Charles Colson, "Denying the Obvious: Lawrence Summers and Sexual Differences" (2005)

BreakPoint with Charles Colson
Commentary #050209 - 02/09/2005
Denying the Obvious: Lawrence Summers and Sexual Differences

I understand why Harvard president Lawrence Summers might be confused. Speaking at a conference about "diversifying the science and engineering workforce," he thought that science might have something to do with the subject. He was wrong.

The subject was why "relatively few women become scientists or engineers." Besides the obligatory nod to discrimination on the part of universities, Summers noted the differences in math test scores. While, on average, boys and girls score approximately the same, more boys than girls score in both the highest and lowest percentiles.

Summers reportedly mentioned "innate" and/or "natural" differences between the sexes: the differences reflected in the test scores. That's when the fur flew. MIT biology professor Nancy Hopkins told the BOSTON GLOBE that she thought that she was going to be sick. "This kind of bias" left her with no choice but to flee the room. If she had stayed, she risked "blacking out."

Hopkins's hysteria is hilarious. As George Will put it, here we have someone "at the peak of the academic pyramid" overcome by the "vapors" upon hearing an "unwelcome idea." Like a "Victorian maiden," she collapsed waiting to be "revived . . . by the offending brute's contrition."

What's not funny is that Hopkins and others succeeded in getting Summers to apologize for "sending an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women." What nonsense! The only "signal of discouragement" being sent in this affair was by Hopkins and the others directed at anyone who takes the pursuit of truth and free inquiry seriously.

That signal was intended to enforce the idea that differences between men and women are "socially constructed." Aside from the inconvenient fact that only women can get pregnant and bear children, there's no reason that women and men shouldn't be interchangeable, whether at home or at work.

Unfortunately for Hopkins and company, as John Adams once said, "facts are stubborn things . . . our wishes [and] the dictates of our passion . . . cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." As Hopkins's MIT colleague David Page told the NEW YORK TIMES, "the genetic difference between males and females absolutely dwarfs all other differences in the human genome." By some estimates, the genetic difference due to sex is 100 to 200 times greater than the difference due to race or ethnicity.

One of the places these biological differences manifest themselves is the way in which our brains work. According to the LOS ANGELES TIMES, "men and women, on average . . . possess documented differences in certain thinking tasks . . . " Those of us who are married know this -- and are glad of it. It helps me that Patty's often more sensitive than I am. None of this means, however, that a given girl might not be a brilliant mathematician -- only that, all things being equal, mathematicians are more likely to be male than female.

Ideologues like Hopkins don't care about the facts. Like the villains in C. S. Lewis's THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, their goal is to re-make humanity in a more amenable image. That begins with denying the obvious and punishing those who dare to point it out -- even if his title is the "president of Harvard."

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Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.
THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a daily commentary on news and trends from a Christian perspective. Heard on more than 1000 radio outlets nationwide, BreakPoint transcripts are also available on the Internet. BreakPoint is a production of The Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship: 44180 Riverside Parkway, Lansdowne, VA 20176.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION
Today's BreakPoint offer: WHO STOLE FEMINISM? by Christina Hoff Sommers exposes the mean-spirited, male-bashing falsehoods claimed by so-called feminists, putting true feminism back on track with celebrating women's achievements, while acknowledging barriers yet to be overcome. http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11098&et=T&s=131333

"Harvard president criticized for comments on women in science," BOSTON GLOBE, 17 January 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11099&et=T&s=131333

Marcella Bombardieri, "Summers' remarks on women draw fire," BOSTON GLOBE, 16 January 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11100&et=T&s=131333

George F. Will, "Harvard president pays high price for his hypothesis," SACRAMENTO BEE, 27 January 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11101&et=T&s=131333

William Saletan, "Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head: The pseudo-feminist show trial of Larry Summers," SLATE, 21 January 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11102&et=T&s=131333

Nicholas Wade, "Y Chromosome Depends on Itself to Survive," NEW YORK TIMES, 19 June 2003. (Archived article; costs $2.95 to retrieve.)
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11103&et=T&s=131333

Rosie Mestel, "Brain Study Focuses on Gender Identity," LOS ANGELES TIMES, 20 October 2003, A14. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required.)
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11104&et=T&s=131333

http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11105&et=T&s=131333

Walter E. Williams, "Campus exercise in anti-intellectualism," WASHINGTON TIMES, 2 February 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11106&et=T&s=131333

Daniel J. Hemel, "Summers' Comments on Women and Science Draw Ire," HARVARD CRIMSON, 17 January 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11107&et=T&s=131333

Steven Pinker, "Sex Ed: The Science of Difference," NEW REPUBLIC, 7 February 2005.
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11108&et=T&s=131333

Martin Peretz, "Body of Evidence," NEW REPUBLIC, 4 February 2005. http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11109&et=T&s=131333

Andrew Sullivan, "Provocations," NEW REPUBLIC, 19 January 2005. (Available to subscribers only.)
http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11110&et=T&s=131333

C. S. Lewis, THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH (Scribner, 2003 edition). http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11111&et=T&s=131333

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WHO STOLE FEMINISM? by Christina Hoff Sommers exposes the mean-spirited, male-bashing falsehoods claimed by so-called feminists, putting true feminism back on track with celebrating women's achievements, while acknowledging barriers yet to be overcome. http://msg1svc.net/servlet/Gateway?p=pfm&u=11098&et=T&s=131333

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