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What’s Not Fair About My Fair Lady

Nov 07, 2016
by Caroline Miller
Debra Bangasser, male-only medical researchh, oxytocin, Stress, stress receptors in women, why women need different drugs than men, women and men's brain differences
2 Comments

In My Fair Lady, Professor Higgins laments, “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?”  At the moment, there  is no answer to that question but scientists are working on it.  Besides the obvious gender differences, studies reveal men and women differ at the brain’s cellular level, which may account for why “women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders related to stress.” (“Stress,” by Debra A. Bangasser, Scientific American Mind, November/December, 2016, pg.62.) 

my fair lady

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For years, unfortunately, researchers excluded females from their studies on medications.  They feared the ovulation cycle would complicate their findings and wanted to keep the data simple.  (Ibid pg. 60)   The omission proved to be a mistake. Brain science continues to discover that, too often, women react to prescriptions differently from men. The drug oxytocin is a prime instance.  Studies of mice show this  social bonding hormone reduces levels of anxiety in males but heightens it in females.  (Ibid pg. 62-63)

Male-only research also means effective drugs for women never reach the market.  We know, for example, that stress receptors in women’s brains stay active longer than in  men’s.  As a consequence, women remain alert and anxious for greater periods of time. Why the difference exists is a mystery.  Some speculate that as women are  traditional guardians of the young, nature intended their sensibilities to be heightened. (Ibid, pg. 63.)

Why can’t a woman can’t be more like a man?  Maybe that’s a  wrong question.  Like the  French, perhaps we should take it all in stride. “Vive la difference.”

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2 Comments
  1. Dale Hess November 11, 2016 at 2:42 pm Reply
    I think taking more of it in stride is a wonderful idea. Not all of it, but more of it. We used to laugh about differences--one of the ways my parents' generation "took in in stride,"--that are now considered moral affronts. Humor that serves as disparagement ought always to be guarded against, not because it is "politically incorrect," but because it damages people we need to be the kind of society we want to be. Thanks for this really engaging post.
    • Caroline Miller November 11, 2016 at 3:22 pm Reply
      Thank you, Dale, for your observation. Whether it's a "thank you" for the Statue of Liberty, or the principals of the Social Contract embedded in our Constitution, we owe much to the French.

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Contact Caroline at

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Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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