Tough guy fantasies

It is tempting to ignore the dafter pronouncements of sociobiologists, but Kingsley Browne is a dinosaur too far.

Grandly stating that many women wrongly believe they face discrimination on the grounds of sex, he then goes on to assert that scientists now believe the only good explanation for the imbalances apparent between the sexes is that women cannot compete - and if they do, that just goes to prove that, deep down in their genes, they are really blokes.

I would be inclined to take sociobiology more seriously if there was more emphasis on some more clearly "universal" behaviours, such as is there a gene for rape or are men genetically programmed to beat their wives. Until then, I will stick with more grounded inquiries that do not try to tell me that because of an absence in the trouser area, I will never cut it in the world.

Annily C. Campbell Wylte Green, Sutton Coldfield