It is very common to hear people say that men and women are just ‘wired differently’ in terms of how their brains work. But how scientifically accurate is that? That’s the question that Gina Rippon tries to answer in this book, and in case you can’t guess – the answer is that it is not significantly backed up by science, despite popular belief.
People like to believe what they’ve been raised to believe, and for years the popular consensus has been that brains work differently – but that’s just born out of the patriarchy. The majority of media outlets then want to reinforce these older ideas, so will latch onto and report on any study that seems to confirm this worldview. The author looks at the studies that are most commonly pointed to as evidence of this difference, and highlights how they’ve either had severe issues with their methodology, or have had their findings enormously exaggerated or distorted to make clickable headlines.
Though it is undeniable that, as a whole, you can see certain behaviours more or less commonly found among men or women, but Rippon argues that these can be attributed to socialisation and the ‘plasticity’ of the human brain. I learned from this book that if we believe that we are supposed to be a certain way, our brain can and will change to become that way – a side effect of us being such a social species. She goes on to highlight how extremely widespread the social influences that reinforce gender roles are and how babies are effected by things we may not even realise. Their sponge-like brains absorb absolutely everything they see and this all plays a part in moulding the people they become. Sadly, the reinforcement of gender roles is so prevalent, that they will never not be exposed to it.
I’ve always felt that the idea that men and women’s brains are inherently different was a silly one. All of my experiences of relationships with men and women, to me, highlight that these differences do not really exist and I would argue that those who think they do probably don’t have close bonds with many people of both sexes. I also think that if it were as simple as that, there would be no examples of people defying traditional gender roles. With this in mind, I was always going to find this book agreeable, and as I am not a neurologist, it is essentially impossible for me to identify any inaccuracies in the way things are presented here. Having said that, it all seems very logical, fair and well argued. It’s a book that’s well worth reading for anyone with an interest in feminism or the way that the human mind works.
Rating: 8.1/10
