The difference between Men & Women part X...

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So Emma & I drove out to Dartmoor yesterday afternoon and went to Haytor and Houndtor. I had my camera with me and was eager as anything to go clamboring over rocks and taking photographs and climbing and jumping from granite lump to granite lump, while Emma was content to simply sit on a rock and look. When I asked her she said she wasn't particularly bothered about touching or getting involved with the tors / quarry etcetera, but preferred just to see them and appreciate them at a remove, whereas I always want to touch and climb on and investigate things. On the way back to car I then asked her if this was a difference between me & her or a difference between men & women, and she said probably a difference between men & women.

Two other notable recent examples; whilst at the Tate Modern the other week I was v. frustrated at not being allowed to touch the sculptures, as I see their tactile nature as being a key element of enjoying them (I even went as far as to formulate a short idea that the wear+tear & decay of art should be as important to its status and appreciation by people as the moment when the artist stops working on it (I'm loathe to say 'finishes', because the whole point is that it's a process rather than a 'finished object'). The other example is the reason we were on Dartmoor in the first place - to scout out locations for doing some found-object 'natural art' next week, using a load of driftwood and some nice black stones. I'm keen as buggery for us to do this and really into the idea of manipulating stuff and altering the environment slightly, whereas Emma just wants to take the pictures of the final thing, and refuses to believe she could be any good at the arranging of the actual objects themselves, despite her having a better aesthetic sense of design than me ("I'm not an artist" she says, to which my reply is always "As soon as you do some art you are, ergo, do some art!").

Is there somethign feminine about the onlooker and something masculine about the arranger? Are men nosier and more childlike in terms of wanting to get hands dirty than women?

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 08:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Addition to the bit about the Tate Modern; to which Emma just said "I can see what you mean, but I don't really want to touch them."

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 08:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I can see what you mean. Me & James went to the fitzwilliam museum (in Cambridge) on saturday. There are signs up everywhere sating 'DO NOT TOUCH' but i had an overwhelming urge to touch everything. James felt it too, but he did actually touch things & I didn't, so maybe your theory is correct!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Girls don't like it when I touch them.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

they dont want to get their hands dirty matt

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Guys always want to 'fix' stuff esp. if it isn't broken. Chicks always want to 'clean' stuff which means putting shit away where you can never find it again. I like my environments to be completely static and equilibrious at all times, but then, I'm an uncommonly lazy person.

― dave q, Monday, 18 August 2003 10:09 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, dave q = the third sex

But to answer the question:
NO no no, a thousand times no.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

erm actually we both wanted to touch (getting our hands dirty metaphorically speaking) but i didnt because i'd been told not to. so maybe the difference is that females obey more rules.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Nah, I don't buy any of this.

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Emma and Nick though, I think you should definitely do your Richard Long thing AND post the pictures.

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh we will do, don't worry about that!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Does anybody know where I can get loads of bright yellow flags cheap?

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Flags-r-us?

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

cheapyellowflags.com

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Sarcasm is the lowest form of... something.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick, you could mail these dudes info@theflagshop.co.uk and ask them where to start...

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex K you are a genius and I kiss you.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

*high fives Mark C*

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

My ex-wife was always far keener than me on touching sculptures, to be honest, and we fitted a lot of male/female mental stereotyping.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:29 (twenty-two years ago)

on the one hand, stereotypically, women are supposed to be more tactile than men. on the other, men are supposedly encouraged to be more adventurous and inquisitive.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Monday, 18 August 2003 22:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, an' I thought the oppressive mean ole detached GAZE was supposed to be male? Personally I need to gawk at AND stick my hands all over everything so I dunno... questions like this make me feel I have to check between my legs to remember what's down there... Hi pusspuss! Yes, we're going home in a couple hours...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

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