A New Way of Thinking

After taking multiple biology and psychology classes, my idea of what testosterone and estrogen consisted of was pretty concrete.  However, after reading Angiers chapters 14 & 15 my notions of these two hormones have changed a little.  These two chapters have challenged the way I understand testosterone and estrogen.  I did not really realize how over-exaggerated testosterone in males is but it is an overstated subject.  People tend to forget that women also have testosterone in our bodies; however, the degree to which it is expressed is minimal.  It said in the chapter that testosterone is linked to those umbrella terms under aggression.  There is not one significant way to say that just because someone is aggressive; it is due to the amount of testosterone in their body.  Women get mad and angry but we do not have high levels of raging testosterone in our bodies.  This aggression among females is learned at a young age.  There is a sentence in the chapter that says “the first job of being a girl is learning to survive in a group of girls.”  I couldn't agree with this statement more because even in kindergarten, if you couldn't stick up for yourself, you were screwed.  In my experience, every girl as the tendency to be aggressive among a group of girls.  It is this notion that we need to be heard before we are judged and if we are misunderstood that’s not okay because then people will judge us.  But in my opinion, people are going to judge either way so even if you do say something the wrong way, at least you got it off your chest and was blatantly honest with that person.  I believe that the use of indirect aggression is worse than direct aggression because at least if a person is willing to be blunt to your face, they have respect for you.  In high school, I would have rather called nasty names by my “friends” rather than find out from someone else who isn't really my friend.  Being stabbed in the back by your best friend hurts… a lot.  Because then where does the confrontation come in?  it would be hard to go to that friend and say well so and so told me this…but then nine chances out of ten, she will say “oh no I never said that,”  bullshit.  This is why I have a hard time believing in female solidarity.  To me there is no such thing in my generation because women are out for themselves and that’s about it.  There is always a competition between women that never seems to end.