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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Nathan P, post: 4749851, member: 99051&quot;]You are correct that there don&#039;t seem to be any studies documenting the collecting differences between men and women to support a nature vs. nurture explanation. But similarly, there are no studies suggesting the opposite - that nurture is what discourages women from collecting coins, stamps, cars or sports memorabilia, etc. </p><p><br /></p><p>I think that for most questions, the biological (evolutionary) explanation tends to dominate. Our bodies (and minds) represent the culmination of millions of years of adaption to our environments. Why do we get fat if we eat certain things? Evolution. Why does our lower back hurt if we sit down all the time? Evolution (we&#039;re not meant to do that). Absent any conclusive studies suggesting the opposite, I think the reason men collect certain things more than women is also likely to be biological. But of course, we can only speculate on the reasons.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, I&#039;m about to be politically incorrect here, but I can&#039;t help it. History, if we&#039;re going to talk about, just wasn&#039;t p.c. That said, my guess is that men tended historically to acquire mates through their acquisition of resources and success in battle. Accordingly, we tend to be interested in things that represent &quot;practice&quot; for war like sports (and now video games). We tend to read more nonfiction and history (often military). No one would ask why men collect weapons at a far higher rate that women. I think coins, which often have a military aspect, as well as representing &quot;money&quot; (a resource in the purest sense), definitely fit more into things men are evolutionarily hard wired to obsess over.</p><p><br /></p><p>Women were best positioned to pass on their genes through their attractiveness and political abilities (to manage their status in the household and family&#039;s status in the tribe). In keeping with this, if you look at what women tend to collect, it&#039;s often things that adorn their person (shoes, clothes), their homes (which would improve their political status within the tribe) or in a way represent their family/political management (scrapbooking).&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>None of this is to say anyone, male or female, should be discouraged from collecting anything they want. Any happiness people get from an activity they love should be celebrated and encouraged. But we also can&#039;t let political correctness blind us from the scientific fact that men and women are simply different biologically, which is likely to affect the kinds of activities in which they&#039;re going to be interested, on average.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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