Brainstorm: Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences from Forum Network | Book Tour Podcast Podcast

Rebecca M. Jordan-Young, an expert in the biological components of sex, gender, and sexuality discusses her new book, Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Sciences of Sex Differences. Female and male brains are different, thanks to hormones coursing through the brain before birth. That's taught as fact in psychology textbooks, academic journals, and bestselling books. And these hardwired differences explain everything from sexual orientation to gender identity, to why there aren't more women physicists or more stay-at-home dads. In this new book, Jordan-Young takes on the evidence that sex differences are hardwired into the brain. Analyzing virtually all published research that supports the claims of "human brain organization theory," Jordan-Young reveals how often these studies fail the standards of science. Even if careful researchers point out the limits of their own studies, other researchers and journalists can easily ignore them because brain organization theory just sounds so right. But if a series of methodological weaknesses, questionable assumptions, inconsistent definitions, and enormous gaps between ambiguous findings and grand conclusions have accumulated through the years, then science isn't scientific at all.

Download that Forum Network podcast here. Additionally, Women's Radio had this opinion of the author's ideas, framed within the context of a Boston school superintendent's backing away from single sex educational approaches:

Boston school superintendent Carol Johnson has decided to back away from an earlier decision to set up single-sex academies in the city's schools. She is taking flak in some quarters, but she should be applauded for taking time to evaluate the data before rushing headlong into a popular but flawed approach to education. (Legal issues in Massachusetts also were a factor in her decision.) More educators around the U.S. should follow her lead. [...] Brainstorm (2010) is by Rebecca M. Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist and an assistant professor of women's studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. She looks askance at the idea that hormones create brains in pink and blue, affecting everything from our math aptitude to our ability to take risks. "The evidence for hormonal sex differentiation of the human brain better resembles a hodge-podge pile than a solid structure…Once we have cleared the rubble, we can begin to build newer, more scientific stories about human development."

For those that are formally studying this issue, the Women's Radio post is a good place to gather up ideas; it references other substantive titles. Find that post here. See also: Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference