By: Pie Rasor I’m sure you’ve heard of the idea that men and women are fundamentally different even though we’re the same species. We think differently, act differently, have different likes and dislikes, and it’s all because of simple biology. Different brains, different ways of acting. Men and women can be neatly set into categories created by our own bodies and the way we think.
Supposedly. Male and female brains is an idea that's been around for hundreds of years. It's usually used to justify sexism. After all, it’s a slippery slope from believing men and women are different to believing that women are lesser. Over the years, the idea of male and female brains has made it into scientific research. Psychologists at Cambridge used the idea to claim that autism appears in men more than women because they don’t have the same kind of brains. The same thing appeared in a global study by Madhura Ingalhalikar, which claimed that men and women don’t have the same connections in their brains, causing them to have different behaviors. However, there are a lot of problems with studying the brain with this kind of belief. Studies like these all began with the assumption that there are some fundamental differences between brains that create behaviors adding up to a “male brain” or a “female brain.” And there’s really no basis for that assumption at all, which research today is clearly showing. A 2015 analysis of data sets of brain scans done by Daphna Joel showed that the sex differences between men and women’s brains aren’t consistent at all. Humans simply aren’t built with brains that are “female” or “male.” Most people are a mix of both. There are no consistent characteristics that show up only in a man’s brain or only in a women’s. We still think in the same way. Scientists continued brain analysis in 2018 by developing an algorithm that grouped together brains with similar characteristics. As before, there was no clear, defining difference. Both male and female brains could have the same type of characteristics. Psychology studies have backed up the idea that biology doesn’t determine your personality as well. Daphna Joel and other scientists continued their study of male and female brain by analyzing data sets of psychological variable about what worries adolescents. While there were overall differences between genders in how they responded, no one in the survey responded only with “masculine” or “feminine” worries, but rather with a combination of both. No individual person fit completely into one category. The bottom line is that although there are differences between men and women, our brains aren’t one of them. The type of brain doesn’t determine who you are. A man can like traditionally feminine things, a women can like traditionally masculine things, and both genders can like a mix of both. The idea that there’s some biological difference between men and women that’s impossible to overcome has no real basis in science and psychology. There can be general differences seen between men and women in an entire population, but those are more due to gender roles than biology. And gender roles, hopefully, are something that our society can overcome so that there’s no one way that men and women are expected to behave. In the end, the changes that need to be made aren’t inside our brains, but rather in the society around us. Bibliography: Joel, D., & Fine, C. (2018, December 3). Can We Finally Stop Talking About 'Male' and 'Female' Brains? [Web log post]. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/opinion/male-female-brains-mosaic.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPsychology%20and%20Psychologists&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection Photo: https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/male-female-brains-not-different-042323/
2 Comments
Lee
12/12/2018 02:41:41 pm
Great post! I think that it's important for more people to know that the idea of male and female brains is just a myth, as you proved in your post. I like that you mentioned that the differences that are observed between male and female brains/behaviors are more due to gender roles than biology. You also pointed out that a lot of times when people are talking about the 'differences' between male and female brains, they are really just using it as a means to prove that females are less capable (which makes me think of political elections, where one of the biggest objections against female candidates is that women are too emotional to be in power). This is all the more reason to educate more people about this!
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Radwan Jama
12/13/2018 10:13:31 am
I really think this whole thing with genders having different brains goes on a lot. One experience I have is my little sister always saying that she is smarter than me and my brother because she is a girl. I like how you brought up a lot of good evidence from different studies. Honestly I would give this a 10/10.
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