Come here, reader. I have something very important to share with you. A secret that a lot of people don’t know. A timeless truth that has been forgotten in recent years. A revelation that will change the way you view your spouse. Lean in close now. Here it is:
Psst. Men and women are different.
Yep, that’s it! This obvious fact has indeed been denied by plenty of feminists, psychologists, and academics. They admit that we have differing private parts, but some have argued that the concepts of maleness and femaleness are largely social constructs taught as stereotypes to children.
Yet science has recently shown that having a penis/testicles or a vagina/ovaries is hardly the only difference between man and woman. When God took a little dust and molded it like Play-doh into man and then grabbed a rib bone and crafted it like a pipe cleaner into woman, he didn’t go for outer variations only. He made us female or male through and through.
Here are some of the amazing differences that we now know exist between men and women. (Of course, these are generalizations, and specifics may vary.)
- Men are 10-15% larger than women and 30% stronger on average.
- Men exhibit greater upper body strength.
- Men have better vision and depth perception; women blink twice as often as men.
- Women have a higher percentage of body fat.
- Men have greater muscle mass to body mass ratio and more slow twitch muscle fibers (for greater endurance).
- Men have stronger bones, tendons, and ligaments.
- Men have longer canine teeth.
- Men have larger vocal chords; thus, the “Adam’s apple.”
- The skull shape of men and women is different.
- Women have a larger and broader pelvis.
- Men have 56% greater lung volume per body mass.
- Men’s hearts are larger than women’s.
- Men have thicker skin, literally.
- Men have more body hair; women are smoother.
- Men have a greater tendency to lose hair; i.e., balding and thinning.
- Women are generally lighter-skinned.
- Women have more language processing areas in the brain.
- Women have more blood flow to their brain. (Insert jokes here.)
- Women have a more sensitive sense of smell.
- Women have more pain receptors.
- Women exhibit lower blood pressure overall.
- Women experience a faster heartbeat.
- Men have more red blood cells; women have more white blood cells.
- Men produce androgen hormones (one of which is testosterone); women produce estrogen hormones.
- Men are taller.
- Men are able to sire children well into old age; women have a decrease in fertility after 35 years of age.
- Women reach puberty approximately two years earlier.
- Men can parallel park better than women, but women can listen to three conversations at once and men struggle to follow one. Just kidding. That’s not scientifically proven (yet); call it the J Theory.
Can you believe that list is so long? There are other differences as well, but I’m not writing a dissertation, just a blog post.
The differences between men and women begin with outer appearance, but run down into bones and muscle, to chemicals, to brain structure, and into the cellular level.
So other than throwing out some interesting facts, what is my point? Well, it’s challenging to have a fabulous sexual relationship with someone so completely different from you! Yes, we are human, and that makes us immensely more like one another than not. But all these physical, brain, and hormonal differences mean that we approach sex differently. And God designed us that way!
When your husband or wife approaches the bedroom differently from you, some of that is due to gender differences.
So perhaps her better language centers mean that she can juggle several trains of thought and communicate during lovemaking, whereas he can grunt.
The hubby’s better distance vision and depth perception may help to explain why he is so visually oriented, whereas the lack of body hair and more pain receptors link to why she is more sensitive to touch.
And then there is her sensitivity to smell. Do I really have to spell out what that means, guys?
His greater lung volume and muscle mass may explain why God designed men to typically have more work for the sexual act itself, while her lessened blood flow could be related to why it takes longer for the wife to become sexually aroused.
If we weren’t different from one another, there wouldn’t be such an attraction between male and female. But at the same time, you have to understand that the spouse in your bedroom isn’t exactly like you. Your sexual partner is different all the way down to their core.
I have come to believe that it is God’s brilliant design to make mutual sexual satisfaction something you must work toward together. You must recognize those differences, appreciate them, and play to them. As many have said before me: Viva La Difference!
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27
I really love how point 4 gets delivered in style:
Women have a higher percentage of body fat.
And it’s all in the right places. 🙂
Thanks, Ivan. Nice to hear that from the guy’s perspective!
http://www.lds.org/family/proclamation?lang=eng
your thoughts on our differences reminded me of this document. it’s a statement i believe in with all my heart! maybe it will ring true to you, too. our bodies our different, our spirits are different, and our roles are different! it’s why we get together, because we’re complimentary! 🙂
While I differ from Mormon theology in certain important respects (as an evangelical Christian myself), I love their emphasis on marriage and family. We definitely share a desire for godly relationships within marriage. Our complementary roles as male and female are indeed wonderful. God knew what He was doing, didn’t He? Thanks.
Some excellent inferences 🙂
Thanks, Sharon.
“Yep, that’s it! This obvious fact has indeed been denied by plenty of feminists, psychologists, and academics. They admit that we have differing private parts, but some have argued that the concepts of maleness and femaleness are largely social constructs taught as stereotypes to children.”
Very well said! They would be wise to admit that denying blatant facts have stark consequences. But so far, they are not. Fail.
In any case, as someone once said: “If God made anything more beautiful than a woman, He kept it for Himself.” I, for one, am awed by His artistic, intricate design.
Thanks so much, Greg. I love your comment that you are “awed by His artistic, intricate design.” (Rec’d your other comment by the way, and giving it thought. Sorry for delay.)
As a chick, I think guys are pretty cool too.
I concur with the parallel parking vs. listening to 3 conversations at once theory! (justin)
🙂 Justin. I hate parallel parking. I think men designed it to torture me. But my hubby thinks I’m weird when two children talk at once and I process what they’re both saying.
Obviously, we can still call it the J Theory (with your name being Justin).
Oh, HHH! I have been looking for an honest, CHRISTIAN perspective on your topics for so very, very long! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to find you — for so many years, all of the Christian sites I have come across can’t even SPELL the word “sex” in their posts (they use s*x!) and they often took pains to try to “convince” the female reader that sex is “not dirty” and “actually enjoyable at times.” WHAT? Of *course* it’s not dirty! Of course it was created for us to enjoy in our marriages! Those sites are so far off-base from my beliefs and the reality in my life that I often read them and was left feeling frusturated, misunderstood, and lonely. Was *I* the only woman out there who was a wanton harlot when it came to my husband? Then I came across YOUR page — what a revelation! Can you tell that I am excited? THANK YOU for listening to His promting and taking that head-on approach to this topic for those of us who are a bit different from the average female. I can’t wait to read what you will put up next! Do you have a HHH Facebook Page? Please??
Good heavens, how sweet are you! Yes, of course sex isn’t dirty. God created it. Satan’s the one who tries to dirty it up by messing with God’s plan. But I want us Christians to reclaim the blessing of intimacy that is ours in marriage!
I don’t have a Facebook page…yet. For my personal life, professional life, and HHH life, I juggle several social media sites, blogs, and email accounts. I need God’s divine intervention to get another one going, but I probably will get to FB soon. I’ll inform readers if and when I do. Thanks so much!
I love this Blog!I think something that women also forget is that we, in all of our feminine quirks and differences, are also created in the image of God! Those feminine traits are part of God’s nature just as the masculine traits are!
When a guy can do three things at once, we call it ADD. If a woman does it, we call them women.
Of course, I don’t have ADD because it wasn’t invented when I was a kid. But I did listen to the radio, watch TV and read the book for my book report all at the same time. I usually got an A on that report as well.
But seriously, we wonder why boys have ADD, but we don’t bother to let them go to recess as often, or we get worried when they are tackling each other, or climbing trees, etc.
No wonder they are fidgety and can’t pay attention in class. All those hormones, muscles, red blood cells and lung capacity are not there so they can be better writers. They are there so they can run farther, faster and longer. Their skin is designed so they can take the rough-housing many cringe at when they see it, or outright ban on the playgrounds.
“Men can parallel park better than women, but women can listen to three conversations at once and men struggle to follow one. Just kidding. That’s not scientifically proven (yet); call it the J Theory.”
I (unfortunately LOL) have to agree about the conversation part. My wife would agree too. LOL
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