Customer Reviews

Why Men Don't Iron: The Fascinating and Unalterable Differences Between Men and Women

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I don't know what the editor(s) of this book were thinking in terms of the silly way sections end, and certain blanket assertions/assumptions the authors make about society; however, the basic information and research presented are fascinating and important. I wish I felt better about saying everyone should read this thought-provoking book. It would make the world a more humane place for both men and women if more people understood the points this book makes.

Anne Moir's groundbreaking 1990 book "Brain Sex" is reprised here with more on sexuality and biology. What is the true incidence of homosexuality among males? Are health food diets doing men in? Are feminine-influenced teaching styles driving boys out of the economy? Do men really need to "share their feelings"?

Never afraid to be controversial about sacred gender cows, and always throwing in the research data to back up her points, this author entertains and educates. She speaks for better understanding of each other and respect even as we go beyond our biology.

"We tell of the biology which swims within us and, equally, of the social environment in which we swim, so that men and women might rise above both." (Why Men Don't Iron p.22)

This book is a must read for women. Although men admit they do not understand women, women firmly believe they understand men but they don't have a clue. Intelligence isn't just what you know but also knowing what you don't know which makes men smarter than women. So Ladies, read and be informed. You will find it enlightening and amusing. Men will find it interesting as well. A good couple book but much more important for young single women. Mike

There might have been some good ideas in this book, but I couldn't find them. They were too buried in stereotypes. Not just stereotypes of "what is male", "what is female" and "what is normal", but also stereotypes of "what is sex", "what social research says", "what is popular culture" and, well, pretty much what is anything else. There isn't a single complex take on what is arguably one of our most complex issues - it is all presented in cartoonish, one-dimensional parody of human interaction and human understandings, presented somehow as the authors' remarkable insights.

Thankfully, we as a species are not quite as simple-minded as these authors obviously think we are. They have written a number of books on this subject, I note, but they still don't seem to grasp the fact that there is considerable variation in human behaviour _and_ in human understanding, that culture does have an effect on acceptable gender roles (as many comparative studies have demonstrated), and that what level of aggression or emotional wisdom an individual has is the result of the events that make up his or her life history as well as whatever baseline biology has given them. But the interplay of nature and nurture - and the fact that, unlike their stereotypes in this book, scientists are NOT so stupid that they will gleefully ignore this complexity - is hardly given a look in. It is, apparently, all down to hormone levels and rigid biological differences. Um, women have testosterone too, y'know.... If even the biology were as simple as these two make out, we wouldn't still be writing so many books trying to understand this subject.

Oh yes - I might add, my husband does all his own ironing, and I read maps better than he does. And as far as I can tell, neither of us feels particularly bad about this. But according to this book, people like us don't really exist.

There is a strong likelihood that there are some cognitive differences between the genders. But if you want to understand the subject better, this is NOT the book.

This book along with Brain Sex are two of the most seminal books written on the subject of sex differences. I have studied this subject extenstively for my own planned book My book will attack the media for its feminist bias. Unlike most critiques, mine begins with theory. That theory is the best theory at hand outside physics, namely, evolutionary theory. As a social scientist (Ph.D.), I found the psychosocial sciences plagued with dozens of "perspectives" masquarading as theories. Only Neo-Darwinian theory stipulates up from the evidence that would disprove the theory. It has yet to be disproved, despite the fact that explains the why of virtually all human behavior. Now, Moir is not an evolutionary scientist. But the vast research that underlies her books and the evidence she lays out, agree right down the line with evolutionary theory. Her first book, Brain Sex, is more sweeping in coverage. Why Men Don't Iron zeroes in on a few important areas: the exact differences in male and female brains and endocrine systems that make them different. Her research and findings agree with Steven Pinker (How The Mind Works, The Language Instinct, and others), Donald Symons (Human Sexuality), Steven E. Rhoads, David Buss (The Evolution of Desire, and many others), Geoffrey Miller (The Mating Mind), Robert Wright (The Moral Animal), Doreen Kimura (Sex and Cognition), Nancy Etcoff (Survival of the Prettiest), Steven Goldberg (Why Men Rule), and dozens of other scientists. Moreover, it agrees with what we know about humans before history and after--until the advent of modern feminism. And most importantly, it agrees with common sense. Moir's first book, Brain Sex, led to a five hour TV documentary in which scientists of all persuasions expressed their views, but clearly the evidence overwelmingly supported Moir's thesis: boys and girls have radically and unalterably differnt brains and endocrine systems. Even feminist writers like Deborah Blum and Bobbie Low agree with Moir's ideas. They depart from her views in hoping that the brain is malliable enough that the media and schools can brainwash girls into at least behaving like boys and brainwash boys into at least acting like girls. Blum tried and failed with her own children, but hopes that over a few generations, change is possible. Now Moir is a scientist but she is also a woman. With a woman's sensitivities, she believes that working woman and working man can coexist with marriage. I do not. Once women, like chimps, have the wherewithall to support themselves and the opportunity to cheat, marriage ends and "love" begins. That is one reason the feminist media is hyping love these days. Despite her semi-feminist stance, she is bound to be attacked by feminists and (naturally) sociologists. Edward O. Wilson, the man who started the it all with his book Sociobiology, in which he sneered at the silly perspectives sociologists called theory and argued that biology had a theory that that withstood thousands of attempts to disconform it and that could be applied to social phenomena. He was assaulted verbally by sociologists and physically by feminists. Many male authors of books that take an evolutionary approach to male-female differences, seem to have found that to get published or avoid assault they have to include as much as a chapter apologizing to feminists for their work. For example, Randy Thornhill and Craig T. Palmer wrote A Natural History of RAPE in which they argued that rape is an genuine adaptation. They included a full chapter pleading with women to forgive them for their stand and hastily informing them how they could change men. Undoubtedly, the best book ever written on family violence was Physical Violence in American Families by Murray A. Strauss and Richard J. Gelles. They claim they received threats of physical violence from feminists because they found that wives are just as likely as husbands to start a fight but wind up getting the worst of the fight they started. The American media relendlessly continues its effort to effect unisex. I think even as a scientist I can say this is madness. Who would want to live in such a Brave New World? Moreover, as Pinker pointed out, a world in which humans are social products is a world where the battle becomes one of brainwashing and reconditioning. It already is. And the battle has spilled over into science so that today, 2010, one cannot even believe findings of "science." The feminization of Britain lagged that of the U.S., allowing for voices like Anne Moir's. But feministideology, based in commercialism (ever wonder why Republicans gave women the vote and, albeit unwittingly, insinuated them into the Civil Rights Act of 1963?), that drives the U.S. media is a cancer that is spreading around the globe. Orwell's 1984 is here, has been, only instead of saying "freedom is slavery, slavery is freedom," the voice is saying "men are women, women are men." Its midnight and I'm going to retire. I apologize to Moir for not writing this in 1999 when I purchased her book from Amazon, read it, and realized that everything I believed up until then was a lie. Like the "fat epidemic" today, huh?

The book is in essence a fascintating collection of gender studies research presented in straightforward and entertaining way. The differences between genders go far deeper than basic biology and socialization. Politically correct this book is not. However science rarely is. Although it isn't the end-all-be-all thesis for true gender thoughtful gender studies, it asks the right questions and provides thought provoking answers.

What a relief to read a book based on science, instead of sociology. Why Men Don't Iron gives a comprehensive look at how human biology has been shaped through the ages by nature's harsh conditions, which determine most of our behavior today. Evolutionary psychology, or sociobiology, is always an interesting read, but the authors of Why Men Don't Iron make it especially enjoyable by their insightful and varied examples, and the way they combine scientific fact (and common sense) with clear explanations that the layman can understand. This is an opportunity to break free from the historical parenthesis that is today's Political Correctness and understand the conditions that the rest of the world has not forgotten.

I would like to give my appreciations generally to the book.The contents of the book is really marvellous that touch the complications that exsit between female and male relations(characters). I do hope that it gives solutions to the many questions that are mind-boggling in life concernig male and female characters.I became very excited when I red it because it gave me solutions to many questions that are in my mind for a long period of time.I really appreciation the authors that thoughts to write about this interesting issues.

Found the writing style dry and uninteresting. Felt like reading someone's dissertation. May be used for reference reading but attempting to read from cover to cover might bore you out. Would recommend "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps" instead.

I've got a newsflash for the authors....most women don't iron either. Ever hear of wash and wear?