"You think too much," he said. How many times have I been accused of THAT in my life??? And ONLY by men. I'm trying to think if a woman has ever accused me of this. Nope, pretty sure not.
So: It's a POWER and CONTROL issue.
Women who are left brain dominant are NOT AS EASY TO CONTROL in a left-brain dominated world.
They're drawn to me; and simultaneously repelled. They LOVE that I actually UNDERSTAND their 'male' world better than their wives/girlfriends/mothers/sisters.
And yet, at the same time, they expect me to GIVE UP that power so that THEY won't be threatened by me. Because, don't you know, that's a woman's PRIME job in this BOY'S CLUB of a world: To NEVER make a man feel INFERIOR to you. Not even by simply EXISTING as a MORE INTELLIGENT HUMAN THAN HE IS. (I'm trying to think of men who don't fit this pattern, who seem to be OK with me being smarter than them, or who even (gasp!) APPRECIATE it. There are two who were absolutely open about it, and they were both Canadian. Hm. Statistically insignificant, but I have more than once wondered if I ought to be looking for my 'partner' north of the border?)
Makes me think of my father (again). And why I would be drawn to this current 'friend' just now.
***
I'm just reading about eye/brain dominance, and am being told by my friend Google that I'm 'mixed dominance' (right-handed, left eye dominant), which 'could be a problem'.
Now, I PERSONALLY think it just means that I'm BLOODY FUCKING BRILLIANT, and that my BRILLIANT brain has come up with this MASTERFUL solution for ME, personally, to survive in this fucked up, mixed-message, double-standard world that women in a boy's club have to deal with.
So I'm trying to think how this works: If I'm right-handed, that does *indeed* suggest left-brain dominance.
But - most of the 'brain dominance' tests I've taken come up with me being right-brain dominant.
So did I develop the left brain as a defense against my father's cruelty, and against CRUEL, SADISTIC men in general.
The answer to that would be: A resounding YES.
One such male once said to me something to the effect that I was, "Hip to his trip," which was why he couldn't (wouldn't?) hang with me. He couldn't "pull anything over on me."
Well, I just have to keep looking for a man (and WOMEN friends, as well) who actually WANT an equal partner. Unfortunately, the ones still standing at this late stage in life (like an emotional version of musical chairs) are generally the LOSERS. Which means they want to WIN if they try again. Or else, they're so CLUELESS about what's going on with them that they're like giant babies - they just want you to TAKE CARE OF THEM. Gah.
***
Interesting link on handedness and dominance of various body parts:
http://pages.prodigy.net/unohu/dominance.htm
An excerpt from this page about *nostril* unilaterality (!):
"Relative nostril efficiency (nasal cycle) is related to hemispheric EEG differences and performance on cognitive tasks. We investigated how unilateral forced nostril breathing influences spatial and verbal performance. Right-handed males and females performed both tasks under either left-nostril, right-nostril, or free-breathing conditions. Unilateral breathing affects performance differently in males and females. It influences male performance ipsilaterally on both tasks: Their spatial performance is better during right-nostril breathing, and their verbal performance is better during left-nostril breathing. Unilateral breathing influences female performance contralaterally, but only on the spatial task: Their spatial performance is better during left-nostril breathing. These differences within and between sexes may exist because unilateral nostril breathing differentially activates the two hemispheres and thereby facilitates performance, or because attempts of the brain to control the nasal cycle unilaterally interfere with performance."
Also, this on a possible developmental 'cause' (?) of mixed dominance:
Things to Avoid
Problems with Dominance
Developmental Causes
"We are finding that the too early and too complicated activities which are demanded from the senses today cause many children who are right-handed to use their left eye when looking at objects rather than their right eye. This is termed a cross dominance between the eye and hand, displacing the normal laterality of the body.Then, too, there are the growing numbers of children who use the left hand while retaining the dominance of the right eye."
I'm not at all convinced that this is a 'problem', especially when I came across the notion that women (at least among sharpshooters, whose issues with eye dominance came up most frequently in my google searches) are quite often cross-dominant.
I suspect that women (and perhaps ALL people who develop cross-dominance?) develop cross-dominance as a way to cope with the MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE (that is, cognitive dissonance-inducing) EXPECTATIONS and DEMANDS of being a woman in a man's world.
That is, if your behavior is continually being trained to go against your actual NATURE, and when you are being held to TWO OPPOSITE STANDARDS simultaneously (that is, being CRITICISED for being 'overly emotional' at the very same time that you are EXPECTED to eschew such 'unpleasant' emotions as anger (hm, the primary emotion of POWER and DOMINANCE - funny, that, eh? NOT.)
So, I expect that women born into a left-brain-dominated world and trained by a left-brain-dominated system (namely, any traditional public school system), find themselves at odds with the SIMULTANEOUS expectation by their culture that they CHOOSE between a) female and b) male ways of behaving.
The problem is that these definitions are almost entirely artificial, power-based constructs used to create hierarchies of SOCIAL DOMINANCE. And women KNOW this, at some level, whether they ever CONSCIOUSLY recognize it or not.
So they compensate (unconscsiously) by being MOSTLY left-brain, but the left eye gives away the fact that they've had to sacrifice MASSIVE quantities of - but wait a minute. Men may be more 'efficient' at a single-focused task because they are able to COMPLETELY IGNORE all other external input.
But is this a GOOD thing? I can imagine MANY situations in which a man's 'ability' to block out 'unwanted' or 'distracting' input to be to his severe DETRIMENT, up to and including DEATH.
***
A quote that I like (bolds mine):
The whole field of left-right specialisation has been received some very vocal criticism.
"Brain scientists will tell you that the idea of a rigid divide is a popular myth. They even have a word for the public's enthusiasm for the subject: 'dichotomania'. Like 'modern phrenology' the word is a put-down, intended to imply that the real situation is far too complex for simple conclusions to be drawn."
***
From another site, http://www.giftedchildren.org.nz/forum/read.php?f=8&i=751&t=129, a reader comment that I REALLY LIKE and that makes sense to me:
I wouldn't be concerned over mixed dominance or crossed dominance - that's just the way you're wired and as far as I know there is little you can do about and no need to anyway.
I'm an optometrist who also happens to be cross dominant.
You are correct in thinking that it is usual for the eye and hand to match in dominance.
Typically I find the children who are cross dominant have often skipped a step in the developmental sequence of creeping-crawling-walking when I understand that dominance and laterality are developed. As an example I never crawled, I shuffled round on my bottom and then walked.
A high proportion of the children that we test with learning difficulties do seem to be cross dominant BUT being cross dominant doesn't mean you have learning difficulties.
Learning was never an issue for me but I have rotten hand-eye coordination and as a consequence I'm useless at sport. I never understood why until I learnt about dominance at university. However, again there seem to be no hard and fast rules about how this affects people. I have met cross-dominant kids who are very good at sport.
Earlier in this thread is a reference to children being patched to correct dominance. This is incorrect. Patching is used to help the development of vision in an eye that has for some reason been deprived of visual stimulus. It is intended to improve vision not change dominance. It should never be done without the supervision of an eyecare professional.
I've not come across anyone in the industry that attempts to change eye dominance or any evidence to suggest that you should. Knowing that you have mixed dominance can help you better understand the way you function though.
And another (long) comment that I like, from the same site:
"I was concerned because my right-handed, left-eyed child is a great artist and almost visually gifted. I believe those gifts come from the right side of the brain and I suppose his left eye helps him access it. However, it may also cause his slow processing."***
Processing Speed is based on specific tasks being timed - tasks that tend to disadvantage Visual Spatial individuals .... and as I understand it, the calculation is quite heavily weighted when it comes to calculating the over all score.
What it CANNOT possibly do is actually measure any given individuals processing speed - in order to do that it would have to take into account what information (or volume of information) any individual brain is "working with" at any given point in time - these timed tests do not do that - they simply measure the time it takes to get to what point on a specific task - not the information the brain is working with to do that.
That is all well and dandy for someone who only retains information for a short time in order to actively work on a task but the results for those who accumulate information over long periods of time and need to "sift" through it .... nor will it produce an accurate result for those who need to "translate information" into an "internal code" and back again.
Contrary to the popular notion of "left/right brain" - I am convinced that Spatial processing is "centred" at the BACK of the brain and the brain is actually wired for both left and right to work together far more "holistically" than the "normal" brain .... creative logic and logical creativity - both and neither.
As the brain "warms up" - it does so from the back forward on both sides of the brain ... with the front of the brain taking the longest to become "fully active". It would interest me greatly to learn the difference between dominance in the "normal" population and dominance in the spatial ... I would expect both lack of established dominance and stronger mixed dominance to be more common amongst the spatial for physiological reasons.
Of course, I am, once again - basing this on a "model" of the "spatial brain" that is effectively a product of my own imagination - without any other "scientific evidence" to back me up on this .... but it would make logical sense and explain a great deal.
Assuming my original theory holds correct (VS and GT both resulting from a significant deviation from the norm with regard to development of the central nervous system) then it also stands to reason that along with the more obvious neurological and cognitive differences - the fundamental "mechanics" would likely be different also.
Perhaps the fact that, at 40 years old, I still have no natural sense of "left/right" influences my imagination somewhat - but even so, that would make logical sense - if my brain is not "divided" in accordance with "left" or "right" hemispheres as conventional belief dictates (which seems to be more an interpretation of how it APPEARS than anything else) - then one pretty natural outcome of that would be to have difficulty learning left from right. Its not a "general directional issue" - forwards and backwards, up and down are not affected in the same way.
Maybe - just maybe there is a hell of a lot more to the saying "eyes in the back of the head" than most people realise .... I am inclined to believe there is.
Another link that, with selective reading, yields some interesting ideas (especially like the READER COMMENTS) :
http://www.singsurf.org/brain/rightbrain.php
***
And yet ANOTHER interesting comment from the comment thread of singsurf:
I believe your all missing out on some key factors, that will help all who want it. The majority of comments are only in reference to mostly Mental assertiveness. How about the Physical side, while being in this out of balance state lets take the majority of our population (Left brain) 99.99% of all left brain dominate people are weak on there right side, simple muscle testing will prove this. So with this imbalance, how would the Right side of our body measure up. If we were to measure the leg length of both side, would we not be shorter on our right side. Now If non-relieved stress is the enviormental problem, and that most people are stuck in Flight or Flight stress response that inhibits the body's own ability to heal within. This ongoing, and unrelieved stress is what disease, and most disorders stem from. To rub more salt in this open wound, we give doctors the license to prescribe symptom relief while the core issue is slowly degenerating our life's energy. I have been involved for 2 years with a process called ALPHABIOTICS. This simple technique balances the body with a pattern interrupt (like rebooting a computer) instantly stronger on both sides and my stress has minimized greatly. Since doing this, my personal health has greatly improved and many changes have occurred to my overall benefit.The Alphabioitics site the commenter refers to is here:
http://alphabioticsinternational.com/WordStress.aspx
As always, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED AND LEAVE THE REST! The info about stress on the linked page is pretty common-sensical (at least to *me*), but the author is another somebody trying to package and market basic common sense as some kind of high'n'mighty voodoo. Capitalism, blech. Snake oil everywhere you look.
A quackwatch-ish site (The Iron Skeptic) that has an article on Alphabiotics, http://www.theironskeptic.com/articles/alphabiotics/alphabiotics.htm, and a quote therefrom (bolds mine):
The Alphabiotics website is chock full of information, unfortunately, none of it states precisely what Alphabiotics are. They go on and on and on about the benefits, though: from Alphabiotic sessions one can expect to feel better, think better, achieve inner peace, have a tighter connection to their inner source of power, and take advantage of the body’s natural capacity for wellness. Sounds good! I could use all of those things. Except the tightening of my inner power source. That sounds unpleasant.Ok, random inspiration particle (thanks, T. Pratchett) lodges in my cranium:
But how exactly do Alphabioticists achieve these results? Well, on their website they’re clear to state several dozen times that Alphabiotics are not a “treatment” and cannot be used as medicine: they’re a way of life. A way of life that apparently requires “…a gentle, though unique, movement of the head [that] is accomplished in less than fifteen seconds” whilst one sits on the “Alphabiotic couch.”
What if the 'imbalance' occurs at birth, or possibly from spinal trauma *during* birth, while infant is caught in birth canal?
I was 36 hours being born - my image is both that mom's body showed she didn't really want me - her muscles fought my birth - and I, at the same time, was in a 'climber's' pose, braced in a chimney-style death-grip to keep from being born into such a hostile environment.
So the random thought: What if, by being sort of 're-born' by somebody who somehow 'gets' and/or intuits the scars from your 'birth trauma', is able to help you be 're-born' in such a way that all this is healed? Or, at least your body has an opportunity to FEEL what a non-traumatized state is like. Then of course you have to understand all the OTHER ways in which OTHER behaviors/events/life things EXACERBATE the 'problem'.
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