The Gendered Brain

By: Gina Rippon

Narrated by: Catherine Bailey

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon, read by Catherine Bailey.

'A treasure trove of information and good humour' CORDELIA FINE, author of Testosterone Rex

Do you have a female brain or a male brain?
Or is that the wrong question?

Reading maps or reading emotions? Barbie or Lego? We live in a gendered world where we are bombarded with messages about sex and gender. On a daily basis we face deeply ingrained beliefs that your sex determines your skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choice and salaries. But what does this constant gendering mean for our thoughts, decisions and behaviour? And what does it mean for our brains?

Drawing on her work as a professor of cognitive neuroimaging, Gina Rippon unpacks the stereotypes that bombard us from our earliest moments and shows how these messages mould our ideas of ourselves and even shape our brains. Taking us back through centuries of sexism, The Gendered Brain reveals how science has been misinterpreted or misused to ask the wrong questions. Instead of challenging the status quo, we are still bound by outdated stereotypes and assumptions.

By exploring new, cutting-edge neuroscience, Rippon urges us to move beyond a binary view of our brains and instead to see these complex organs as highly individualised, profoundly adaptable, and full of unbounded potential.

Rigorous, timely and liberating, The Gendered Brain has huge repercussions for women and men, for parents and children, and for how we identify ourselves.

©2019 Gina Rippon (P)2019 Random House Audiobooks

Critic reviews

A highly accessible book. It’s also an important one… it has the power to do vastly more for gender equality than any number of feminist “manifestos”… revolutionary to a gloriuos degree ... supremely clear-eyed … thought-provoking (Rachel Cooke)

A treasure trove of information and good humour, The Gendered Brain offers thought-provoking perspectives on the latest debates about sex, gender and the brain. (Cordelia Fine, author of TESTOSTERONE REX)

Essential reading (Katy Guest)

A smart and witty addition to the literature on sex differences. Gina Rippon is one of the most outspoken scientists in this area, and she debunks a whole host of sexist stereotypes in her new book. (Angela Saini, author of INFERIOR)

[An] excellent…book… it will reward those willing to put in the effort… [and] put weapons in the arsenal of those trying to tackle sexism (Rosamund Urwin)

We are what we do

This book could be summarised as "we are what we do". Essentially, our brains aren't set in stone, and nor are the characteristics of our brains (, behaviours, personalities). When we do something, our brain builds the connections etc so that we'll do that thing more effectively in future. As such, things like gender roles act as a 'strait-jacket' (in the author's words) for our brains, limiting our capabilities through exposing us to some things--and not others--as well as our expectations of ourselves.

I didn't learn a HUGE amount from this book, but that's primarily because I do a lot of feminist reading as well as a lot around neuroscience--and particularly prediction mechanisms--for my PhD. As you do.

I will, however, be throwing this book at the next person who claims women "can't do math/read a map/use a hammer" because we're just "not made that way". It's all hogwash. Boo to evolutionary psychology and the retrograde conceptions of humanity and our brains in which it's embedded.

Watch the debate on youtube instead

Watch the "Is the brain gendered?" debate on youtube and you'll see the author being debunked with a bunch of facts in about 10 minutes.

This book is the longer, more cringeworthy version of that. Save yourself the time.