In this day and age when we are all very alert to the need to avoid stereotyping various groups of people I have become accustomed to monitoring my speech and actions. There are occasions, however, when one’s spontaneous responses to situations just cannot be helped.
Tonight my wife and I were playing Scrabble after dinner in the kitchen when, suddenly, she let out a terrifying scream. I believed for a moment that she had been stricken with some awful pain. No: she had seen a mouse. Sorry, but it is true. Women, it seems, do scream when they see mice.
On reflection it seems that my own response was stereotypically masculine. When I had recovered from the near cardiac arrest precipitated by her scream I reached for the broom (as the nearest weapon available) and began to hunt the intruder. I’m afraid that there might be occasions when evolution trumps culture.