“ From as young as 6 years old, male and female perceptions of risk differ substantially. Studies of American children 4 have shown that girls, on the whole, assess risk by evaluating the probability that a given activity will lead to injury (How likely will I get hurt if I jump off this swing?) whereas boys, on the whole, judge risk by the severity of the injury an activity might cause (How badly will I get hurt if I jump off this swing?). This radically different philosophy of risk would be damning enough if it weren’t further complicated by the dating game come the teeenage years. Why is that?
