As some of the comments on this page show the problem with gender studies is that people seem to be way too biased in either direction. Yes, there are differences between men and women. Yes, there is nothing wrong with studying these differences. No more than its wrong to study whether homosexuality has a genetical or a social basis. The problem though is that people take these studies the wrong way. Suddenly people make the case that women are less suitable as scientists in fields that rely upon spatial thinking. This is what really annoys me. These differences are at best very small. There is a huge overlap between men and women. Just because you are a man does not mean you have superior spatial abilities. I find it frustrating that many still tend to speak in terms of women and men when the most important factor is the individual. Humans are as we all know complex beings. Yes our genes are important but putting people into boxes because they are men or women is ridiculous and foremost unscientific in the worst possible way. You see this even in kindergarten where development psychologists make a clear distinction between boys and girls. Yes, there are of course differences and in some cases it makes sense to highlight these. In most cases though these policies ironically seem to be more or less self-fullfilling profecies. We claim men and women are different and not very suprisingly men and women suddenly express these differences. And voila, the scientists can lean back with a self-righteous smile and say: "See, men and women are really different". I am highly skeptical of all gender related studies since there is almost always a political agenda behind these studies.