JAMES FLYNN, the IQ expert, continues to receive shockingly fawning press for his claim that IQ tests show women are now smarter than men. Interestingly, there have been no public hysterics or angry demands for new programs, as there were when Lawrence Summers said men were possibly more qualified mentally for certain fields. The eagerness with which the press has lapped up this story, while for years it never much noticed the many IQ tests that showed men’s mean scores were slightly higher, indicates that it is a deeply satisfying bit of news. It affirms the liberal view of history as a sordid tale of oppression and shows that despite the massive chaos feminism has unleashed on the life of the ordinary person, all is okay because at least women are a bit smarter. Perhaps the average woman is smart enough to hold a job at Wal-Mart plus a job as a construction worker and raise three children without any husband.

The problem is, Flynn’s findings, accepted as if now unquestioned scientific fact, are highly sketchy. Flynn revealed to ABC news that his studies, which took place in Estonia, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, involved girls and boys between the ages of 15 and 18. Psychologists have noted for years that adolescent girls develop faster than boys and complete puberty earlier.

Flynn also made other statements that shed serious doubt on his command of this issue:

“As we enter the modern worlds, our minds change just as our automobiles have changed,” Flynn said. “Where women can have an equal chance to interface with the modern world, they equal on IQ and surpass on academic performance.”

He said there is no reason those advantages shouldn’t go on to help women in the occupational and professional sphere, though there are other social factors affecting women’s success in those arenas.

How is a man who says mental ability changes as fast as automobiles taken seriously among intelligence experts? I’m not sure what Flynn imagines women did before they “interfaced” with the world, he seems to believe they did, well, nothing, but he makes no mention of the well-established IQ differences between men and women that have remained unchanged. [See my previous post.]

Furthermore, the idea that because of this supposed development, women can now achieve professional success for which they were previously unqualified is just too fantastic. Interestingly, the last sentence, whether intentionally or not, holds out the possibility that even though women may be smarter on average “other social factors” influence their success and thus the need for special treatment remains.

Not only is Flynn an expert on intelligence, but he is now an expert on the entire modern world, and he can tell us what is right and what is wrong.

— Comments —

Laura writes:

See Lawrence Auster’s comments. He writes:

And by the way, the title of that ABC News article is:

Women Beat Men on IQ Tests for First Time

An accurate headline would have said:

Among 15-18 Year Olds in Three Countries, Girls Have Slightly Higher IQs Than Boys

Not so exciting, huh? It’s sort of like finding out that the Higgs boson, far from supposedly accounting for all the matter in the universe, instead supposedly accounts for, at most, one 2,000th of the matter in the universe.

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