Slate has a piece (in 6 parts) on what author Amanda Schaffer calls the sex difference evangelists—basically clinicians and scientists who are getting a lot of attention for claiming all kinds of behavioral and cognitive differences between men and women are hard-wired from birth. Schaffer singles out Louann Brizendine, author of The Female Brain, and Susan Pinker, who wrote The Sexual Paradox, both of whom oversimplify the research and make some pretty specious claims. It’s nice to see this kind of skepticism reach a popular venue. For a great critique of The Female Brain, see this review by Rebecca Young and Evan Balaban in Nature. Young is a professor at Barnard who has closely examined this whole body of research. Her analysis is brilliant and much-needed so hopefully her book will be out soon.
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