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One thing that has been bothering me about our class discussions is that I don't think we have collectively defined "Behavior". We attempted to on the first or second day, but never actually came to any sort of understanding. When Professor Grobstein was talking about the behavioral differences between boys and girls, I really had no answer because biologically boys and girls behave differently, but social behaviors are much more questionable. Obviously boys don't menstruate, so there are clear biological differences.

Jean (I think) brought up a possible Venn Diagram, but even this I don't think covers the entire population. The diagram that Professor Grobstein drew on the chalkboard (two overlapping arches) still doesn't, i don't think, accurately represent social behaviors. Behaviors are controlled by emotions, which are controlled by the endocrine system, which we all share. If I were to take every behavior (laughter, crying, rage, sexual behavior, etc, etc) I don't think I could find a context in which a male and a female wouldn't behave similarly. If a person thinks something is funny, they laugh, regardless of gender. Perhaps males tend to agree on what they consider to be funny, but for every male who disagrees there will be a female who agrees, for every male who agrees there will be a female who also agrees, etc. The population is too large to make such outlandish generalizations. The social constructs of gender roles instilled in young boys and girls make us want to think that boys and girls behave differently, but I would argue that, overall, we don't. Or, at least it's too difficult to measure. Also hormones that regualte behaviors (testosterone, estradiol, etc) have varying levels among all individuals. I would like to further discuss how the levels of such hormones are socially influenced (perhaps cross-culturally?)