Delusions of Gender

THE BRILLIANT AND HUGELY INFLUENTIAL BOOK BY THE WINNER OF THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOKS PRIZE 'Fun, droll yet deeply serious.' New Scientist 'A brilliant feminist critic of the neurosciences ... Read her, enjoy and learn.' Hilary Rose, THES 'A witty and meticulously researched exposé of the sloppy studies that pass for scientific evidence in so many of today's bestselling books on sex differences.' Carol Tavris, TLS Gender inequalities are increasingly defended by citing hard-wired differences between the male and female brain. That's why, we're told, there are so few women in science, so few men in the laundry room - different brains are just suited to different things. With sparkling wit and humour, Cordelia Fine attacks this 'neurosexism', revealing the mind's remarkable plasticity, the substantial influence of culture on identity, and the malleability of what we consider to be 'hardwired' difference. This modern classic shows the surprising extent to which boys and girls, men and women are made - not born.

THE BRILLIANT AND HUGELY INFLUENTIAL BOOK BY THE WINNER OF THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOKS PRIZE 'Fun, droll yet deeply serious.' New Scientist 'A brilliant feminist critic of the neurosciences ... Read her, enjoy and learn.' Hilary Rose, THES 'A witty and meticulously researched exposé of the sloppy studies that pass for scientific evidence in so many of today's bestselling books on sex differences.' Carol Tavris, TLS Gender inequalities are increasingly defended by citing hard-wired differences between the male and female brain. That's why, we're told, there are so few women in science, so few men in the laundry room - different brains are just suited to different things. With sparkling wit and humour, Cordelia Fine attacks this 'neurosexism', revealing the mind's remarkable plasticity, the substantial influence of culture on identity, and the malleability of what we consider to be 'hardwired' difference. This modern classic shows the surprising extent to which boys and girls, men and women are made - not born.

It's the twenty-first century, and although we tried to rear unisex children-boys who play with dolls and girls who like trucks-we failed. Even though the glass ceiling is cracked, most women stay comfortably beneath it. And everywhere we hear about vitally important "hardwired" differences between male and female brains. The neuroscience that we read about in magazines, newspaper articles, books, and sometimes even scientific journals increasingly tells a tale of two brains, and the result is more often than not a validation of the status quo. Women, it seems, are just too intuitive for math; men too focused for housework. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Cordelia Fine debunks the myth of hardwired differences between men's and women's brains, unraveling the evidence behind such claims as men's brains aren't wired for empathy and women's brains aren't made to fix cars. She then goes one step further, offering a very different explanation of the dissimilarities between men's and women's behavior. Instead of a "male brain" and a "female brain," Fine gives us a glimpse of plastic, mutable minds that are continuously influenced by cultural assumptions about gender. Passionately argued and unfailingly astute, Delusions of Gender provides us with a much-needed corrective to the belief that men's and women's brains are intrinsically different-a belief that, as Fine shows with insight and humor, all too often works to the detriment of ourselves and our society.

It's the twenty-first century, and although we tried to rear unisex children-boys who play with dolls and girls who like trucks-we failed. Even though the glass ceiling is cracked, most women stay comfortably beneath it. And everywhere we hear about vitally important "hardwired" differences between male and female brains. The neuroscience that we read about in magazines, newspaper articles, books, and sometimes even scientific journals increasingly tells a tale of two brains, and the result is more often than not a validation of the status quo. Women, it seems, are just too intuitive for math; men too focused for housework. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, Cordelia Fine debunks the myth of hardwired differences between men's and women's brains, unraveling the evidence behind such claims as men's brains aren't wired for empathy and women's brains aren't made to fix cars. She then goes one step further, offering a very different explanation of the dissimilarities between men's and women's behavior. Instead of a "male brain" and a "female brain," Fine gives us a glimpse of plastic, mutable minds that are continuously influenced by cultural assumptions about gender. Passionately argued and unfailingly astute, Delusions of Gender provides us with a much-needed corrective to the belief that men's and women's brains are intrinsically different-a belief that, as Fine shows with insight and humor, all too often works to the detriment of ourselves and our society.