Ties That Bind—The Fabulous Female Forte!
Ever wonder why the men in your life seem so single-minded? Why they have such difficulties accessing their emotions? Or why they appear to be unable to juggle more than one ball in the air at a time? Did the genes for emotional intelligence and multi-tasking land solely in the female DNA? Well… yes. And the reason for this gender-based prowess resides in the ties that bind. Literally!
The two hemispheres of women’s brains are far better connected than those of men. Females have up to twenty-five percent more corpus collosum—the brain’s connective tissue—than our male counterparts. Therefore we naturally enjoy more interplay between the logical left side (the part that manages language, practical applications, sequence, and details) and the more creative right side (that largely handles feelings, imagination, intuition, and the big picture).
In practical terms, this means we can think and feel at the same time. We can access emotions while using our analytical skills. We can sense how our words and actions impact others, and we can use the best parts of our right and left-brains simultaneously.
Men, to the contrary, need time to switch from using their analytical processing to utilizing the more creative, emotional side of their brains. (Like maybe a long round of golf or a three-day weekend.) So when your honey says, “I’ll think about it later,” he really means it.
The exertion required to refocus is most likely the reason that, when we ask our guys how they’re feeling about something, it takes a good ten minutes from them to respond. That is… if we get any response other than a grunt and a wave of the hand to leave them alone!
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May 12th, 2012 at 10:30 am
So true, and it’s also why men find it difficult to verbally express emotions. Not enough gray matter connecting the experiences with the words that describe them. Poor things, they are as frustrated as we are with them!
April 8th, 2012 at 3:39 am
Great — this explains why, over the years, I’ve learned to invite my husband to think about something overnight — or even over a week — and to accept that he won’t want to respond immediately.
February 24th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Haha, so true, and I have experienced these same sentiments in my life. Thanks for sharing!
-Jackie
February 14th, 2012 at 1:40 am
This is interesting. So female and males have somewhat different brains. Ok, now I got it! I will have to give this more thought. Who knows maybe it will help me to be more tolerant.