Girls vs. Boys

John Stossel
Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:47:04 -0800
Opinion

Am I sexist?

I think there are differences between men and women — traits beyond obvious physical ones.
Updated: Wed Feb 04, 2026

Am I sexist?

I think there are differences between men and women — traits beyond obvious physical ones.

But when I was young, feminist leaders said there were no differences. The only reason men ran most things was sexism.

There was plenty of that. One example people forget: Until 1974, women couldn't get a credit card without their husband's permission.

A women's movement was long overdue.

I believed the new "experts" who said, if we raise children in gender-neutral ways, men and women will behave similarly.

Then I had kids.

Now I understand that boys and girls are just different.

But for some reason, we're not supposed to acknowledge that.

"Aren't women, in general, better nurturers?" I asked Gloria Steinem.

"No," she snapped. "Next question."

Today many people still avoid talking about differences.

But not Heather Mac Donald!

"If we weren't so insane, it would be perfectly obvious that there are innate differences," she says in my new video.

She points out that men explored the world, not women.

"Their societies wouldn't allow it!" I say.

"That's true," she notes, "but they haven't been doing much in the interim."

"Men drove the Thirty Years' War ... the Hundred Years' War," I say. "Maybe it would be better if women managed governments."

"Some of the Green parties, the female dominated parties in Europe, they're the war parties," she replies. "They're all for continuing to arm Ukraine, for involvement in the Serbian conflict ... A lot of female EU politicians are no more pacifistic than some of their male colleagues."

She points out that it was men who "developed ideas of constitutional government, due process, human rights. Those are much more powerful than the Thirty Years' War."

Men, she says, have more "passion for novelty, competitiveness, aggression." It's why more inventions are made by men, and businesses started by men.

"You have to be a very ideologically dominated parent," adds Mac Donald, "not to notice that there are differences between male and female children almost from the start, as far as levels of aggression, the types of toys they gravitate towards."

Some of this is not good for men.

"Males have a greater predilection towards insanity, towards really stupid behavior. ... There's obviously individual exceptions," adds Mac Donald. "There's highly aggressive, competitive females and highly nurturing, empathetic males ... But we're talking averages. The average male, there's a greater change that he's going to be a risk taker and seeker of knowledge."

A recent study blames "unconscious bias in the selection process" for the lack of women in CEO positions.

But Mac Donald says it's not sexism that keeps women out of CEO roles.

"Nobody's keeping females out. They just aren't interested. Google is desperate to hire more females. Nobody's preventing females from doing an AI startup! ... They don't have that same drive to stay up until 3:00 a.m., eating cold pizza, coding! That drive to conquer facts and data is disproportionately male."

Women, on the other hand, laughs Mac Donald, "They're influencers! They're talking about makeup (and) fashion."

Really? Is she saying women are less useful?

"They are very useful for raising children," she answers.

She also notes that many women accomplish remarkable things.

"George Elliot and Edith Wharton are great novelists," says Mac Donald. "We've got great female composers, Fannie Mendelssohn, Cecile Chaminade, Amy Beach. I want to hear all of them, absolutely! But I am not going to try to tear down an institution because it is predominantly male."

One institution women have harmed, she says, is the university, because its civilizational mission has been compromised by women claiming victimhood.

"The claims of 'unsafety,'" she says, are hysterical neurosis. "You now have portraits of white male scientists being taken down because they might make female medical students feel unsafe."

She says pursuit of knowledge is under threat because women care less about free speech.

One study did find 60% of women favor "inclusivity" over free speech, while 71% of men favor protecting free speech.

"When you ask either (group), which do you value more? ... A vast majority of males choose the pursuit of truth, academic freedom, whatever the cost. The females favor emotional safety and equity."

"So what?" I push back. "Both are good qualities."

"No, they're not!" she scolds me. "The university exists for the pursuit of truth."