The Gendered Brain: New Neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain

Mar 12, 2019 Industry NewsResources 3 minutes read
The Gendered Brain is an agenda-setting book that demolishes the myth of the male or female brain and has been chosen as ‘one to watch 2019’ by Observer and The Times.‘A smart and witty addition to the literature on sex differences. Gina Rippon is one of the most outspoken scientists in this area, and she debunks a whole host of sexist stereotypes in her new book.’ Angela Saini ‘This book is about an idea that has its roots in the eighteenth century and still persists in the twenty-first century. This is the notion that you can ‘sex’ a brain, that you can describe a brain as ‘male’ or ‘female’ and that you can attribute any differences in behaviour, abilities, achievements, personality, even hopes and expectations to the possession of one or the other type of brain. It is a notion that has inaccurately driven brain science for several centuries, underpins many damaging stereotypes and, I believe, stands in the way of social progress and equality of opportunity.’The twenty-first century world is one which seems determined to magnify ‘essential’ differences between men and women’s brains, from (or even before) the moment of birth. This comes via toys, clothes, books, through schools, the workplace and the influence of social media. But where do these supposed differences come from and how ‘essential’ are they?

Taking us back through centuries of sexism in science, The Gendered Brain shows how we arrived at the idea of an inferior, female brain and how cutting-edge breakthroughs in neuroscience can liberate us from this outdated understanding of what our brains can do. Rippon shows us the reality behind much of the data that is used to justify the gender gap, and explains how major breakthroughs in neuroscience will help us dispel these stereotypes and ‘neurotrash’.
The Gendered Brain is an accessible and polemic popular science book with huge repercussions for the gender debate, for education, for parenting and for how we identify ourselves.

Professor Gina Rippon is an international researcher in the field of cognitive neuroscience based at the Aston Brain Centre at Aston University in Birmingham. She is a highly experienced public speaker and a regular contributor to events such as the British Science Festival, New Scientist Live and the Sceptics in the Pub series and, in 2015, was made an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association for her contributions to the public communication of science. She is also an advocate for initiatives to help overcome the under-representation of women in STEM subjects and belongs to WISE and ScienceGrrl, and is a member of the Speakers4Schools programme. The Gendered Brain is her first book for a general reader.

 We will be running a competition on our social media accounts to win one of 5 books on Wednesday 13th March 2019 for Brain Awareness Week 2019. 

For further information contact Alison Davies, Publicity Manager, Vintage: adavies1@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk | 020 7840 8370

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