#lady brain

[sapphowasamerf]

Meet the neuroscientist shattering the myth of the gendered brain

Why asking whether your brain is male or female is the wrong question

“Rippon is patient, though there is an urgency in her voice as she explains how vital it is, how life-changing, that we finally unpack – and discard – the sexist stereotypes and binary coding that limit and harm us.” “...perhaps it was time to abandon the age-old search for the differences between brains from men and brains from women. Are there any significant differences based on sex alone? The answer, she says, is no. To suggest otherwise is ‘neurofoolishness’.” “Neural plasticity throws the nature/nurture polarity out of the lab window. “Nature is entangled with nature,” says Rippon. Added to this, “being part of a social cooperative group is one of the prime drives of our brain.” The brain is also predictive and forward-thinking in a way we had never previously realised. Like a satnav, it follows rules, is hungry for them. “The brain is a rule scavenger,” explains Rippon, “and it picks up its rules from the outside world. The rules will change how the brain works and how someone behaves.” The upshot of gendered rules? “The ‘gender gap’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.” “...and she wants all children to know that their identity, abilities, achievements and behaviour are not prescribed by their biological sex. “Gender bombardment” makes us think otherwise. Male babies dressed in blue romper suits, female ones in pink is a binary coding that belies a status quo that resists the scientific evidence. “Pinkification”, as Rippon calls it, has to go. Parents don’t always like what they hear.” ;)

[lyricscity]

The Harmaleighs - Lady Brain

[femaleresistance]

Female scientists that say they are at the forefront of a movement to liberate people of all genders from what they see as the sexist limits of "hardwiring."

We take for granted how often laymen and even researchers use science—and specifically neuroscience—to “verify” stereotypes about gender: That men are naturally more competitive, for instance, or that women are more in touch with their emotions and better skilled at communicating. Such notions aren’t just academic, but pervasive and potent, indirectly influencing the way we organize our households and organizations, not to mention the way we see our relationships, and even ourselves.

Rippon and others have called also attention to brain plasticity, which complicates evidence from brain imaging tests since men and women are both saddled with gender expectations from the time of infancy, and develop skills and behavioral tendencies accordingly. These learned behaviors could be responsible for literally changing the shape of certain structures in one’s brain, in the same way that memorizing London’s streets alters the physical structure of cabbies’ hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with memory.

Perhaps most importantly, studies have also shown that gender biases exist within science, and a researcher’s implicit assumptions can inform the methods and language they use to build a study.

“In studies that find differences between (sexes), ‘there is no way to prove that these differences have an innate basis, because the studies are conducted in adults, who have lived their entire life in a highly gendered society.'"

...the most persistent myth is about men’s and women’s brains and she says, “that they exist.” And it’s a problem that has “a very important role in maintaining our social structure.”

“There’s a lot of variability in individual brains. In fact, the anatomical variability is much greater than we ever realized before. So the notion that all people of the male sex have a brain that has fixed characteristics that are invariant seems less likely to me. In fact, so much less likely that I think the notion of trying to characterize parts of the brain as more male-like or more female-like actually isn’t useful.”

It’s also irrelevant in terms of the way society should operate, she says. For example, if a child can’t read, we give them extra lessons and find ways to help them improve. “We don’t say, it’s biologic so it must be natural and good for the child,” says Joel. “Likewise, we don’t celebrate aggression just because it is natural.”

[ladygreytea]

it’s been like. four years and i still have bimonthly dreams in which my hair’s long again. ??

[xiaoshan]

fill my mouth with words that I should say // because my little lady brain couldn't find it's own array “After receiving comments like ‘wow I didn’t know a girl could play bass’ and ‘you guys are great for girls’, we decided it was time to write a song about the sexism we’ve experienced,” says the band. “‘Lady Brain’ tackles that issue with a sense of sarcasm in the lyrics and a floating pop melody. It wasn’t the easiest song for us to get off our chests, but we feel like it’s the most important one yet.“

[nettwerk]

[carsette-tapes]

The Harmaleighs - “Lady Brain”

[losangeleslovesyou]

THE HARMALEIGHS : LADY BRAIN