The relationship between communication and gender has long been of interest to scholars. For some, the idea that “men are from Mars and women are from Venus,” which suggests that men and women speak different languages, has been an unquestioned article of faith. This new book by Deborah Cameron tries to explain why this widely accepted idea is mistaken, and to demonstrate why from different perspectives. On the basis of scientific evidence, Cameron sets out to dispel the myth and tell a much more complicated story.

Chapter 1 indicates Cameron’s main purpose in writing the book, which is to challenge many stereotypical ideas about gender and language and the major ways they are argued for. She points out that more sophisticated methods are needed in order to explain the similarities and differences between men and women in language use. In Chapter 2 the author puts these myths into their contexts by analyzing examples, in order to deflate these widespread beliefs. In chapter 3, after analyzing many scholars’ findings, Cameron argues that many common generalizations about the way men and women communicate are only partially true. Chapter 4 describes approaches that explain the different performance of “Mars” and “Venus” in childhood and adolescence on the basis of Darwinian theories of natural selection, as well as the cross-cultural communication approach, which holds that the different activities and social norms of boys’ and girls’ peer groups lead to girls and boys having different rules for talking. Chapter 5 discusses the myth of male/female misunderstanding by analyzing men’s and women’s respective communication features. It is held that as men and women spend their formative years in separate social worlds, or because men and women have different innate characteristics inherited from their prehistoric ancestors, they communicate differently and have difficulty understanding each other. Chapter 6 explains the idea that sex differences in language and communication are innate from the perspectives of brain structure, genes, and evolutionary theory. Chapter 7 examines in detail the way men and women communicate in public settings. In chapter 8, in opposition to the myth that each gender is doing what comes naturally, Cameron argues that identity and style should be taken into consideration. Taking this idea further in chapter 9, she counters the idea that gendered communication styles are “normal” or “natural” with the idea that people perform difference in discourse. In sum, Cameron believes that we should “look beyond the myth of Mars and Venus” (181) when dealing with male–female communication problems.

This is a thoroughly readable and fascinating book, which deserves the attention scholars, staff, and students interested in gender and language. It precisely reviews widespread myths and candidly points out that they are myths, from a variety of different perspectives.