A recent study from the University of Cambridge argues that the male sex hormone, testosterone, can lead to "irrational risk-taking" among male financial investors. The study, as reported by the AP, also suggests that an influx of women and older men to the market would produce a more stable financial system.

For commentary, 23/6 has asked their most feminine and most manly staffers, Laurie Kilmartin and Kevin Allocca, respectively, to debate this issue.

Laurie:
What's the debate here? Men are all animals whose psyches are ravaged by testosterone, and you can't be trusted. Even the Muslims agree with me. (Although their solution is to cover women, which is wrong.)



Kevin:
The article is ridiculous because it presupposes that somehow women are the more stable decision makers. Hello, have you met yourself? If women were in charge of this stuff, the stock market would crash every 28 days.



Laurie:
Oh, I get it. Women are unstable every 28 days. Take it to an open mic, hack. War is the most irrational human act and wars have always been started by men. (Margaret Thatcher doesn't count.) Face it, men are out of control. It's nice to finally have some science to support a few millennia of anecdotal evidence.


Kevin:
Let's not pretend that women live in this magical land of peace and butterflies where everyone gets along and nobody almost rips each others' hair out over a pair of Lucky Jeans that one of your roommates borrowed without asking. If women were in charge, the Civil War would have been started by Jefferson Davis' wife insulting Mary Todd Lincoln's hoop skirt at a luncheon. And just because we've started a few unjust wars doesn't mean men can't make level stock market decisions.



Laurie:
I don't understand why natural, human emotions are attributed negatively to women. Would you be annoyed if your roommate wore your clothes without asking? Yes, the gay roommate.

And let's not forget that the Civil War was fought to end slavery, a tradition that let white men like yourself sleep in every day and have free sex with black women. Go ahead and defend that, you lazy racist.



Kevin:
Don't bring my gay roommate into this. If he borrowed my clothes without asking, I'd be soo shocked that he allowed himself to be seen in Old Navy apparel that I couldn't get annoyed.

I'm going to ignore that tirade about the Civil War. You should be used to that. Being ignored. Because you're a woman.

Also, "natural human emotions"? Look at this. You want this running our economy?



Laurie:
So when a good point is made, your tactic is to announce you're ignoring it? Then hurry up and make a good argument so I can try it, too!

Frankly, I admire the girls boxing in that video. Their match is organized. They even have ring boys. And nobody's ear is being bitten off.



Kevin:
Are you kidding me? Those girls ignored every rule of boxing. Did you even watch it? Or were you too busy breast-feeding?

Admittedly, that's not the clip I was looking for. There is this other clip of these girls just beating the daylights out of each other and ripping each other's hair out that better illustrates my point.



Laurie:
Well, while you're Googling, let me point out that the article suggests that men are not in control of their emotions due to higher levels of testosterone. So tell me, Kevin, how exactly is the Bear Stearns collapse not your fault?



Kevin:
Testosterone levels play to our basic instincts: hunting and providing. This is how financial markets work. If everyone were overly cautious and just held on to their money, the economy would fall apart. Anyway, men are merely trying to amass wealth to impress women.



Laurie:
You want to impress us? Change the diapers every fourth or fifth shit and we'll be happy. Gay men and lesbians combine the best of both of us. Let's hand homos the passwords to our E-trade accounts and call it a day.



Kevin:
Ok, you have me there. I agree that I'd be in better financial shape if some lesbians were in charge of my investments.

Now, if you'll excuse me. I just discovered the magical world of hot women fighting each other on the Internet.



Laurie:
Leaving me to finish the post. Surprise.