Men and Women’s Brains Aren’t Really That Different
New research is debunking centuries of myths
The question of sex differences in the brain is one that has been debated, researched, encouraged, criticized, praised, and belittled for over 200 years, and can certainly be found in different guises for long before that. It is characterized by bizarre claims (women’s inferiority comes from their brains being five ounces lighter) which can be readily dismissed, only to pop-up again in a different guise (women’s inability to read maps comes from wiring differences in the brain). Sometimes a single claim lodges itself firmly in the public consciousness as a fact and, despite the best efforts of concerned scientists, remains a deeply entrenched belief. It will be frequently referred to as a well-established fact and triumphantly reemerge to trump arguments about sex differences or, more worryingly, to drive policy decisions.
I think of these seemingly endlessly recurring misconceptions as whack-a-mole myths — just when you think you’ve dispatched them all, another pesky myth pops up elsewhere. In the context of sex differences, this might be the belief that newborn baby boys prefer to look at tractor mobiles rather than human faces (the “men are born to be scientists” mole), or that there are more male geniuses and more male idiots (the “greater male variability” mole). Inaccurate claims like these have been variously whacked over the years but can still be found in self-help manuals, how-to guides, and even in 21st century arguments about the utility or futility of diversity agendas.
Theories about women’s inferior brains emerged long before we were actually able to study the human brain, other than when it was damaged or dead. Nevertheless, “blame the brain” was a consistent and persistent mantra when it came to finding explanations for how and why women were different from men. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was generally accepted that women were socially, intellectually, and emotionally inferior; in the 19th and 20th centuries, the focus shifted to women’s supposedly natural roles as carers, mothers, womanly companions of men. The message has been consistent: There are essential differences between men’s and women’s brains, and these will determine their different capacities and characters and their…
