When I come across something that I wrote in the past I am often surprised by how articulate and eloquent I can sometimes be. Sometimes I write letters to the editor, sometimes I respond to opinion blogs, etc. When I am able to recover them, I post them on this blog so I'll have a record. Anyway, this one I wrote in response to this:
http://blog.wired.com/biotech/2006/12/do_you_have_a_b.html
an article propigating the ridiculous and dangerous notion that there are genetic- not environmental- sex differences in the brain.:
The idea that there are, in fact, biological differences between male and female brains is almost exclusively American, supported by American data. The global research on the subject ranges from slightly dissonant to completely contradictory, in some cases providing exactly opposite conclusions as to the inherent tendencies and strengths of gendered thinking (verbal and linguistic vs. mathematical and spatial being the major distinction usually applied). Further, much of the data which supports these long held American conclusions is from earlier times when the socialization of activities and occupations was largely delineated down gender lines, a fact which provides more than enough alternative causation for gender differences. It is important to consider the ramifications of any notion that there are differences in the brains of the genders before casually perpetuating these unfounded American myths.
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