Science is no excuse

Women have always complained that the men in their lives don't listen to them. Now, with the publishing of an explanatory research study from Sheffield University in northern England, beleaguered men everywhere are thinking, "Science has come to our rescue once again."

According to the London Daily Mail, researchers have discovered that men process male and female voices with different parts of their brains. Scientist Michael Hunter was quoted as saying the size and shape of the female vocal chords causes a "more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice," that are apparently harder to sort out mentally.

Before you males latch onto this as an excuse a la Harvard president Lawrence Summers, remember that a research study is not (pardon the pun) an exact science. I'm always worried when the media reports some study findings without including a disclaimer cautioning against the validity of the results. Most studies have a percentage of error built into them and projects with too small of a sample population could draw incorrect conclusions based on skewed data.

That's the problem with taking science too seriously. Certain things like gravity and momentum have enough history for the majority of people to accept that they exist, but in the case of the battle of the sexes, nothing is guaranteed.

Before Newton, no one knew why things fell. Before Einstein, we didn't understand how nuclear reactions could produce energy. Before Marie Curie, we didn't know that radiation could kill you. Science is an ever-changing field and as we learn more, we can continue to build on theories we think are true, but the point is we never really know for sure, and what we understand one day could be proven wrong the very next week.

Male voices, due to the timbre and pitch of the sound waves produced, could possibly be easier to hear in particular cases. As Summers learned; however, attempting to explain the differences between the sexes using limited research is an idea to avoid. Scientific observations usually take many years (sometimes even centuries) to become widely accepted and are tested over and over again to try to duplicate results.

We've moved beyond the Men Are from Mars; Women Are from Venus era and embraced greater equality of the sexes in the workplace, politics, sports and everyday life. It is important to learn about our biological differences, but using them as an excuse for bad behavior or discrimination is not acceptable. Blaming your brain merely avoids the problem and doesn't do anything to improve the quality of life.

Science is not an excuse and it's not the answer. So what is, you ask? I like Spock's answer in Star Trek VI: the Final Frontier. He said, "Logic is the beginning of wisdom; not the end." A logical solution to the problems between men and women might be anything from physiology to psychology, but it's just a starting point. In order to get along, we have to focus on overcoming our differences rather than pointing fingers at what causes them.