[Amazon Lover]

I heard in Psychology class that intelligence can be influenced by hormones.  Ever notice that stereotypical nerd males are seen as less-than-masculine, while stereotypical nerd females are seen as less-than-feminine?  There's actually a reason for that.  The closer a human being is to having equal quantities of testosterone and estrogen, the more intelligent a person is.  Thus steretypical nerd males have less testosterone and more estrogen than average guys and are less masculine, while stereotypical nerd females have less estrogen and more testosterone than average girls and are less feminine as a result.  Similarly, this would explain why stereotypical jock males and stereotypical "girly girls" are seen as being dumb.

What does this have to do with muscular women?  Well, excercising and putting on muscles increases testosterone in the body.  Therefore, I theorize that a muscle girl is probably smarter than she would be if she weren't muscular.  Makes you wonder if girls would benefit in school from hitting the gym as much as hitting the books…!

BTW, folks, note that I used the term "stereotypical" repeatedly.  I'm aware that not all nerdy-types are contrary to their gender, while not all jocks and girly girls are dumb.  I'm simply discussing stereotypes, which – although BASED in reality – are not necessarily true in all or even most cases.  Fear my political correctness!

[Vic]

That is indeed very interesting.

[ratlaf]

Hmmm, so the more muscular a woman is the smarter she is, wow now they're intimidating in yet another way, giggiddy giggiddy giggiddy!!!

[nsl2050]

Umm, it's a bit more complicated than that, and it doesn't quite work that way. Very briefly, testosterone is good for spatial awareness and numerical abstraction, while estrogen is good for language skills and empathy.

Follow that theory, and lifting weights makes a woman an uncommunicative math geek, who doesn't care about others but can parallel park an eighteen wheeler. 🙂

On the other hand, your theory makes a much better starting point for a story (yes authors, I'm hinting at you).

[Anonymous]

Follow that theory, and lifting weights makes a woman an uncommunicative math geek, who doesn't care about others but can parallel park an eighteen wheeler. 🙂

Why? She doesn't lose out on estrogen…

[nsl2050]

Why? She doesn't lose out on estrogen…

I assume it's a ratio thing. Plus it's not really something that happens in later life unless the amount of hormones are of the full sex change variety. Furthermore we're talking of a very small bias, so a woman can be more spatially aware than most men, but in a sample of a thousand men and women, the men will generally score better at spatial awareness.

I still think that this is rich material for the talented authors hereabouts. Hilary Clinton or Condy Rice gets elected to PotUS and institutes weight training for women to counteract the brain drain…

[Anonymous]

I assume it's a ratio thing. Plus it's not really something that happens in later life unless the amount of hormones are of the full sex change variety.

From what I've read, if the amount of testosterone naturally increases, then the amount of estrogen does as well. The body keeps its own ratio. Also, from what I've read, women work with existing testosterone, which means that they don't get a testosterone boost from working out.

If a change in the ratio to estrogen and testosterone doesn't happen later in life, then what do you call menopause? 😉

[nsl2050]

From what I've read, if the amount of testosterone naturally increases, then the amount of estrogen does as well. The body keeps its own ratio. Also, from what I've read, women work with existing testosterone, which means that they don't get a testosterone boost from working out.

If a change in the ratio to estrogen and testosterone doesn't happen later in life, then what do you call menopause? 😉

Ah, I expressed myself inexactly.

To be clear, we're only ever talking about external hormones affecting the brain. So a shift in ratio of the mothers hormones (and I don't know how that might happen) can affect a baby in the womb, because small changes are enough, but later in life you need large amounts of external hormones over a sustained period of time to have an effect (hence sex change).

[Anonymous]

OOOOOKAY, now we’re on the same page. This makes perfect sense. :nods: I am in agreement.
I also agree that it would be an interesting storyline! 🙂

[Author]

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