avphibes

So, awhile back I read the book Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman, which attempts to present different ways in which women operate and are perceived in a business environment. One of the interesting points the author presents is that, while men are more comfortable jumping into a situation half-cocked and sorting things out as they go along, women generally want to be completely prepared before entering a situation.

I imagine this is the combined result of women in male-dominated situations getting more flak if they screw up or appear incompetent, and the fact that women are generally more sensitive about getting said flak and take it worse, emotionally, than a man would. The downside is that this would seem to lead to women seeming more timid or not seizing opportunities as quickly as a man would. The possible upside, however, is that this implies that when such a woman does seize an opportunity, she is probably much better prepared to tackle it. I thought of this recently when I was reading some interesting stats about eating gigantic steaks.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Big Texan 72 oz. steak challenge, wherein patrons of the Big Texan steakhouse can take the challenge of eating a 72 oz. steak, salad, potato, roll and shrimp cocktail in one hour (without puking). If they succeed, they get the meal for free and bragging rights for life. So according to the Big Texan stats, approximately 50,000 people have made the attempt since 1960, and only 8,500 have succeeded, making the success rate around 17%.

BUT, among women, the success rate is 50%. There are also considerably fewer women who make the attempt. Only about 4-5 per year. What this implies is that, while men will more likely do it on a lark, women probably don't even try unless they actually think they can do it.

I'm sure not all women are like this, but I would say that I probably am. If I were planning to go to the Big Texan and take the 72oz. challenge, I'd be, like, training for six months. I wouldn't just go in there and "give it a try." I don't even know if my crippling fear is of failing or being criticized for failing, but either way, it's not entirely healthy and has undoubtedly held me back in life.

Still, though, if I tell you I'm going to the Big Texan, you can probably safely bet that I'm going to eat that whole steak.