The gendered brain : the new neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain / Gina Rippon

Introduction: Whac-a-Mole myths Sex, gender, sex/gender or gender/sex: a note on sex and gender ; Inside her pretty little head — the hunt begins — Her raging hormones — The rise of psychobabble — Brain myths, neurotrash and neurosexism ; The twenty-first-century brain — Your social brain ; Baby matters — to begin at the beginning (or even a little bit before) — Let's hear it for the babies — The gendered waters in which we swim — the pink and blue tsunami ; Sex and science — Science and the brain — Good girls don't — Inside her pretty little head — a twenty-first-century update — Mars, Venus or Earth? — have we been wrong about sex all along? — Raising dauntless daughters (and sympathetic sons).

For decades if not centuries, science has backed up society's simple dictum that men and women are hardwired differently, that the world is divided by two different kinds of brains-male and female. Gina Rippon finally challenges this damaging myth by showing how the science community has engendered bias and stereotype by rewarding studies that show difference rather than sameness. ; ; Drawing on cutting edge research in neuroscience and psychology, Rippon presents the latest evidence which she argues, finally proves that brains are like mosaics comprised of both male and female components, and that they remain plastic, adapting throughout the course of a person's life. ; ; Discernable gender identities, she asserts, are shaped by society where scientific misconceptions continue to be wielded and perpetuated to the detriment of our children, our own lives, and our culture.