The Age of the Neuro-Sexis

         The war between the sexes is an ongoing and forever perpetuating cycle that reinforces gender roles and gender stereotypes. Women are less assertive therefore passive. They enjoy the lighter shades of pink and purple, while men are innately aggressive and enjoy trucks or tools. These thoughts and concepts flood popular media and dictate social norms of our society. The proof behind these statements has changed over the years, however the absolute truth hasn’t been found or backed up with any substantial scientific data. Recently the trend has been to back up these general stereotypes with neurological data that supposedly supports that the gender differences as biological and innate.

In the recent New York Times article by Katherine Bouton titled “Peeling Away Theories on Gender and Brain”, she lists a number of neuroscientist who have claimed to know the biological differences in the brain that contribute to gender differences. One claimed that the surge in Testosterone in the prenatal male fetus “results in a smaller left hemisphere, leaving them with greater potential for right-hemisphere development, which results in superior right-hemisphere talents, such as artistic, musical or mathematical talent” (Bouton, 1). Bouton addresses that although this is interesting theory there is little scientific data supporting differences in hemisphere size prenatally. The push to attribute every trait, and personality characteristic has left out the aspect socialization plays.

In Lise Eliot’s novel Pink Brain, Blue Brain, she exams common stereotypes and discusses how complex it is to accurately attribute the causes of gender differences and addresses how sensationalized the differences are. In the chapter titled “The Wonder of Words” Eliot explains that although there are differences in verbal communication the gaps are not as pronounced as social media makes one think. The stereotype commonly heard that women speak more than men has been found not true and in fact men speak more and often interrupt conversations to steer the conversation to their favor.

Articles and novels such as these are important as they open the eyes of the public to the tricks of interrupting scientific data. One has to remember when reading the latest journal there might be confounding variables or mistakes made that throw off the validity of the scientific finding. The debate of the sexes is one such topic that people need to consciously realize the media often intensifies findings to exaggerate gender differences and leave out the effects of socialization. So next time you’re reading an article claiming to have found the biological reason for women’s superior verbal ability take in that information with a grain of salt and remember the battle of the sexes isn’t one to be resolved easily.

Works Cited

Bouton, Katherine. “Peeling Away Theories on Gender and Brain.” New York Times   23 August 2014: 3. Print.

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain. New York: First Mariner Books, 2009. Print.