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Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
popcorndiva's review
4.0
I read excerpts from this book for my Psychology of Gender class this semester. I loved the few chapters I read. Fine makes solid arguments and presents them in a professional, yet entertaining way. It was a relief to finally read a piece that shows how SIMILAR men and women are. This book highlights important flaws in the research process and explores some of the reasons why the idea that men and women are so fundamentally different has become so (falsely) accepted in society.
r061nm's review
3.0
Cordelia Fine attempts to refute the popular idea that men and women have an innate neurological difference which results in different brains. I read this book after "The Essential Difference" by Simon Baron-Cohen. I recommend reading them in that order because Fine's book refutes many of the points made in Baron-Cohen's.
Fine makes a good case that many of the differences we see in gender could readily be traced back to cultural or sociological phenomena, and that it is too early to declare that brain differences in men and women are innate. She does an excellent job of pointing out the flaws in many of the studies cited by the other side. This book is a much-needed dose of caution in the rush to say men and women just are innately different. She does a great job of reminding us that the reinforcement for gender roles is all around us in ways we can't even see.
One weakness in the book is that she doesn't adequately address the cross-cultural studies. If gender-based tendencies in brains are not inherent, then how come some appear in cultures world-wide? What are the chances that such diverse cultures would have developed similar gender roles if they do not have some biological basis?
Fine makes a good case that many of the differences we see in gender could readily be traced back to cultural or sociological phenomena, and that it is too early to declare that brain differences in men and women are innate. She does an excellent job of pointing out the flaws in many of the studies cited by the other side. This book is a much-needed dose of caution in the rush to say men and women just are innately different. She does a great job of reminding us that the reinforcement for gender roles is all around us in ways we can't even see.
One weakness in the book is that she doesn't adequately address the cross-cultural studies. If gender-based tendencies in brains are not inherent, then how come some appear in cultures world-wide? What are the chances that such diverse cultures would have developed similar gender roles if they do not have some biological basis?
jsisco's review against another edition
5.0
Hands down, one of the best books I've read in years. Fine dismantles the stereotypes and neurosexism that has plagued humanity for centuries in an almost, and some might say counter-feminine, systematic way. My only complaint would be that she almost gets bogged down in the neuroscience of the second part of the text, but it's almost necessary, considering the sheer volume of disingenuous claims regarding female inferiority that exist in the world. Fine excels at going through others' research (or cited research) with a fine-toothed comb and pointing out their fundamental flaws or misinterpretations.
My favorite part, by far, is the third part, where she points out the socializing of gender "norms" and how even toddlers will police the gender expression of other children. I find the expectations our culture creates of gender expression to be fascinating and fully intend on utilizing Fine's work on future syllabi of my own classes.
My favorite part, by far, is the third part, where she points out the socializing of gender "norms" and how even toddlers will police the gender expression of other children. I find the expectations our culture creates of gender expression to be fascinating and fully intend on utilizing Fine's work on future syllabi of my own classes.
anshumanchurian's review
4.0
4.5
Excellent. Mind-blowing (literally: pun intended). Dire.
It is unbelievably well-researched. It's ridiculous how cogent and intelligent her style is. Page by page, as she peels away layers of misinformation, what emerges is a text that will surely stand the test of time.
A must-read for anybody and everybody. Period.
Consume it in small chunks and let it change your mind.
(I just found it a little dense in places since I had no idea about the workings of the human brain and mind, and also because I almost never read non-fiction. But it was totally worth the effort! I just wish there was a little more of Fine's witty, caustic and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny self throughout the book, but then it might have seemed pretentious or annoying, so I don't know.)
Do read it! ☀️
Excellent. Mind-blowing (literally: pun intended). Dire.
It is unbelievably well-researched. It's ridiculous how cogent and intelligent her style is. Page by page, as she peels away layers of misinformation, what emerges is a text that will surely stand the test of time.
A must-read for anybody and everybody. Period.
Consume it in small chunks and let it change your mind.
(I just found it a little dense in places since I had no idea about the workings of the human brain and mind, and also because I almost never read non-fiction. But it was totally worth the effort! I just wish there was a little more of Fine's witty, caustic and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny self throughout the book, but then it might have seemed pretentious or annoying, so I don't know.)
Do read it! ☀️
joanna_banana's review
5.0
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!
Witty, sharp prose that skewers biased research studies trying to explain the biological basis of differences between men and women. Dr. Fine presents the argument that gender differences we experience are created by us: our minds, neurosexism (when science is used to perpetuate stereotypes) and society.
Be prepared to upend your understanding of the pseudo-science she calls “neurononsense” that has perpetuated our social beliefs that men are better than women at spatial reasoning and systematizing and women are better than men at empathy and communication. Or that babies are hard wired to prefer girl-ish or boy-ish toys (spolier: they aren’t, it’s learned!) She is highly critical of other researchers but doesn’t explain why they might be doing what they are doing. Why practice bad science and perpetuate gender stereotypes with neurononsense? There must be a reason, no?
It gives me hope one day we will allow men and women (and really babies and children) to express their gender how they please and not force one or the other into expected paths that are reinforced socially and have real impact on performance at school and the workplace. Could you imagine a world of gender equality? Where social attitudes have changed and we have stopped gendering everything and making pre-judgements based on it?? So many times in the book I wanted to put it down and yell to my fellow bus passengers: We have it all wrong!! Stop the madness!
Witty, sharp prose that skewers biased research studies trying to explain the biological basis of differences between men and women. Dr. Fine presents the argument that gender differences we experience are created by us: our minds, neurosexism (when science is used to perpetuate stereotypes) and society.
Be prepared to upend your understanding of the pseudo-science she calls “neurononsense” that has perpetuated our social beliefs that men are better than women at spatial reasoning and systematizing and women are better than men at empathy and communication. Or that babies are hard wired to prefer girl-ish or boy-ish toys (spolier: they aren’t, it’s learned!) She is highly critical of other researchers but doesn’t explain why they might be doing what they are doing. Why practice bad science and perpetuate gender stereotypes with neurononsense? There must be a reason, no?
It gives me hope one day we will allow men and women (and really babies and children) to express their gender how they please and not force one or the other into expected paths that are reinforced socially and have real impact on performance at school and the workplace. Could you imagine a world of gender equality? Where social attitudes have changed and we have stopped gendering everything and making pre-judgements based on it?? So many times in the book I wanted to put it down and yell to my fellow bus passengers: We have it all wrong!! Stop the madness!
lorenipsum's review
5.0
This book is a meta-analytical wonder. It breaks down social scientific and neuroscientific studies in a way that is easy to understand while not being condescending to the uninitiated, and it does a remarkably thorough job of supporting its central thesis. A must-read for anyone interested in gender issues or social psychology.
sbelasco40's review
4.0
I listened to this on audiobook, and didn't love the narrator and also struggled to keep up at times, but overall really enjoyed what is essentially an extended argument for why our perceptions about gender are created largely by socialization and not somehow "hard-wired" by our biology. This is not a new argument, but Fine articulates it well with a keen critical analysis of a number of scientific and sociological studies, many of which claim to prove the opposite of the point she is trying to make. While it can feel discouraging to read endlessly about attempts to place people in iron-clad gender boxes throughout history, Fine's message is essentially a hopeful one: though people often try to find some kind of neurological and biological basis for gender, they are mostly unsuccessful. We are absolutely capable of achieving gender equality, even if in what she called this "half-changed world" we are far from living in it yet.
jackieroot's review
4.0
In this accessible, entertaining, and well-researched book, Cordelia Fine synthesizes and critiques decades of research from a variety of scientific fields regarding gender and the supposed differences between men and women. As a woman, a feminist, an educator, and advocate for LGBT rights, I was heartened by Fine's unapologetic dismantling of popular theories of the innate differences between the sexes. Although Fine is unable to offer any concrete solution to the myriad ways in which we as individuals and a society gender children from birth, she does offer a glimmer of hope that once we finally accept that our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference, and that we have the power to change that "hardwiring," the inequality of access created by gender inequality and stereotype will fade.