Saturday, March 6, 2010

Oooo..... to be a Woman!

We may not always feel lucky to be female, especially on bad hair days, when shopping for a bathing suit, or when cooking (or burning in my most recent two attempts) Thanksgiving dinner!
Girlfriends make it easier to laugh at ourselves when we catch a glimpse at our helmet hair on a humid Jersey summer, or when we see ourselves in the three-way mirror sporting the 2 lb bologna in 1 lb bag look in our polka-dot skirt bathing suit with the ruffled trim. Yes, yes we need our....daughters, sisters, mothers or nanas!

What is it about those close female relationships? Why can't we get the same warm, healing, and girlish levity from close male relationships?

I'll tell you why...it is the big "O"!
The "what?" you ask.
Oxytocin are neurotransmitter (most usually associated with childbirth and lactation) that are made by both men and women in the same amount.
Oxytocin is also responsible for bonding, making us feel safe, calm, and connected. Nature's anti-depressive!
It is released with close interpersonal contacts, which leads to making friendships. It is also released through touch like hugging, walking arm-in arm, and massages .
The big difference is that testosterone mutes Oxytocin bonding effects while estrogen enhances them.
That is explains why when I was going on and on (and on) about my girlfriend troubles to my husband the other day, he just stopped me and(kindly) said "if you were a guy, we wouldn't be having this conversation"


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