Different But Equal – SEX AND THE BRAIN
I recently reblogged an article from my friend MADD suspicions about male and female brain types.
Click here to have a go at the fun quiz he found.
Also I’ve been reading, laughing and learning psychology from the witty and suave but spiky PinkAgendist. Stop by if you enjoy perceptive pieces.
I must also mention Dear Kitty.Some blog, Nonviolentconflict and thefreeorg for their intelligent and radical posts – I’ve learned so much in a short time from all three.
And of course other fine blogs I haven’t time to mention now, but will soon.
We all affect each other.
Their posts led me to think about thinking – always fun but a slightly weird experience as well.
In my more political posts I’m calling for a paradigm shift in human affairs to move from a male-managed world to a female- and child-friendly future.
With cooperation rather than competition as the guiding principle.
No violence. Local organisation of life. Less people.
Women managing human society and reproduction.
No nation states and therefore no armies, weapons of mass destruction and no National Security.
But for this argument to make sense there must be actual differences between the sexes – not just differences we learn in life – but innate differences.
So yesterday I argued that we are all Equal But Different.
The title of this blog is Different But Equal
Let’s look at some differences now and start with brains.
How often have you heard men say, “I just can’t understand women…” or “My wife doesn’t understand me…”
Do women find men equally difficult to understand, or do they, on average, have more empathy and so can work men out?
Is there such a thing as female thinking or awareness? Can there be a ‘male’ type of thinking?
Are men and women more different or more the same?
And what about the brains of homosexual folk?
All interesting questions.
That’s why the relationship between sex differences in the brain and human behaviour is so controversial in psychology and society generally.
If there are real differences between the sexes then the implications are immense.
Recent studies show there are measurable differences in female and male brains.
For instance, there is a difference between sexes in the transcription of a gene pair involved in brain development unique to Homo sapiens.
Consequently female and male brains show differences in internal structure.
One of the main areas studied is the proportion of white matter relative to gray matter.
Gray matter is made up of neuronal cell bodies. The gray matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, and speech.
White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the nervous system.
So the gray matter can be thought of as the processing areas, while the white matter connects.
Blood flow is also different between women and men, with females able to move blood more quickly to the areas needed and not losing functions in old age as much as males.
There are also differences in the structure and size of certain areas in male and female brains.
Studies found men on average to have larger parietal lobes, responsible for sensory input including spatial sense and navigation.
Women usually have larger Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas, regions that are responsible for language processing.
Postmortem and imaging studies over the past two decades have revealed structural differences in both global structures and sexually-related brain structures between heterosexual and homosexual subjects.
Researcher Simon LeVay showed that parts of hypothalamus related to sexual orientation not gender.
The hypothalamus is an area known to be involved in sex differences in reproductive behaviour, mediating responses in menstrual cycles in women and the back of the hypothalamus regulates male-typical sexual behaviour.
These results were obtained from postmortem analysis of hypothalamic nuclei of known homosexual subjects compared to heterosexual patients.
The size of the brain’s hemispheres is a sexually dimorphic trait in which men tend to show asymmetry in the volumes of their hemispheres while women show more symmetry.
A recent study found homosexual men showed hemispheric volumes to be symmetric similar to heterosexual women and homosexual women showed asymmetry in hemispheric volumes as heterosexual men do.
However differences in brain physiology between the sexes and sexual preferences do not lead to differences in intellect.
This points to females and males taking different but equally successful routes to achieve the same outcomes.
Evidence for this was found in a 2004 study finding men and women achieve similar IQ results by utilising different brain regions.
So this suggests there is no singular underlying neuro-anatomical structure for general intelligence.
In simple language, different types of brains work equally well.
So, different but equal.
Equal but different.
Excellent writing on a crucial issue – a must read!
Last night, I attended a public debate hosted by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, on the rights of anti-abortion protestors to campaign outside abortion clinics. The pro-choice half of the panel consisted of Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, and Sarah Ditum, a writer and journalist. The opposing half consisted of Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder of Christian Concern, and Max Wind-Cowie, a writer with centre-right political beliefs.
Both Ann and Sarah gave excellent speeches. While fully supporting the notion of freedom of speech as essential to the exchange of ideas, they argued that freedom of speech does not extend to the right to bully, harass, and intimidate. As Ann asserts, “It is not a kind of charter that allows you to say anything you want, to anyone you want, at any time you want, in any place you want.” And you can be sure that when anti-abortion protestors camp outside…
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The men are all showing their dick(ybows) and are fully dressed.
Double standards of the highest (or more properly lowest) order
INTELLECTUAL CHARLATANS & ACADEMIC WITCH-HUNTERS
Two interesting, but separate issues here – Criticism of Racist Israel and the sense or nonsense of postmodern writings around gender – a very good article
Kabul attack on female actors leaves survivors facing more ‘punishment’
Awful attacks on Afghani women
Pastors – they’re only in it for the money, drugs, property, sex and power…
I’VE LEARNED A LOT FROM ROBERT ANTON WILSON
“The human brain, which loves to read descriptions of itself as the universe’s most marvelous organ of perception, is an even more marvelous organ of rejection. The naked facts of our economic game are easily discoverable and undeniable once stated, but conservatives – who are usually individuals who profit every day of their lives from these facts – manage to remain oblivious to them or to see them through a very rose-tinted lens.
Similarly, the revolutionary ignores the total testimony of history about the natural course of revolution, through violence, to chaos and then back to the starting point.”
ROBERT ANTON WILSON
New documentary explores accusations against Julian Assange
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sex-lies-julian-assange/
Latest documentary from TOP DOCUMENTARY FILMS on the Julian Assange sex allegations containing interesting new details.
Battered and Bruised is Beautiful?
If this doesn’t upset you…
By Catherine Scott @ Ms. Magazine Blog
Treating women like dirt is hardly a new tactic for the fashion industry, with its long history of objectifying the female body, idealizing physically impossible beauty types and glamorizing violence against women. Bulgaria-based 12 magazine, however, has hit a new low with an inexplicable photo spread in its latest issue titled, “Victim of Beauty” [TRIGGER WARNING].
The six images are all close-up portraits of young, attractive white models sporting various gruesome injuries: one boasts a black eye, another a slit throat and a third sports a split lip and a bruised neck. Scrolling through this montage of burns, bruises and gashes, it’s easy to forget you’re looking at a “fashion” photo shoot; the images more closely resemble police files of horrendous domestic violence.
Were the magazine spread a deliberate attempt to raise awareness and generate conversation about our society’s failure to prevent…
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There are two kinds of people – those who admit to mental problems and those that don’t. Which kind are YOU?
No rhetoric; no sublime style; no lexicons or etymology. Pure and simple disclosure of disquieting issues.
Please, REPOST THIS ON YOUR BLOG. Personally, I prefer privacy over publicity; I exposed my life in the hope that the stigmas of mental illness, obesity, and homosexuality might be reconsidered to be human conditions worthy of respect and empathy.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-bipolar-20120824,0,3948031.story
Bipolar II disorder: Another Chicagoan’s story
Like Jesse Jackson Jr., Harlan Didrickson has the illness and has had weight-loss surgery
 Harlan Didrickson poses outside his Rogers Park home. (Chris Walker, Tribune photo / August 17, 2012) |
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STOP GIVING BIRTH
The symbol is an amalgamation of the sign for Venus/Feminity and a lollipop lady’s lollipop (crossing patrol warden)
Sharon Brough is the Ms.siah. She and her 13 female disciples set about making the future female. One of her women was formerly a lollipop lady.
Let’s Celebrate Abortion and Fuck Religion
Jennifer Mason, crazy person and communications director for Personhood USA, said: “Personhood USA does not endorse political candidates, but we had hoped that Congressman Ryan would be a good influence on Governor Romney, considering Romney’s liberal abortion record.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/22/paul-ryan-republican-abortion-row
Mason added: “Reading today that babies conceived in rape should suffer the death penalty (my emphasis) under a Romney-Ryan administration is extremely concerning, and indicates that congressman Ryan’s pro-woman and pro-baby positions would have little influence if he wins the office of vice president of the US.”
Do these people campaign against the real death penalty? Of course not; their ideas are dangerous and ignorant – they have no morals but act holier-than-everybody-else.
Personhood is a ridiculous concept, but then that’s what defines “People of Faith” – they believe nonsense every day. they thrive on it – they love nonsense. Here’s a few examples; Virgin Birth, 3-in-1 God, Heaven, Hell, GOP, Armageddon, Transubstantiation, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Scientology, Mormonism, LDS,
What we need are more abortions, more contraception of all kinds and an awareness that human overpopulation will destroy the ecosystem for all life.
And to achieve this we need to work together to make religions a thing of the past like cannibalism, incest and forced marriages.
So decent folks everywhere – please argue for contraception – support women’s rights to abortion when they want it and oppose religion at every turn.
Educate your friends that religion and children do not mix.
Agitate to Keep Religion Out of Schools
It’s humanity’s only hope
It’s a cock-up…
Consider the sacred and secular stories on which our civilisations are based. Do they create equal
spaces for everyone to develop?
I’d say not. It’s so obvious, it’s the central contradiction in modern life.
The dominant stories are the elite’s greatest weapons against the people.
DOG Sharon: The Future is Female!
A thrilling story of love, courage and humour with a crucial
message of hope and change for the entire planet.
Available as a paperback and ebook at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com
DOG Sharon 
