Male versus female brains: persistent myth or inconvenient truth?

Male versus female brains: persistent myth or inconvenient truth?

Science has been used as a tool of women’s oppression at least since Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection, and scientific rationalization of sexist perspectives has not yet fallen to the ash heap of history. Attempts to legitimize misogyny with neuroscience are in fact so common that Cordelia Fine, a historian of science, has coined the term “neurosexism” to describe the practice. Here we consider a 2015 scientific study from Daphna Joel and colleagues, “Sex Beyond the Genitalia: The human brain mosaic,” which explicitly takes up arms against neurosexism. Can we define brains as “male” or “female” in the first place? If so, what do we gain from doing so? Join us as we explore the intersection of misogyny and scientific data.

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