In neuroscientific research, we have been trying for years to perpetuate the brain differences between men and women. Neurosexism refers to this problem. Suppose, depending on the sex with which the person was born, there are differences in the size and/or shape of certain parts of the brain.
Neuroscience research is based on what they call neuroms, which have often been used as a basis for asserting brain differences between women and men, it is a curious fact that much of the neuroscientist community accepts, in fact few people, especially women dare to challenge these myths.
- Professor Sonia Reverter-Baon.
- From Jaume I University of Castellón.
- Explains her critical reflection on neurosexism.
In his work, Reverter-Baon tells a curious story. In 1915, a neurologist named Charles Dana expressed his opinion on the women’s vote in the New York Times. Here’s what the doctor said:
“If women reach the feminist ideal and live like men, they will have a 25% higher risk of dementia than we do. “
What was the use of expressing this idea? Well, apparently he said that because the upper half of the spinal cord, which controls the limbs and pelvis, is smaller in women, this, according to the doctor, would affect the effectiveness of women in evaluating political initiatives or judicial authority. According to this scientist, women’s participation in politics would be “dangerous to their health. “
These words, according to Professor Reverter-Baon, could be described as “pseudoscientific thinking. “This label refers to beliefs that, in a prejudiced and callous way, are maintained by the scientific community itself.
Thus, Dr. Dana is an example of what for many years the scientific community has established as a kind of evidence, that is, the differences in the nervous system between men and women.
A neuromite, as defined by the OECD (2002) in its text on neuromyologies, is it a mistake, a misinterpretation or even one?Deliberate distortion – scientific facts for a specific purpose (3).
In turn, the term neurosexism is a neologism. It is intended to be the label that encompasses all the positions and theories that use neuroscientific research to reinforce default ideas about inherent gender differences.
The term was first used by Cordelia Fine in 2008 and later became popular with her book Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society and Neurosexism Create Difference, 2010 (1).
Neurofeminism appears as opposed to neurosexism. This refers, of course, to hypotheses about the differences between male and female brains that are based on false results.
Results that present, in addition to poor quality, poor methodologies, unproven premises and premature conclusions, as well as an insufficient appreciation of the depth and breadth of cultural models, beliefs and expectations in our minds, as well as the verification of pollution in neuroscience. prejudices that guide research in this specific area.
Therefore, when studying sexual differences in the brain, the following problems have a significant impact.
According to Reverter-Baon, gender is considered the main element of continuity of roles, which may or may not be patriarchal, in education, culture and in the various processes of socialization of the individual (4).
In general, we understand that gender is part of the duality of the sexes, however, when we make this deduction, we do not consider certain terms as transgender or intragender, so there is a biological sexual difference and a different gender. construction; at least not from a critical point of view of science (1).
So, Sonia continues, is it necessary to analyze sexual research, is there really a scientific basis that makes sense of gender separation (presocial) in distinct and different (social) educational roles?
As some authors point out and some studies with metadata confirm (7, 8, 9), the supposed scientific evidence does not lead us scientifically to the conclusion that sexual differences are in the brain, so, according to C. Vidal (2011) , three ideas should be clarified in this regard:
Therefore, it seems necessary to update scientific input on these supposed brain differences between men and women. Neurosexism is a shadow on which we have the opportunity to shed light on both feminism and critical neuroscience with thoughts that much of society has indisputably assimilated.