Thursday, January 22, 2009

Male and Female Brains are Different REALLY?

I kind of have to say "duh" to this one. In exploring blogger recently, I have run across some postings in which people seem surprised that a researcher would be suggesting brain differences between men and women. I thought that the notion that male and female brains were the same went out with the 1970's. The only person that I have heard purport that this research is still in fashion is Rush Limbaugh (I am forced to listen to him whenever I am at my parents house, it is not my personal choice). Other theories have quietly gone by the wayside as bad science, like eugenics programs which thankfully died a merciful death in the 1950's. The far right seems to have not caught up with recent science, however, and continues to trot out bad theories that have been put to rest decades ago.


Even the most cursory view of research on the internet is enough to convince even a casual observer that any theory stating that the brains of men and women are the same has long since been put out to pasture. If you don't believe me, here are a few links that you can check out for yourself:


http:\\www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond_male_female.html

http:\\www.cerebromente.org.br/nll/mente/eisntein/cerebro-homens.html

http:\\www.doctorhugo.org/brain4.html


Feminism today isn't about proving that men and women think and act the same. It is about the fair and equal treatment of women, especially in the workforce and legal system. The brains of men and women are indeed very different. Science is able to prove this more readily now due to the advent of such nifty inventions as Magnetic Resonance Imaging and a willingness to study babies. Even a decade ago, babies considered to be useless to the scientific process, were rarely studied. Research on brain and behavior in babies is invaluable as social and environmental factors have not yet affected behavior. For more information on the world of baby research:
http:\\www.talaris.org.

How much longer will people remain surprised at the brain differences between men and women? In what ways will these differences be used to better keep women in their place?


"Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings," Cheris Kramarae

3 comments:

cheese said...

I agree with you on this one, moon but, if a man said just what you did you wouldn't let him get away with it.

snowflake said...

Can I just say DOH! It's amazing how brainless some people are who claim to have one.

For example the University of Michigan spent thousands on research which basically says that men and women commicate differently and what we say often isn't what they hear. REALLY??? ANyone that has ever been married could have told them that.

How about the enlightening research that men add seven hours of housework a week to their wives work load? All I want to know about that is who the hell did that math??? Obviously a man and he was obviously way off! Great post.

Nonickname said...

Cheese, I think that you should check out the research links that I posted, most of the research is done by men.