supergee: (neuro)
Arthur D. Hlavaty ([personal profile] supergee) wrote2012-12-06 01:46 pm

Functions

Fifty years ago, I kept hearing that thinking and intuition were opposed to each other and were, respectively, masculine and feminine. When I pondered my own mental processes, I wondered why I was not a hermaphrodite. Fortunately, I found an Authority who offered a different model: Carl Jung said that thinking and intuition were perfectly compatible and had nothing to do with one's genitals or desires.

Jung said that thinking and feeling were opposed, but there are other models that find them compatible, and while they don't describe me as well, I find them plausible. What I don't find plausible is the attribution of those functions to genders, the idea that thinking is masculine, and thus to favor it over feeling is sexist.

We have all been here before, only with race, from both sides. We think, and they feel, so we are better. Occasionally, we feel and they think, so we are better. I didn't believe it about race, and I don't believe it about sex.