(DAILY TELEGRAPH) 17 April 2008:

New research shows that the stereotype of the confused little old lady isn’t all that accurate: it should be the confused little old man. The study found that more men than women in old age had cognitive impairment (memory loss and so on) and that it started at an earlier age as well.

Further proof that men are in fact the weaker sex perhaps. Although it has to be admitted that no wife would be surprised at the result: husbands can never remember anything, can they?

(NEW YORK POST) 14 January 2008:

There’s a general belief that men and women approach work and problem solving differently. Some men approach work with the ego, using prowess to define and advance their place in the hierarchy. Some women approach work and problem solving in a more communicative manner, as part of the team. This is rather “Men are from Mars, Women from Venus” and while the sterotypes are a useful generalization, they don’t in fact hold in each and every case.

One woman who has been a boss in both male and female dominated environments puts it rather differently. There are procrastinators and there are doers: and there are male and female versions of both.

(SCIENCE DAILY) 20 October 2007:

The stereotype of the acne sufferer is the spotty teenage boy, face alight with angry boils. The truth is, researchers have found both male and female teenagers suffer about equally (68 to 66 percent).

However, in older age groups, it is women who suffer more from acne than men. The researchers also found that acne can be linked to a woman’s menstrual cycle (not a surprise to many women), with sufferers getting more acne at certain times of the month and less if they were on Hormone Replacement Therapy.

All of which makes a certain amount of sense: the teenager’s acne is thought to be caused by the hormonal firestorm they’re going through and at older ages a woman’s cycle causes vastly more such turmoil than the relatively stable glandular system of men…and HRT soothes that.

(THE SCOTSMAN)  2 July 2007:

Something rather odd appears to be happening with telephone habits in the UK. Men are now greater users of telephones than women are.

The average man is now on the phone 32 minutes a day, up from 22 five years ago, while the average woman is down to 26 minutes from the previous 35. So the old stereotype of women nattering away seems to have disappeared. Other such has remained though, 70% of men spend most of their time talking about sport, women or money.

Women seem to have replaced many of their previous calls with texts or emails: perhaps this simply shows that women are more literate than men?

(DALLAS NEWS) 6 June 2007:

Some people believe that men won’t listen to advice while women will. It’s less well known that this leads to the death of some men. Research shows that the strong silent guy stereotype does indeed exist, and it’s this type that tends not to listen to what people, even doctors, are saying about his health.

This not listening is what leads to men being greater risk takers and thus at greater risk from such things as car crashes, the effects of smoking and stress related illnesses.

Some might say that women’s greater willingness to listen leads to their similar and opposite lower risk of such diseases as they modify their behavior.

(DAILY TIMES) 30 May 2007:

Some of the long standing stereotypes about men and women can in fact turn out to be true, on average. For example, recent research from the University of Warwick (UK) shows that it is indeed true (as we would expect from our EQSQ tests, on average) that men are better than women at map reading. What was unexpected was that sexual orientation also played a part, with a spectrum with heterosexual men at one end, heterosexual women at the other, and gays and lesbians trending to the middle.

Having found that sexual orientation makes such a difference, researchers were then surprised to find that it is gender only which affects the ageing of the mind. All men’s minds wither faster than all women’s, although they were too polite to point out what all women know, that this starts early, about age three in the opinion of many.

(Inside Bay Area) 24 May 2007:

There is a change going on with who purchases houses in the USA. A generation ago, single men and women made up roughly the same percentages of house buyers, roughly 10% each. The numbers have now diverged wildly, with single women now making up 21% of all home buyers, single men remaining at 9%.

Experts agree that this is a combination of the rising age at which we marry added to the old stereotype that women are “nesters.” Just because the creation of that nest with one individual is being delayed does not mean that the desire to nest in itself is delayed.

As they also point out, concerning the nesting stereotype for women, just because it is a stereotype does not mean it’s not true.

(SYNAPSE) 29 March 2007:

The “cat lady” stereotype is so cliche that no one dare use it in fiction anymore. It’s also a myth that doesn’t seem to accord with what we know about cats in the real world.

One of the feline disease that can be transmitted to humans is Toxoplasma Gondii. It’s estimated that some 40% of the global population are infected. Closeness to and living with cats makes such infection more likely.

However, being infected strikes men and women in different ways. Men lose IQ, become more withdrawn, have shorter attention spans and are less attractive to women. Infected women however are more attractive to men and are also more promiscuous.

(REUTERS) 29 December 2006:

Yes, it’s one of the great cliches, a classic stereotype, that men simply will not stop and ask for directions. This is offset when said man has superior abilities at map reading and spatial awareness. However, relying on such systems and refusing to speak out if things appear puzzling can lead to disaster.

Tobi Gutt, a German man, was on his way to stay with his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia for a month. A small error in his typing skills meant he actually bought a ticket to Sidney, Montana. He spent three days there before friends could wire him the money to continue his journey.

Perhaps in future it might be worth talking to the pilot as you embark, just to check that his travel plans for the day match with your own?

(USA TODAY) 17 August 2006:

The US Department of Education is preparing to release final regulations on how public schools can set up single-sex classes and schools without being open to lawsuits.

While a growing body of research reveals that boys and girls learn differently and may do better in a single-sex classroom, the ACLU is poised to attack single sex classes and schools.

Although boys seem to be gaining most from the single-sex classroom, girls may also benefit.  Researchers are looking into ways to boost girls’ math and science performances with single-sex classrooms.

In order to be successful, the single-sex classroom or school must focus on adjusting for different learning styles, not reinforcing sex and gender stereotypes.