The Female Brain
• Gender Studies
Louann Brizendine, who works with women who have mood disorders gives old sexist stereotypes new life in her book, The Female Brain:
Q: You write that women are less concerned with a husband’s visual appeal and more interested in his material resources and social status. Isn’t that the definition of a “gold digger”?
A: (Laughs) Like all our phrases, “gold digger” has an element of truth and untruth. The reason the phrase exists is the truth that all women need to be gold-diggers. The most forward-thinking women are thinking about their unborn children, and the goal is to have a man who can provide. It has a new meaning, and smart women understand that.
Just what is she thinking? Tackling the mysteries of the female brain
How about all the women - most of the ones I’ve ever known who don’t ever plan to have children?
Most researchers disagree with Brizendine:
“These are stereotypes, and stereotypes die hard,” says Janet Hyde, psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, whose own studies find that instead of vast differences between the sexes, males and females are more psychologically similar. Hyde reviewed 46 so-called meta-analyses that examined gender differences (across a wide swath of categories, such as math, reading, sexuality, happiness, assertiveness, etc.). Her study showed “in most areas there are either no differences or very small differences,” she says, with a few exceptions: Men are more physically aggressive, better at throwing; they masturbate more often, have more relaxed attitudes about casual sex. …
Elsewhere: That Funny Female Brain