Charles Murray has bravely rejoined the debate on racial and gender differences in an article: The Inequality Taboo in the September 2005 issue of Commentary Magazine
I have omitted perhaps the most obvious reason why men and women differ at the highest levels of accomplishment: megn take more risks, are more competitive, and are more aggressive than women. The word "testosterone" may come to mind, and appropriately. Much technical literature documents the hormonal basis of personality differences that bear on sex differences in extreme and venturesome effort, and hence in extremes of accomplishment--and that bear as well on the male propensity to produce an overwhelming proportion of the world's crime and approximately 100 percent of its wars. But this is just one more of the ways in which science is demonstrating that men and women are really and truly different, a fact so obvious that only intellectuals could ever have thought otherwise.It is fascinating and is sure to draw ample comment in future letters to the editor.
UPDATE: This has been a hot subject in the Blogosphere this weekend. Murray's article also revisits the issue of intelligence and race which he first broached in his 1994 book: The Bell Curve. The June 2005 edition of American Psychological Association's journal: Psychology, Public Policy, Law was devoted to the race/IQ issue. Some of the notables in the field, e.g. Jensen, Rushton, and others have articles in the issue....and these articles have been made available by Rushton at his web page: J. Philippe Rushton, Ph.D. Altruism, Evolutionary Psychology, Ethnic Variations
