Warriors and Worriers

The Survival of the Sexes

By: Joyce F. Benenson, Henry Markovits

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

The question of exactly what sex differences exist and whether they have a biological foundation has been one of our culture's favorite enduring discussions. It should. After a baby is born, a parent's first concern is for its physical health. The next concern is its sex. Only in the most modern societies does sex not virtually guarantee the type of future life a new human being will have. Even in modern societies, one's sex usually plays a large role in the path a life follows.

Scientists have published thousands of papers on the subject, with the general conclusion being that men and women are mostly the same, whatever differences exist have been socialized, and what differences exist have to do with women bearing children and men being physically stronger.

In Warriors and Worriers, psychologist Joyce Benenson presents a new theory of sex differences, based on thirty years of research with young children and primates around the world. Her innovative theory focuses on how men and women stay alive. Benenson draws on a fascinating array of studies and stories that explore the ways boys and men deter their enemies, while girls and women find assistants to aid them in coping with vulnerable children and elders. This produces two social worlds for each sex which sets humans apart from most other primate species. Human males form cooperative groups that compete against out-groups, while human females exclude other females in their quest to find mates, female family members to invest in their children, and keep their own hearts ticking. In the process, Benenson turns upside down the familiar wisdom that women are more sociable than men and that men are more competitive than women.

©2014 Oxford University Press (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Fascinating read

It had always puzzled me why women and girls run through best friends like toilet paper, this makes a lot of sense of just how unique men’s and women’s social dynamics are. Also explains my hobbies as interests when I was a boy. I thought my childhood obsession with big explosions and throwing rocks made me odd. Turns out that’s normal.

A good read

This was a very provocative evidence-based, rational discourse on an important topic that surely needs more of voices like Benenson… brave, thoughtful, and scholarly. Bravo!

A Tour de Force

I don’t know how this book evaded my radar for so long. The author brings data and anecdote alike to detail and illustrate the evolved psychology of men and women (and boys and girls). She makes such a clear and compelling case that, viewed through the lens she provides, the world seems to come more fully into focus. I now consider this book a “must read” for those interested in understanding humans and how they relate to each other and the world.

disappointing

I don't recall ever being so annoyed while reading a book. the author is presenting a simple interpretation to human behaviour and forces it on every case study as a sole reason and explanation to everything. while I assume the observations in this book are true, knowing about them provides very little to act upon and in fact is almost providing an excuse for sexism by saying "it's just how I'm wired"

Propagates lies

Wage gap lies and she says that one in four men abuse their spouses which is definitely a lie. Also sounds like it was narrated by AI