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Just how do men and women differ, physically as well as perhaps mentally and cognitively? Which of these differences are innate, and which are social constructs — the result of differences in the way boys and girls are usually socialized, or if you prefer "nurture vs nature"?
Whatever society you are part of, we can guarantee that these questions look, at least at first glance, completely normal. We can also guarantee that gender stereotypes are part of the society you live in.
These questions become even more complicated, however, when we take into account that more and more people have become aware of the differences between the terms "gender" and "sex". Whereas biological sex is determined by factors such as chromosomes (XX vs XY), genitalia, and secondary sexual characteristics, gender identity is an internal or external expression of the way a person feels inside.
When talking about gender, it has become increasingly clear that people can identify not only as male or female but also as agender, non-binary, and in any number of different ways. For most people, their gender identity matches their biological sex, or the sex they were assigned at birth. For others, it does not.
Besides the fact that people can be transgender, some are also born with anatomical features that cannot be seen as purely male or female. This is commonly referred to as intersex, but now also as differences in sexual development.
Now any question about the physical and mental differences between men and women is not so straightforward, is it?
In this updated article, we will highlight some of the differences typically observed between the male and female sex, as opposed to gender, a much more fluid psychological concept.
Physical differences between men and women
Several commonly observed differences between men and women, include the following [1]:
1. The average man is taller and heavier than the average woman.
2. Men typically have more body hair than women do, especially on the chest and extremities (arms and legs).
3. Women are more sensitive to sound than men.
4. Men are typically over 30% physically stronger than women, especially in the upper body.
5. On average, girls begin the physical changes that indicate the beginning of puberty approximately two years before boys.
6. Men have larger hearts and lungs, and their higher levels of testosterone cause them to produce greater amounts of red blood cells.
7. Differences in intake and delivery of oxygen translate into some aspects of athletic performance: when a man is jogging at about 50% of his capacity, a woman will need to work at over 70% of her capacity to keep up with him.
8. Female fertility decreases after age 35, ending with menopause, but men can continue to father children even when very old, though male fertility does also decline with age.
9. Men’s skin usually has more collagen and sebum, which makes it thicker and oilier than women’s skin
10. Women generally have a greater body fat percentage than men.
11. Men and women have different levels of certain hormones; for example, men have a higher concentration of androgens (also called "male hormones" for this reason) such as testosterone, while women have a higher concentration of estrogens.
12. An average male brain has approximately 4% more cells and 100 grams more brain tissue than an average female brain. This is not connected with intelligence! Research points to no overall difference in intelligence between males and females. However, both sexes have similar brain weight to body weight ratios.
13. In men, the second digit is often shorter than the fourth digit, while in females the second finger tends to be longer than the fourth.
14. Men tend to have better distance vision and depth perception, and usually better vision in lighted environments. Women often have better night vision, see better at the red end of the light spectrum, and a have better visual memory.
Diseases: Sex differences in medical risk factors
1. More men than women become infected with HIV. This is, however, not true for the African continent. Women who are HIV positive have lower viral loads but are still at a higher risk of progressing to AIDS. [2]
2. More males are likely to be diagnosed with tuberculosis than females. [3]
3. Women are less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease during their reproductive years. [4]
4. Men are more likely to suffer from some types of cancer, and are more likely to die from cancer overall. [5]
5. Women are more likely to suffer from osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and blindness. [6, 7] In fact, close to two-thirds of the world's blind people are women. [7]