Of course women are passionate and adventurous. You're making a false equivocation. I myself, would sign up in a heartbeat to go to Mars if we were at a point to colonize. It's my choice.
But, I would definitely pause and think differently when you start talking about having children there. Why?
It's one thing to have a life of hardship through no fault of your own, it's another to have a life of hardship by choice. Do I feel right making that choice for my children if I could choose differently? No, I don't.
Women are extremely passionate. One of the things women typically become passionate about is providing the best possible environment for their offspring to give them the best chance of success. I don't care what you say, Mars ain't it. Passion for child will outweigh passion for space adventure.
Questions regarding the process. How dangerous will it be for me and my child to give birth on a different planet, with different exposures to radiation? With less gravity? With all the limitations of living in a closed system? Can I breastfeed in low gravity? Will genetic modifications be required? Is that something I feel comfortable playing around with? Will the child be able to return to live on Earth if they desire? How I going to successfully raise and deal with this child in a tin can? How bad is the cabin fever going to be? Can I ensure I keep them from messing with the habitat in destructive ways, putting everyone's life in jeopardy?
You know, they've done some tests on living in this type of environment. Their selection process in these tests chose candidates they believed were psychologically sound and superior to average who could handle the stress of an enclosed habitat system. The results weren't promising. That was choosing the strongest mentally; with children, it's a surprise. You don't know what you're gonna get till they're born so you can't really pick and choose.
Imagine having a colicky infant on Mars. Suddenly your fun Trekky space adventure turns more like Event Horizon or The Sphere level space torture and psychosis.
Men rarely consider such things, so your lofty thinking isn't really surprising. The fact that women do doesn't mean they're not passionate and adventurous or only rarely so. It just means that passion and adventure must exist side by side with the realities and difficulties of daily life, particularly in regards to birthing and raising children. Further, we can't exactly kick the responsibility can onto someone else the way you men do.
