The female brain.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a few books, one of which was "The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine, M.D. The blurb on the cover (by another female M.D.) says, "Sassy, witty, reassuring, and great fun. All women - and the men who love them - should read this book." Couldn't resist.

Twila saw the book on our table and read it and said she has mixed feelings about what the author says. Apparently there is a lot of the nature vs. nurture controversy. I haven't read it yet, but I'm willing to say what I think.

It is obvious to most people that women and men are different physically. Not just in the genital area, but from head to toe. Size, softness, hair, whatever. And all of that is consistent with our #1 instinct, to preserve the species.

Men are bigger and stronger and more aggressive because their role in nature is to provide for and protect their families. Women are designed to create families and hold them together. With all of the physical differences, why wouldn't our brains be different? I think they are.

Lawrence Summers, when he was the president of Harvard a few years ago, got into a lot of P.C. trouble by saying that women have less aptitude than men at mathematics and science. It was like Jimmy the Greek ruining his career by saying that slaves were bred for certain characteristics (I can imagine that, but I don't know if it's accurate.) Even if you say something that is true or that you think is true, you will be spat upon if your views touch a specific nerve, and with gender and race those nerves are prominent.

Men need math and science because their primary function is to provide, to produce. Why wouldn't their native aptitude for those disciplines be stronger? Women need communication to keep relationships strong, so why wouldn't their skills in that area be stronger? And isn't there plenty of evidence that those differences are real? Even brain scans show that the male and female brains work differently.

What I don't understand is why people get upset when they hear that our brains are different. Well, why women get upset - I don't know many men who think that they can handle relationships and interpersonal communication as well as women. Left brain vs. right brain dominance isn't a value judgement.

Of course, nurture plays a large role in our actual lives. The feminism movement of the '60s was one of our great accomplishments, because it freed both women and men to be what they want to be. Now, partly because of feminism and partly because of technology, we are transitioning toward a matriarchy, which will be a great societal advance. Men don't know how to negotiate, they only know how to fight. It will be a better world when women are in charge and men are off doing math and science.