"Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion, while men have a small country road," Louann Brizendine writes. Men, however, "have O'Hare Airport as a hub for processing thoughts about sex, where women have the airfield nearby that lands small and private planes."
This is from a book just out in the USA called The Female Brain. Louann Brizendine says - with the back up of her scientific research - what Miss Eagle has long believed. Neither the male nor the female brain are superior to the other, just different. But how different! And how does society recognize this and take the facts into account. Read about it here.We are clever girls - and don't you forget it. A man's brain may be bigger overall, says Brizendine, but the main hub for emotion and memory formation is larger in a woman's brain, as is the wiring for language and "observing emotion in others."
Miss Eagle loved this bit:
Connecting through talking activates the pleasure centers in a girl's brain. We're not talking about a small amount of pleasure. This is huge. It's a major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest, fattest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm.
Miss Eagle knows this feeling. Talking and talking and more talking was one of the reasons why Miss Eagle took to her late great Dearly Beloved. Not to mention that friends of Miss Eagle and her sister, The Director, have been known to comment that they would talk underwater! Now here's why. Clearly, we get off on it in a big way!
And there is a warning about hugs:
Research shows that the female brain naturally releases oxytocin after a 20-second hug. The embrace bonds the huggers and triggers the brain's trust circuits. So Brizendine advises, don't let a guy hug you unless you plan to trust him.
2 comments:
A really interesting post - and good "links".
As the father of a daughter, I especially liked this part:
"Girls arrive already wired as girls, and boys arrive already wired as boys."
I set out to raise Zoe as a modern kid, with little sexual stereotyping. You know, trucks in the sand pit, as well as dolls houses, etc.
Well, dolls, dress-ups, music, dance, cuddly toys in bed, and talking with friends - all totally took over, without any influence from me.
She was born a girl, through and through (and still is).
Of course, this takes us to the Nature vs Nurture argument - in which I think "nurture" gets thrown out the window.
*****
You missed out on the last line (about hugs) in the review: If you do decide to let someone hug you - make sure it lasts 20 seconds.
I must add this book to my already sizable collection on the subject! The best book I've read on the difference between men and women is "Brain Sex" by Anne Moir and David Jessel. Anne M has a PhD in genetics, and David J is a writer and presenter of tv programs. Published in 1989, it was far ahead of its time, prompting the outpouring of similar themes since then.
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