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livsliterarynook 's review for:
The Gendered Brain was this month's @femi.books book club pick. I have to say I wouldn't have ordinarily picked up this book if it hadn't been for the book club as although it sounds interesting it's not my usual read. Not everyone picked up the book this month for various reasons given the current climate. I would say the book it a little dense and required some googling, but overall it was really informative and interesting. This is why I'd say it might not be the easiest of reads at the moment but I would recommend if you're interested in feminism and science pick it up.
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Rippon excelled at unpicking how scientific studies are put together. She highlights how they can get distorted by the media, how they can be misleading based on the number of individuals in the study, whether humans or animals are used and the types of questions asked. Rippon does her best to make it accessible to the common reader. I discussed with my boyfriend who has a background in science and he explained the difficulty in making science studies accessible and this made me realise how well Rippon does.
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Rippon made some fascinating points about gender. The ones I found particularly poignant were her arguments about PMS and how it has been connected (particularly in the West) with negative emotions and most surveys focus on the negative emotions. She unpicks the arguments around whether a male and female brain exists. One main argument is that men are better at spatial tasks, however, she points out that brain plasticity can change. If people play video games, build with Lego and various other tasks they can increase their spatial awareness and abilities. She argues it isn't based on gender. There were lots of points that she unpicks really well.
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There were a few chapters towards the end that felt a little repetitive and I would not say this book was a quick read. However, I tabbed it up and had several lengthy discussions with my boyfriend and do think this offers a lot of insight into society, the brain and gender. She also concludes that whilst sex can be important, it doesn't need to be the whole focus.
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Rippon excelled at unpicking how scientific studies are put together. She highlights how they can get distorted by the media, how they can be misleading based on the number of individuals in the study, whether humans or animals are used and the types of questions asked. Rippon does her best to make it accessible to the common reader. I discussed with my boyfriend who has a background in science and he explained the difficulty in making science studies accessible and this made me realise how well Rippon does.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Rippon made some fascinating points about gender. The ones I found particularly poignant were her arguments about PMS and how it has been connected (particularly in the West) with negative emotions and most surveys focus on the negative emotions. She unpicks the arguments around whether a male and female brain exists. One main argument is that men are better at spatial tasks, however, she points out that brain plasticity can change. If people play video games, build with Lego and various other tasks they can increase their spatial awareness and abilities. She argues it isn't based on gender. There were lots of points that she unpicks really well.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There were a few chapters towards the end that felt a little repetitive and I would not say this book was a quick read. However, I tabbed it up and had several lengthy discussions with my boyfriend and do think this offers a lot of insight into society, the brain and gender. She also concludes that whilst sex can be important, it doesn't need to be the whole focus.