The guilted cage.

Did you see this? I would have to agree that I'm way too easily motivated by guilt--even potential guilt. It sits in my stomach like potential energy, just waiting for its catalyst. Yeah, I'm mixing chemistry and physics. So what? Isn't life itself a great, big mixture of chemistry and physics?

But back to the article. Guilt is a tricky device, and I succumb way too easily. I'm working on it, though. And I do believe some of this stuff is just hard-wired into our systems, and it's okay if it's simply a sex*-related difference. Regardless of how this might undermine society's efforts to make boys regard girls as equals.

Hands-down, best nugget of information from this piece? That Sacha Baron-Cohen's cousin Simon is a neuroscientist.

* Right to the footnote. "Gender" should be used when referring to "masculine" versus "feminine," such as when discussing psychological or societal aspects of those two sides of the coin. Don't believe me? Look here. "Sex" means physically male or physically female. The article kind of walks the line on societal versus physical differences, but I think it leans toward physical. It discusses biological features that make us either male or female, versus psychological wiring that makes us feel or act one way or the other. I think people use "gender" instead of "sex," because our culture has made "sex" a dirty word. What do you think?

Update on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 5:57PM by Erin K. Rice

Did any of my fellow English majors (or pop philosophers) notice that I started this entry off talking about guilt and ended it talking about sex? Fascinating.