Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA27250 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:43:32 +0100 Message-ID: <047001c0c3c2$d8582160$235c2a42@jrmolloy> From: "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D310174592F@inchna.stir.ac.uk> Subject: Re: memes and sexuality Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 19:38:32 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
"Do memes have a gender bias?"
Good question, Vincent (and a very original one).
IMO, if **some** memes did not have a gender bias, no one would recognize the
word "feminism." I suppose memes also have cultural and racial preferences.
Why not?
--J. R.
Useless hypotheses:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism
Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so forever.
(Everything that can happen = more than anyone can imagine.)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vincent Campbell" <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 6:33 AM
Subject: RE: memes and sexuality
Yesterday's Sunday Times had a brief article entitled 'Girl Talk: It's
Really All In The Genes', available at-
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/07/16/sticoncon01001.html
A relatively large scale study (3000 kids) suggests that girls exceed boys
at language skills, at least in early childhood. Is this perhaps a genetic
legacy of our hunter gatherer origins, in which the men went out and hunted
using little verbal communication (no point talking if it's going to scare
off the animals you're hunting), whilst the women stayed together in groups,
passing the time by talking to each other?
The newspaper article itself is the usual example of silly journalism, by
asking a TV presenter and a famous hairdresser's mother (I kid you not)
whether they think this basic finding is true or not. Nonetheless, does it
raise the question of whether or not memes have a gender bias?
Vincent
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