facinating distinguishing the feminine

Although I am not usually one for books about women, Jonalyn's Finch's book, "Ruby Slippers" contained two insights worth pondering for the moment. The main thesis that women's souls are different from men's remains an open for me, though one distinction discussed between the sexes struck a cord with me. She makes a distinction between separate knowing and connected knowing, saying "Interdependent women often rely on connected knowing, where you believe someone in order to connect with them. Independent women often rely on separate knowing, where you doubt someone in order to mine out the truth." [118]. This is precisely how I approach knowing, before I doubt some piece of knowledge I try to identify with the person's belief. Of course I can't help but consider whether this approach to knowledge allows for a greater possibility of including knowledge that might otherwise be excluded prematurely by a skeptical approach.

The second insight worth considering is that of Dr. Sara E. Snodgrass's study on interpersonal sensitivity. She found that rather than being gender specific, sensitivity is more role specific. The subordinate of any gender is more likely to be sensitive to a leader, and studies with both women subjects highlighted the idea that women were no more sensitive when placed in leadership positions than men. I wonder how much patriarchial systems, that have excluded women in obvious leadership roles, rather than genuine psychological differences have shaped our expectations of women's sensitivity.