This weekend I watched (part of) Rob Roy with my husband. I say part of, because I find the movie disturbing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m too sensitive. But anyway…we were watching the movie and we came to the part where the  servant girl hangs herself after she finds out that she’s carrying Archibald’s child and he won’t honor her.

My hubs says to  me, “It’s not that bad. She shouldn’t have done that.”

What? Did he not understand the position she found herself in? She’s unemployed (having lost her job when her employers found out that she was pregnant), carrying what would have been called a bastard child, and the year is circa 1730.

That in turn made me think about the differences between women and men. I know what you’re thinking, and I’ve read Mars and Venus. But I’m talking about what makes us *different*. Is it truly a matter of nature that causes men and women react differently when faced with the same situations?

Nature or nurture? According to some studies it doesn’t matter how you raise a boy, he’s a boy. In the case of a circumcision gone wrong concerning a set of identical twin boys, one of the children was raised as a girl. (Click here for more info) The ‘experiment’ worked for a while, but ultimately failed.

So maybe there is something about boys, something that makes them different, makes them think differently than women. And that something keeps them from understanding the plight of a woman in the 18th century who finds herself pregnant and unwed.

What do you think? Is nature stronger than nurture? does it color how we react, women versus men?