For many centuries, there has been a stereotype in society that the male and female brains are structured differently. However, recent research shows that this is not the case. What is the difference between the brains of women and men? You can read about gender differences and similarities in this article.
The brain and hormones
For many years, scientists believed that the differences between the thinking of men and women lay in hormones. But despite the fact that during the development of the male embryo, more testosterone is produced in the mother's blood, no research has conclusively proven that it has an effect on brain development.
Another misconception was the fact that the female organ is almost 100 grams lighter than the male. However, this was not confirmed, since the indicators were very different for different people.
Stereotypes or Reality?
For years, people thought the differences between men and women were in the brain. Scientists for more than 200 years started from the fact that girls were less educated and almost completely dependent on their fathers and husbands. This gave them the right to assume that it was biological factors that caused the social vulnerability of women. Over the years, there has been a kind of "hunt for differences": people looked for convincing explanations, then refuted them and put forward other theories. But no one imagined that the matter was not at all in the brain and not in some other natural data.
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Only recently have scientists begun to suggest that women’s lack of education and low earnings are not due to the fact that they are more stupid. The society is to blame for everything, which imposes gender stereotypes on them. A person develops in close connection with the people around him, therefore he absorbs all the stereotypes and beliefs inherent in society.
Gina Rippon, a neuroscientist, explains that the structure of the brain in both sexes is exactly the same. Therefore, there is no objective reason to convince girls that they cannot do math, or tells boys that they should not be emotional.
Differences between us
Most neuroscientists share the theory that there is no difference between the female and male brains. However, there are other biological factors that influence the behavior of both. In addition, cultural differences should not be overlooked, which are so closely intertwined in our lives that they affect our bodies. For example, it is well known in psychiatry that women and men most often suffer from various diseases.
Girls are more likely to suffer from depression and have a higher level of anxiety. At the same time, men are more likely to use drugs. Migraine is a faithful companion of the beautiful half of humanity. The question of the similarities and differences between the two sexes remains relevant to this day, and the information changes every month.
How does experience affect our brains?
Rippon analyzed MRI scans of 21 men and 27 women in order to determine the differences between them. As she expected, there were no significant changes in the structure. However, in our life we observe completely different things. It is men who most often become mathematicians and programmers, and women - teachers and nurses. Does this mean that human abilities are determined by gender from birth?
Gina and other scientists say no. Human behavior and abilities are shaped by life experience and the skills acquired during it. If in childhood the child was not given "Lego", then he will not master spatial thinking and he is unlikely to succeed in becoming an architect. A girl who does not hold a car in her hand in her life will not be able to understand the engines. It is practice and repetitive actions that determine our neural networks and the structure of the brain, so the meaning of the phrase “we are what we do” is revealed from a new angle.
A neuroscientist who refutes stereotypes
Professor Gina Rippon is an expert in neuroimaging at Aston University. In her first book, The Gender Brain: Busting Myths, she explores the theory of significant sex differences and argues that experience is not to blame for everything.
New technologies helped to study the "control center" of people. With the advent of MRI, scientists have redefined the understanding of the brain. Before that, doctors had the opportunity to examine only a diseased or dead organ, so all the data were greatly distorted. But MRI has allowed us to study different areas of the brain and observe how blood flow rushes to one part or another, depending on our actions. This provided a wealth of information to explain the behavioral differences.
Amazing organ
Our brain is an amazing organ, which so far has been less studied than anyone else, despite all the technological advances. Scientists know that children are born with already given mental capabilities, which reach their maximum development by the age of 27-30. With age, neural connections can be destroyed and rebuilt if a person masters a new skill or learns.
But participation in social collective activities has the greatest impact. Most often it is work or study. Also, our brain has the ability to calculate everything a few steps ahead and to some extent "work ahead of the curve." This is why gender stereotypes are becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Rippon is sure that if a girl is told from childhood that she cannot study science or mathematics, then most likely she will not try to enter the Faculty of Mathematics, because she is sure in advance that this is impossible. Our brain lives by the rules that it draws from the outside world, so exceptions to this rule are quite rare.
Gender gap
Rippon regularly attends schools with lectures and seminars. She wants girls to have before their eyes real female scientists who have been able to achieve a lot in their profession. She is convinced that it is parents and society that ultimately influence the abilities of their children.
“Boys in blue and girls in pink - I see this picture almost everywhere. Meanwhile, this is a binary coding that is not explained by scientific facts and only hurts children,”says the neuroscientist.
Objections of people
More often than not, people perceive the idea that the two sexes are similar negatively. They say, "I have a daughter and a son, and they are very different." But the two daughters are very different, right? The point is not at all in some innate factors, but in the fact that we ourselves offer our children certain models of behavior. Dolls are bought for girls, and cars for boys, and they get used to this separation from the cradle.
Rippon does not refute the fact that the brain and sex differences are biological factors that affect our lives. However, these are not the only metrics that affect people.
Neurosexism
Despite all the latest research in neuroscience, society still cannot accept the fact that different sexes have the same brain. It is as difficult as abandoning any centuries-old claims. During the "revolution" in the minds, people often turn to historical beliefs and stereotypes called neurosexism. These are the historical established differences between men and women, which have developed over the centuries and determine some of the features of behavior and thinking of both.
Nevertheless, the process is underway, and people are slowly but surely becoming more receptive to the idea that there are no significant differences in thinking between men and women. One of the major advances in recent years has been the realization that, even as adults, the brain is constantly changing. A taxi driver's brain will be different from that of a novice driver. A person who is fond of drawing will have completely different neural connections than someone who likes to watch TV at their leisure. Millions of factors affect our body. Gender is one of them, but not the most important.
Natalia Tikhomirova
