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A review by emilyrainsford
Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
informative
slow-paced
4.5
An incredibly intelligent, level-headed and eye-opening examination of the real science behind the concept that gender differences are embedded in the brain.
A lot of pop-science about "men's brains" and "women's brains" became very popular for a while - something about Mars and Venus - all while touting itself as irrefutable biology.
In this book, Fine outlines study after study - and pulls apart others - to demonstrate that the "science" behind the idea that men and women have fundamentally different brains is no better than phrenology. She offers extremely compelling evidence that the differences we perceive between genders is far more nurture than nature.
Consider just one of the many many studies she quotes, in which male and female students given a maths exam performed similarly - but when they were asked to merely tick their gender in a box beforehand, girls performed worse. Simply being primed with this factual demographic information before the exam was enough to activate all the subconscious beliefs the girls had about who they were in the world, what they were capable of, what their strengths were (and weren't).
I feel like this book should be required reading for literally everyone. It's not a breezy read - it's research-dense, meticulous... though not without the odd spot of wry, intelligent humour. But it provides knowledge and perspective that's invaluable to understanding how the world works - and how it tells us our place in it, without us even realising.
A lot of pop-science about "men's brains" and "women's brains" became very popular for a while - something about Mars and Venus - all while touting itself as irrefutable biology.
In this book, Fine outlines study after study - and pulls apart others - to demonstrate that the "science" behind the idea that men and women have fundamentally different brains is no better than phrenology. She offers extremely compelling evidence that the differences we perceive between genders is far more nurture than nature.
Consider just one of the many many studies she quotes, in which male and female students given a maths exam performed similarly - but when they were asked to merely tick their gender in a box beforehand, girls performed worse. Simply being primed with this factual demographic information before the exam was enough to activate all the subconscious beliefs the girls had about who they were in the world, what they were capable of, what their strengths were (and weren't).
I feel like this book should be required reading for literally everyone. It's not a breezy read - it's research-dense, meticulous... though not without the odd spot of wry, intelligent humour. But it provides knowledge and perspective that's invaluable to understanding how the world works - and how it tells us our place in it, without us even realising.