Men can't help it; blame their biology - Unit 15

C2 Proficiency · Gapped Text · Objective Proficiency 2nd Edition Workbook, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read an article about gender differences and the division of labour. Seven paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A–H the one which fits each gap (1–7). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

Men can’t help it; blame their biology

Why men struggle with domestic routines — and why biology may be to blame

‘The female’s brain is architecturally designed to do several things at once, whereas the male brain is more focused, more compartmentalised, more built to do one thing after another,’ says Helen Fisher, an anthropologist who is also studying the brain. ‘And, of course, the home is a place where you need to do a lot of things all at once – like clean the loo, answer the telephone, defrost the peas, feed the dog, change the baby and iron the shirts.’

Biology, that’s why. The culprit is a neurotransmitter called serotonin. We all have it in our brains, but men have less of it, and the less serotonin you have the more impatient and impulsive you are. Serotonin acts as a braking system on our impulses. It placates. It permits us to endure routine and boredom. And men are serotonin-challenged.

All surveys of household responsibilities show that men are stubbornly resistant to their new role as house-husbands, though interestingly the newer the relationship the more pliant he is. But once he has his boots firmly under her table he becomes the old brute once again – only two per cent of men in stable relationships help with the washing and ironing.

It’s not hard to imagine – there’s no financial reward and there’s certainly no glamour; there’s precious little job satisfaction and not much to look forward to from one day to the next except more of the same. But the role of the housewife is different today and, more importantly, so are society’s attitudes towards it.

Take Kevin Beck and Lisa Bates. They fell in love. They married. Each was on their second marriage and each had two children and, because Lisa was on a fast-track career, they agreed that Kevin would be the house-husband. ‘I’ve always looked after myself,’ he says, ‘and I thought that I could manage. I’m pretty tidy so I thought the house would be as neat and tidy as I want it. I thought it should be a breeze.’

And it is not just multitasking. Studies also show that from early childhood males have a greater tolerance for dirt. They do not see the stains on a bath or the dust on the bookshelves. Males also have a different sense of smell. He does not detect many of the pheromone-related odours (smelly socks, sweaty shirts) of which women are acutely aware. He sees sweetness and order where she sees filth and decay.

However, as men cannot be women we have had to settle for the next best thing: the ‘new man’. His specifications were dreamt up by feminists who rigorously refuse to recognise any innate differences of aptitude or attitude between the sexes.

The house got messier as Kevin’s low boredom threshold rebelled. Blouses got burnt instead of ironed as his brain strayed in search of diversions. However it was not only serotonin that was crippling Kevin’s good intentions. The brains of the male and female are organised in different ways, and this organisation is not an accident of upbringing or culture – it is hard-wired into the cells from conception.

In an ideal world men would be women. They would be home-makers and child-minders, cooks and cleaners, unabashed by wearing an apron. They would even use those baby-changing stations that now forlornly decorate public toilets in airports and motorway service areas.

Which is not to say the new man does not exist. You see him toting the baby on his back, or filleting the kiwi fruit for his partner's supper. However, the new man's most salient characteristic is his rarity. If he had feathers, he would be an endangered species.

So, are men just behaving badly? Or is there another reason why they shy away from the iron? Ironing a shirt does not call for extraordinary skill, and men living on their own manage it perfectly well, so why do they shrink from the duty when they are married?

'Men are more susceptible to boredom,' says Professor Marvin Zuckerman, an expert on neurotransmitters. 'What happens when you don't get variation stimulation? What happens when there is nothing changing, nothing novel? It's an unpleasant feeling. Not quite anxiety or depression, dissatisfaction. Men are more impatient and, when they're bored, they find different ways to express their boredom.'

Except, of course, for the problem of serotonin. 'It all became routine, mundane, boring. You start to feel "I did that yesterday, so why should I do it again today?" And then you start to think, "Well, I won't do it today. I'm not bothered today." And then it just deteriorates from there.'

The differences are visible in brain-scans. When a man does a crossword puzzle, only the left side of his brain is active, but a woman's brain lights up like Blackpool. She uses both sides of her brain while she solves the clues. And what is true of verbal challenges is true to much of life. Studies show that, in general, the male's brain is focused while hers is more integrated.

Last year an experiment was set up to test Fisher's findings. Six men and six women were challenged to complete a series of tasks in a limited time. They had to wash up, brew coffee, make toast and scrambled eggs, iron a shirt and take a phone message. The result was a walkover for the women.

Kevin and Lisa finally declared their experiment a failure. 'When Kevin went back to work it was as though a burden had been lifted, he was so chirpy,' Lisa says. Kevin feels he is back doing what he should be. 'We get on much better now I'm at work because I come home and I'm satisfied for the day. I've done my work, I've done a good job,' he says. So you can be a new man, if that is what you want – but only by undergoing a sex change. Easier, perhaps, to wear an unironed shirt?

In an ideal world men would be women. They would be home-makers and child-minders, cooks and cleaners, unabashed by wearing an apron. They would even use those baby-changing stations that now forlornly decorate public toilets in airports and motorway service areas. ___ Which is not to say the new man does not exist. You see him toting the baby on his back, or filleting the kiwi fruit for his partner’s supper. However, the new man’s most salient characteristic is his rarity. If he had feathers, he would be an endangered species. ___ So, are men just behaving badly? Or is there another reason why they shy away from the iron? Ironing a shirt does not call for extraordinary skill, and men living on their own manage it perfectly well, so why do they shrink from the duty when they are married? ___ ‘Men are more susceptible to boredom,’ says Professor Marvin Zuckerman, an expert on neurotransmitters. ‘What happens when you don’t get variation stimulation? What happens when there is nothing changing, nothing novel? It’s an unpleasant feeling. Not quite anxiety or depression, dissatisfaction. Men are more impatient and, when they’re bored, they find different ways to express their boredom.’ ___ Except, of course, for the problem of serotonin. ‘It all became routine, mundane, boring. You start to feel “I did that yesterday, so why should I do it again today?” And then you start to think, “Well, I won’t do it today. I’m not bothered today.” And then it just deteriorates from there.’ ___ The differences are visible in brain-scans. When a man does a crossword puzzle, only the left side of his brain is active, but a woman’s brain lights up like Blackpool. She uses both sides of her brain while she solves the clues. And what is true of verbal challenges is true to much of life. Studies show that, in general, the male’s brain is focused while hers is more integrated. ___ Last year an experiment was set up to test Fisher’s findings. Six men and six women were challenged to complete a series of tasks in a limited time. They had to wash up, brew coffee, make toast and scrambled eggs, iron a shirt and take a phone message. The result was a walkover for the women. ___ Kevin and Lisa finally declared their experiment a failure. ‘When Kevin went back to work it was as though a burden had been lifted, he was so chirpy,’ Lisa says. Kevin feels he is back doing what he should be. ‘We get on much better now I’m at work because I come home and I’m satisfied for the day. I’ve done my work, I’ve done a good job,’ he says. So you can be a new man, if that is what you want – but only by undergoing a sex change. Easier, perhaps, to wear an unironed shirt?

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