According to Osho, men and women do think differently—and it's not superstition. They are complementary polarities: woman is more body‑rooted, instinctive and intuitive; man is mind‑oriented and intellectual. This dialectical diversity makes existence rich, like many instruments in one orchestra. Honor both perspectives, stop forcing women to imitate men, and recognize that women can move from instinct to intuition more readily, while men must drop intellect to discover intuition.
Yes—girls and boys often think differently, and that’s good, like different instruments making music, so we should respect both and let each be themselves.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Beloved Osho, is it true that women really think differently from men? Or is it just superstition?
Milarepa, it is not just superstition. And it is beautiful that it is not a superstition. The world needs the variety. Just think -- a world where only men exist or a world where only women exist ... it will be a poor world, very poor. Man and woman are polarities. It is between them that the world becomes colorful, beautiful. Yes, there are problems too. Flowers don't come alone, they come with their thorns also. Days don't come alone, they bring their nights with them. Existence believes in polarities. It functions by what Karl Marx has called the dialectic. The very process of evolution is dialectical. It is between the polarities that the whole of existence develops. The woman is more intuitive, more instinctive. If she is not a meditator, she will be only instinctive. She thinks with her body. She is more rooted in the body than man,…
Osho, are the questions of women and men different? And is there also a difference in the way they ask?
Certainly. It has to be. Because questions arise from within you. Questions bring news of you. Your question is your question; you will give it its structure, its style. Certainly women ask in one way and men in another. In my observation, first of all, women generally do not ask—that is their way. They ask with difficulty. They try more to understand, and less to ask. Men try more to ask, and less to understand. Since they ask more, the illusion arises that they must be understanding more. Since a woman asks less, the illusion arises that she must not be understanding—she doesn’t ask, does she? But the truth is exactly the opposite. Men come to me carrying a whole net of big questions. Often a man comes and I ask him, “Is there something you want to ask?” He says, “So much to ask—where should I begin? There is…
Osho, yesterday you spoke about the feminine mystery of existence. Kindly shed more light on this subject in greater detail.
All the dimensions of existence can be divided into the feminine and the masculine. The division of woman and man is not merely a sexual division. In Lao Tzu’s vision, the division into feminine and masculine is the very dialectics of life, an essential part of life’s dialectical evolution. Man and woman differ not only at the level of the body; they also differ at the level of the mind. Wherever existence manifests, there the polarity of feminine and masculine will appear. But in understanding Lao Tzu, keep one thing in mind: the masculine is the transient form of existence, and the feminine is its eternal form. Like the wave that rises on the ocean—its rising is momentary. The ocean was there before the wave, and will be there after the wave. Femininity is the ocean of existence; the masculine is a passing wave. Hence the Judaic tradition that narrates…
Beloved Osho, I thought I heard you say that if one goes deeply into sex it will eventually drop off by itself. I have thought long and hard about this, desperately trying to penetrate its hidden meaning, but all I got was a headache.
No medical researcher has come to the conclusion, but I say it from my own discoveries that I go on and on making -- I'm an incurable discoverer -- and sooner or later science will have to agree with me. The sex center exists in the head, not in the genitals -- that much science has come to know. And if the sex center exists in the head and not in the genitals, then sex deprivation can create a headache. It will not create genital ache because there is nothing... it is only an extension of a certain center in your mind. Why have people started thinking -- and doctors have started even advising their patients -- that sex is good for your mental health? And they are right: all the people who have repressed sex in the past in the name of religion, have suffered tremendously with headaches. Even…
Beloved master, would you please explain what the real differences between men and women are?
The basic sperm shows all the qualities that will manifest later on. If you want a scientist it can be seen that this person is going to become one --or a great poet, or an engineer, or a doctor, or just a vagabond. So the accidental birth can disappear and a planned birth can take its place. It will just take a little time for stupid human minds to get accustomed to the new idea. But the mother will remain indispensable. They have tried experiments: they have given children all the facilities, medication, all the food... every perfection from different branches of science, but strangely the children go on shrinking and will die within three months. Then they discovered that the mother's body and her warmth is an absolute necessity for life to grow. That warmth in this vast cold universe is absolutely necessary in the beginning, otherwise the child…