Sexing The Brain / Edition 1

by Lesley Rogers

Overview

How much of sexual diversity is the result of nature versus nurture? Prevailing theories today lean heavily toward nature. Now a leading researcher in neuroscience and animal behavior shows how, in recent history, scientific claims about sex and gender differences have reflected the culture of the time. Although the conviction that genetics can explain everything is now widespread, the author demonstrates the interaction of culture and environment in the formation of behavioral traits and so provides an important corrective to popular notions of reductionism.

Starting with a summary of sex and gender studies, Rogers explains the error of sex biasing, especially the once-assumed inferiority of women. She then addresses several modern studies and investigations, some of which assert that sex and gender differences are the product of genetic inheritance and hormones. Rogers uses laboratory evidence from studies of animals that help illustrate the biologically fluid properties of sex and gender.

Sexing the Brain addresses a variety of topical questions: Are there sex differences in how we think and feel? Is language processed in different parts of the brain in men and women? Do social influences have a stronger influence on sexual behavior than sex hormone levels? Rogers concludes that "our biology does not bind us to remain the same.... We have the ability to change, and the future of sex differences belongs to us."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231120111
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	10/09/2002
Series:	Maps of the Mind
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	7.98(w) x 8.04(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lesley Rogers is professor of neuroscience and animal behavior in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of New England, Australia. She is the author of five other books, including Minds of Their Own: Thinking and Awareness in Animals and Songs, Roars, and Rituals: Communication in Birds, Mammals and Other Animals (with Gisela Kaplan).

Table of Contents

1. New Methods, Old Ideas
2. What Causes Sex Differences?
3. Gay Genes?
4. Hormones, Sex, and Gender
5. Experience, Interactions, and Change
Recommended Reading

Editorial Reviews

Given the enormous popularity of biological explanations, it is refreshing to read that there is an abundance of evidence showing that experience can alter the biology of the brain and the role of hormones, and that scientists'conclusions are influenced by their own cultural experiences. The book is clearly written and well documented. It will be useful to behavioral scientists and other students of human behavior.

The Quarterly Review of Biology

Excellent.... clearly set[s] out the argument for the debate.

New Scientist

Excellent.... clearly set[s] out the argument for the debate.

New Scientist