A sexual neuroscientist from Toronto’s York University says that research shows that men and women have differences in their brains.
The neuroscientist, Debra Soh, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in January stating that science does not support the leftist crowd that shrieks about no differences between the genders.
“A large and long-standing body of research literature shows that toy preferences, for example, are innate, not socially constructed or shaped by parental feedback,” Soh wrote. “Most girls will gravitate toward socially interesting toys, like dolls, that help social and verbal abilities develop. Most boys will gravitate toward toys that are mechanically interesting, like cars and trucks, fostering visuo-spatial skills.”
This, of course, is due to differences in the brain between males and females.
“One meta-analysis of 126 studies found that men have larger total brain volumes than women,” Soh wrote “Men also show greater white matter connectivity running from the front to the back of the brain, while women have more of these connections running between the two hemispheres.”
In an interview with Quillette, Soh warned that denying the science behind differences in genders “is harmful and damaging”:
Part of the problem is that those touting the “there are no sex differences” point of view are shouting the loudest. As I wrote in my op-ed, the no-sex differences crowd were very encouraged by a recent study which found that you can’t tell male and female brains apart. This study got a lot of press and a lot of exposure. But a team of researchers re-analyzed the exact same brain data from that study — and they were able to tell those brains apart 69-77% of the time. Another study used higher-resolution neuroimaging data and was able to tell with 93% accuracy. But these studies didn’t receive the amount of publicity the first study did.
There is a large and longstanding body of research — thousands of studies — showing the effects of prenatal testosterone on masculinizing the brain, not to mention all of the other ways research has shown that men and women differ: brain structure, cognitive function, functional activation, personality, etc.
Soh then dropped the hammer on the science-denying feminists with this line: “Sex differences have nothing to do with gender equality.”
“I understand where people are coming from in that they fear these differences will be used to justify female oppression,” Soh said. “But instead of distorting science, we should be challenging why female-typical traits are seen as inferior and undesirable in the first place.”
Indeed, acknowledging the clear body of science showing the brain differences in males and females is hardly an example of gender oppression; it’s the opposite because the whole point of equality under the law is that people should be treated equally regardless of their innate differences.
Denying science is never a good thing for society, especially when it’s “futile” to use gender-neutral parenting for raising children, as Soh stated in her op-ed.
Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter @bandlersbanter.