Are Male and Female Brains Different?

Do the genders have different brains? Turns out, the question isn’t so easily answered. The answer is as changeable as our brains. And it depends on how you measure the differences. A new book, Gender and Our Brains, by Gina Rippon examines the issue.

The question of male and female brains has become more complex over the years as our understanding of gender has evolved. For this reason, Rippon states clearly in the beginning of the book that she is talking about gender differences, which are those that relate to socialization issues, not those that have to do with biological differences of sex. She states that the social pressures assigns to gender, inherently cause a female and male brain to develop differently.

Physically, the differences have been harder to prove. One thing that been shown is that male brains are larger than women’s brains, as men tend to be larger than women. For most of the 19th century, this was the focus of research and was the basis for showing women’s inferiority. The study of craniology was used to measure skulls and had complex formulas to measure brain capacity.

A Huge Leap in Technology

In 1992, with the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the focus changed to what parts of the brain were different in men and women. Scientists…