Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society and Neurosexism Create Difference

Abrilliantlyresearchedandwickedlyfunnyrebuttalofthepseudo-scientificclaimthatmenarefromMarsandwomenarefromVenus.It’sthetwenty-firstcentury,andalthoughwetriedtorearunisexchildren—boyswhoplaywithdollsandgirlswholiketrucks—wefailed.Eventhoughtheglassceilingiscracked,mostwomenstaycomfortablybeneathit.Andeverywherewehearaboutvitallyimportant“hardwired”differencesbetweenmaleandfemalebrains.Theneurosciencethatwereadaboutinmagazines,newspaperarticles,books,andsometimesevenscientificjournalsincreasinglytellsataleoftwobrains,andtheresultismoreoftenthannotavalidationofthestatusquo.Women,itseems,arejusttoointuitiveformath;mentoofocusedforhousework.Drawingonthelatestresearchinneuroscienceandpsychology,CordeliaFinedebunksthemythofhardwireddifferencesbetweenmen’sandwomen’sbrains,unravelingtheevidencebehindsuchclaimsasmen’sbrainsaren’twiredforempathyandwomen’sbrainsaren’tmadetofixcars.Shethengoesonestepfurther,offeringaverydifferentexplanationofthedissimilaritiesbetweenmen’sandwomen’sbehavior.Insteadofa“malebrain”anda“femalebrain,”Finegivesusaglimpseofplastic,mutablemindsthatarecontinuouslyinfluencedbyculturalassumptionsaboutgender.Passionatelyarguedandunfailinglyastute,DelusionsofGenderprovidesuswithamuch-neededcorrectivetothebeliefthatmen’sandwomen’sbrainsareintrinsicallydifferent—abeliefthat,asFineshowswithinsightandhumor,alltoooftenworkstothedetrimentofourselvesandoursociety.