Of the sexes and their brains: The neuropsychology of sex differences

This book, Of the sexes and their brains: The neuropsychology of gender differences, is an essay in scientific popularization. Its’ subject matter covers several topics pertaining to differences between men's and women's brains and behavior. We are accustomed to thinking that sex differences are culturally determined and thus conditioned by experiences of life after birth. However, stringent and extensive scientific analysis of the causes of sex differences in behavior compel us to recognize and understand that our genetic legacy and our hormonal and brain development before birth are extremely important causes of sex differences in behavior. Though intellectual and other mental abilities are equivalent, on the whole, in adult men and women, each sex presents some relative advantages and disadvantages. New medical research techniques are now helping us observe fine-grained differences in men's and women’s brains, and many such differences have been found. These differences are beginning to explain why men and women are at differing risk for various psychiatric disturbances as well as certain disorders of immune function. Sexual identity, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior are very different in men and women. A wide ranging and detailed neurobiological account of these differences is provided in this book. Sex hormones continue to have important and complex effects on sex differences in brain function and non-reproductive behavior and mental life right up until death. Such effects are observed, for example, in relation to the arrival of puberty, of childbearing, and of menopause. One of the fascinating differences between men and women is that the two sides of their brains are anatomically and physiologically organized and connected in a sex-specific manner. This may in fact be a major key to understanding the hidden causes of sex differences in behavior