Monday, January 11, 2010

Differences in men and women when it comes to survival

ENG

We often talk of differences between men and women, but we hardly associate those differences to the different requirements in survival for both sexes. The different requirements that nature demanded of us for millions of years led us to adaptations that are specific to each gender. Some of them are obvious and some may not be so obvious. Expressions like "she fought like a lioness for her cubs" doesn't help either - in fact lioness' are the hunters and the lion is the protector of the pack, quite different roles than in the human groups.

We may imagine that the 4 thousand or so years of civilisation made us totally different from the primitive man, but are we really? Can we erase about 2 (or according to other studies might be as much as 5) million of evolution in 4000 years?

The role of men has most of this time been related to hunting and protecting from immediate danger, while that of women was food gathering and raising the youngs. Why is this important to survival in today's world, you may ask? Because the adaptations required for fulfilling these roles made us different in the way we react to a crisis.

Does the crisis imply immediate danger, life or death decision? Then men are properly equipped to deal with it: extremely quick reaction time, testosterone and adrenaline levels that helps make split-second decisions (be that good or bad in that moment, i still believe that any decision is better than no decision at all - in fact the military is based and forged on this principle). In this type of crisis women will cower and be paralyzed to act, in fact you cannot even assume they will try to protect their children, because this paralysis will make them unable to act, if not guided by men.

On the other hand if the crisis does not imply immediate danger, women are best equipped for this task - to oversimplify it : man fights tiger, man and tiger kills each other (or man badly injured, so now the woman has to take care of him too), and now the crisis begins for the woman, because she now has to raise the young alone. As i said - it's an oversimplification, also because women were raising the young most of the time anyway, and they usualy gathered and raised the children together (not unlike the way female wolves do), but there are clearly problems for women without their initial mates as father of their children (some of them reflected even in the so called civilised world of today).

The different adaptation in survival can be seen from the way the body deals with the crisis, and the way it prepares for it: we store fat differently, in different parts of the body, and we access this differently. For example in times of great effort men loose fats and neurons faster (yeah... sounds strange - in fact you can say that men do get dummer when they starve, so please men: don't starve yourselves with stupid diets, may work for women to loose weight, but you will just be more of a moron than before engaging in a diet; brain utilizes a lot of energy to be properly maintained - not much needed to fight the goddamn tiger), while preserving muscle the most, while women loose fat and muscle while preserving neurons. So the body of man preserves raw power for dealing with a potential crisis while on low reserves, while the body of a woman preserves brain power so she can adapt better in future bleak times.

In fact, for all the potentialy upset ladies who might read this post (but probably never will), while men are most interested in survival (as a topic), the ultimate survivor is a woman, not a man - assuming that we are not talking of immediate danger.

Of course there are exceptions - man that cower in fear and women that take initiative (there are couples who have most roles reversed - except child bearing - that is still a woman-only role until further developments in genetic engineering), but in general that is the norm: split-second decision needed - man is king, medium or long time crisis - woman rules.

This info may help you better prepare and to adjust your expectations in a crisis.

RO

De multe ori vorbim de diferentele intre barbati si femei, dar deserori nu asociem aceste diferente cu cerintele diferite necesare supravietuirii pentru ambele sexe. Cerinte diferite pe care natura ni-le-a cerut de milioane de ani ne-au condus la adaptari care sunt specifice pentru fiecare sex. Unele dintre ele sunt evidente, iar unele pot sa nu fie atat de evidente. Expresiilor de genul "a luptat ca o leoaica pentru puii ei" nu ajuta, de fapt, leoaica este vanatorul si leul este cel ce protejeaza ceata, roluri destul de diferite de cele din grupurile umane.

Ne-am putea imagina ca cei aproximativ 4 mii de ani de civilizatie ne-au facut complet diferiti de omul primitiv, dar suntem cu adevarat? Putem sterge cei aproximativ 2 (sau din alte studii s-ar putea fi la fel de mult ca 5) milioane de evolutie in 4000 ani?

Rolul barbatilor a fost in aceasta majoritate a timpului legat de vanatoare si de apararea de pericole imediat, in timp ce rolul a femeilor a fost colectarea de hrana si de crestere a copiilor. De ce este important acest lucru pentru supravietuirea in lumea de astazi, poate va intrebati? Pentru ca adaptarile necesare pentru indeplinirea acestor roluri ne-a facut diferiti in modul de a reactiona la o criza.

Implica crizei un pericol imediat, ce implica decizii de viata sau de moarte? Daca da, barbatii sunt dotati corespunzator pentru a ii face fata: timpi de reactie extrem de rapizi, nivele de testosteron si de adrenalina care ajuta sa ia decizii in fractiuni de secunda (se pot dovedi bune sau rele mai tarziu, eu totusi cred ca orice decizie este mai buna decat ne-luarea niciunei decizie - de fapt, armata este bazata si construita exact pe acest principiu). In acest tip criza de femeile se infricoseaza si sunt paralizate - de fapt sa nu presupuneti ca ele vor incerca sa isi protejeze macar copiii, pentru ca aceasta paralizie le duce in imposibilitatea de a actiona, in cazul in care nu sunt ghidate de barbati.

Pe de alta parte, in cazul in care criza nu implica un pericol imediat, femeile sunt cel mai bine echipate pentru aceasta sarcina - simplificand excesiv lucrurile: barbatul lupta cu tigrul, barbatul si tigrul se ucid reciproc (sau barbatul ramane grav ranit, asa ca acum femeia trebuie sa aiba grija de pe el), si de-abia acum, criza incepe pentru femeie, pentru ca ea trebuie acum sa creasca singurac copiii. Dupa cum am spus - este o simplificare excesiva, si pentru ca femeile oricum in majoritatea timpului cresteau copiii, de obicei, se adunau si isi cresteau copii impreuna (intr-un mod asemanator cu modul cum isi cresc lupoaicele puii), dar apareau in mod clar, probleme pentru femeile care ramaneau fara partenerul initial ca tata al copiiilor lor (unele dintre ele reflectate, chiar si in lumea asa-zis civilizata de azi).

Adaptarea diferita la supravietuire se poate observa din modul in care organismul reactioneaza la criza, precum si modul in care se pregateste pentru ea: inmagazinarea diferita a grasimii, in diferite parti ale corpului, si accesarea diferita. De exemplu, in momente de eforturi extreme barbatii consuma grasimea si neuronii mai rapid (mda. .. suna ciudat - de fapt, se poate spune ca barbatii devin mai tolomaci atunci cand sunt infometati, asa incat barbati, va rog : nu va infometati cu diete stupide, asta poate sa mearga la femei ca sa pierda din greutate, dar veti fi mai fraieri decat inainte de aplicarea acestor diete; creierul foloseste o multime de energie pentru a fi intretinut in mod corespunzator - nu atat de necesar pentru a lupta tigru dracu '), mentinand cat mai mult timp masa musculara, in timp ce femeile pierd grasimea si masa musculara, pastrand cat mai mult timp neuronii. Deci, la rezervele scazute, organismul barbatului pastreaza puterea bruta pentru a putea face fata cu o criza potentiala, in timp ce corpul unei femei pastreaza puterea mintii, astfel ca ea sa se poata adapta mai bine in vremuri tulburi.

De fapt, pentru toate doamnele posibil lezate, care ar putea citi acest post (dar care probabil nu o vor face niciodata), in timp ce barbatii sunt cei mai interesati de supravietuire (ca subiect), supravietuitorul ultim este o femeie, nu un barbat - presupunand ca nu este vorba de un pericol imediat.

Desigur, exista si exceptii - barbati care se ghemuie de frica si femei, care sa ia initiativa (exista cupluri in care s-au inversat foarte multe roluri- cu exceptia celui ce naste copilul - care este inca doar un rol exclusiv de femeie pana la evolutii ulterioare in inginerie genetica), dar, in general, asta este norma: daca o decizie de fractiuni de secunda este necesara - barbatul este rege, criza pe termen mediu sau lung - femeia conduce.

Poate aceasta informatie va va ajuta sa va pregatiti mai bine si sa va ajustati asteptarile intr-o criza.