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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Gender Mosaic: Beyond the myth of the male and female brain by Luba Vikhanski, Daphna Joel
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.25
Another great book on the subject of gender and neurosexism!
This one is an interesting addition to the topic insofar as I think it might draw in (and convince) a wider array of people than something like The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon (or even Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine), which could be read as slightly too "blank-slatist" for some people I suppose.
Gender Mosaic presents original research carried out by one of the authors, as well as research done by other scientists in the field, and overall doesn't really insist on any particular position with regards to the "nature vs. nurture" debate. The conclusion certainly veers towards a "gender abolitionist" stance more than anything else, but the way the subject matter was presented came across as very pragmatic and understanding - is how I'm going to put it - of more skeptical (or less feminism-versed) individuals.
I also read this book very quickly and found it pleasantly straight-to-the-point in its delivery style.
What kept this from reaching a 5 stars rating was the introduction of (and now obligatory nod to?) gender identity (theory/ideology) into the mix. The authors took the time to clearly define sex and gender at the beginning of the book, but didn't think to do the same for gender ID; an element which undermined pretty severely most of their thesis in my opinion, and which wasn't at all well integrated with the rest of their discussion. It plainly should've been left out of the book.
I'm also not personally convinced getting rid of the words "man" and "woman" is necessary (or even desirable as long as sex-based oppression remains a thing) to build a gender-free world; or that this would naturally happen in a gender-free society. We don't impose gender upon cattle, yet we recognise female bovines as cows and male ones as bulls, for example. Then again, I guess it all depends on how one defines "man" and "woman". Given that short chapter on gender ID, I'm not that surprised the authors seemed a bit confused (and thus confusing) on that front.
Still, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this subject - I'd even specifically recommend pairing it with Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez, given there's a bit of topical overlap between the two. 😉
This one is an interesting addition to the topic insofar as I think it might draw in (and convince) a wider array of people than something like The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon (or even Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine), which could be read as slightly too "blank-slatist" for some people I suppose.
Gender Mosaic presents original research carried out by one of the authors, as well as research done by other scientists in the field, and overall doesn't really insist on any particular position with regards to the "nature vs. nurture" debate. The conclusion certainly veers towards a "gender abolitionist" stance more than anything else, but the way the subject matter was presented came across as very pragmatic and understanding - is how I'm going to put it - of more skeptical (or less feminism-versed) individuals.
I also read this book very quickly and found it pleasantly straight-to-the-point in its delivery style.
What kept this from reaching a 5 stars rating was the introduction of (and now obligatory nod to?) gender identity (theory/ideology) into the mix. The authors took the time to clearly define sex and gender at the beginning of the book, but didn't think to do the same for gender ID; an element which undermined pretty severely most of their thesis in my opinion, and which wasn't at all well integrated with the rest of their discussion. It plainly should've been left out of the book.
I'm also not personally convinced getting rid of the words "man" and "woman" is necessary (or even desirable as long as sex-based oppression remains a thing) to build a gender-free world; or that this would naturally happen in a gender-free society. We don't impose gender upon cattle, yet we recognise female bovines as cows and male ones as bulls, for example. Then again, I guess it all depends on how one defines "man" and "woman". Given that short chapter on gender ID, I'm not that surprised the authors seemed a bit confused (and thus confusing) on that front.
Still, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this subject - I'd even specifically recommend pairing it with Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez, given there's a bit of topical overlap between the two. 😉