Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-14T07:43:57.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brain, Sex and Ideology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Catherine Vidal
Catherine Vidal*
Affiliation:
Institut Pasteur, Paris
Get access

Abstract

Since the 19th century, and despite tremendous progress in science, the topic of ‘brain and sex’ remains a matter of misleading interpretations, far beyond the field of science. The media are not solely responsible for this situation. Some scientific circles still actively promote the ideology of biological determinism in their attempt to explain differences in behaviour and cognitive abilities between men and women. Experimental data from brain imaging studies, cognitive tests or the discovery of new genes are often distorted to serve deterministic ideas. As biotechnologies and genetic engeneering represent today a new economic and lucrative challenge, the question of what is innate and what is acquired is becoming more and more significant, requiring vigilant scrutiny from us all.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , November 2005, pp. 127 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bishop, K. M. and Wahlsten, D. (1997) ‘Sex Differences in the Human Corpus Callosum, Myth or Reality?’, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 21: 581–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broca, P. (1861) ‘Sur le volume et la forme du cerveau suivant les individus et suivant les races’, Bull. Soc. Anthropologie: 2.Google Scholar
Delacoste, M.C. and Holloway, R.L. (1982) ‘Sexual Dimorphism in the Human Corpus Callosum’, Science 216: 1431–1432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dehaene, S., Spelke, E., Pinel, P., Stanescu, R. and Tsivkin, S. (1999) ‘Sources of Mathematical Thinking: Behavioural and Brain-imaging Evidence’, Science 284: 970–974.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elbert, T., Pantev, C., Wienbrush, C., Rockstroh, B. and Taub, E. (1995) ‘Increased Cortical Representation of the Fingers of the Left Hand in String Players’, Science 270: 305–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fausto-Sterling, A. (1992) Myths of Gender. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Feingold, A. (1988) ‘Cognitive Gender Differences are Disappearing’, American Psychologist 43: 95–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geschwind, N. and Galaburda, A. M. (1985) ‘Cerebral Lateralization’, Archives of Neurology 42: 428–459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, S. J. (1981) The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Hamer, D. H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V. L., Hu, N. and Pattatucci, A. M. (1993) ‘A Linkage between DNA Marker on the X chromosome and Male Sexual Orientation’, Science 261: 321–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimura, D. (1999) Sex and Cognition. Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeVay, S. (1991) ‘A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men’, Science 253: 1034–1037.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maddox, J. (1992) ‘How to Publish the Unpalatable?’, Nature 358: 187–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G. and Frith, C. D. (2000) ‘Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampi of Taxi Drivers’, PNAS 97: 4398–4403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, G., Anderson, C., Rish, N. and Ebers, G. (1999) ‘Male Homosexuality: Absence of Linkage to Microsatellite Markers at Xq28’, Science 284: 665–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vidal, C. (1996) ‘Le cerveau a-t-il un sexe?’, La Recherche, vol. 290.Google Scholar
Vidal, C. (2001a) ‘Quand l'idéologie envahit la science du cerveau’, La Recherche, hors-série no. 6, November.Google Scholar
Vidal, C. (2001b) ‘Le cerveau, le sexe et les maths’, Tangente 83, November–December.Google Scholar
Vidal, C. and Benoit-Browaeys, D. (2005) Cerveau, sexe et pouvoir. Paris: Éditions Belin.Google Scholar
Young, L. J., Nilsen, R., Waymire, K. G., MacGregor, G. R. and Insel, T. R. (1999) ‘Increased Affiliative Response to Vasopressin in Mice Expressing the V1a Receptor from a Monogamous Vole’, Nature 400: 766–768.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed