand the men in my life.

One of the things that has stuck with me the most is this: The reason men and women are so different in the way the perceive things, the way they communicate and interact with others is completely physiological. Our brains, literally, are wired differently. Men actually have more brain cells than women (which has led to the quite mistaken belief by some that men are superior to women), and the bundle of fibers that link the left and right hemispheres of the brain are thinner in the male brain by about 10%, with as much as 30% fewer connections, which allows less information to be exchanged faster between the two sides. Men, therefore, tend to be more left brained (analytical and logical) while women have greater access to both sides. A woman has the physical capacity to connect large pieces of information, thus allowing her to see "the big picture" and remember more details. In other words, she can multi-task. A man has a harder time crossing his brain hemispheres.

Which is why he can walk past a pile of dirty socks on his way to get something from another room and actually not see the socks, because he's not looking for them. (Although I suspect he can still be trained.) LOL

Not too long ago, Sixty Minutes ran a segment about research on gays. (I don't think they talked at all about the differences between lesbian and straight women. If they did, I missed it.) Something that caught my interest was, again, explained physiologically. It seems that the more older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay, if he is RIGHT handed. It deosn't seem to be the same for left handed men. (Why, I don't know.) For every older brother, a man's likelihood of being gay increases by a third. The theory is that the mother produces antibodies for a boy because there is now some genetic material in her body that's never been there before. And for each boy, the antibodies increase.

It would be interesting to look at families with, say, 6-8 boys and see if that theory bears out. Whatever it is, it's apparently raising interest among women. Yet another of my publishers has called for its authors to come up with M/M stories--which, I from what I understand, are gaining in popularity among straight women.


These two certainly look delicious, don't they? *G*

I have my local RWA chapter meeting today, and this evening my critique group is getting together to watch a few episodes of Queer As Folk. I've not seen any of the shows, but two of the women in the group have and say they're very good and, for the most part, an accurate portrayal. As with most things, though, there is artistic license utilized, I'm sure.

Anyone care to weigh in on this subject (either one--men vs. women, or gay men vs. straight men), have at it!

(P.S. I won't be posting tomorrow--see you on Monday!)