[comp.society.women] Male and Female Brain Differences

mcgrew@Sun.COM (Darin McGrew) (11/03/88)

In article <5719@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>,
djk@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Doris J. Karlson) writes:
>I recently heard of a study (I heard this form a couple of sources,
>one of which was the SF Chronicle) where the brains of males and
>females were disected and compared.  They found that the bundle of
>fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is consistantly
>and significantly thicker in females than in males....

I've heard the same from a number of sources (all my
references are at home, unfortunately).  The male "brain
damage" occurs during the second trimester, and is caused by
the higher testosterone (sp?) levels in the male fetus.

Apparently, the difference enables women to blend the
left-brain and right-brain thought processes more easily,
and enables men to focus more exclusively on the thought
processes of one hemisphere or the other more easily.

>These findings suggest that it is not the case that women are "alien
>to the world of logic", but that women can express both logical and
>non-logical ideas.  (Non-logical does not imply illogical.)  And men
>are less capable of expressing non-logical ideas.

In general, yes, because most men specialize in left-brain
thought processes.  But men who specialize in right-brain
thought processes (eg, left-handed artists) are very capable
of expressing non-logical ideas (although they may not be as
good with logical ideas).  Specialization has both
advantages and disadvantages...

Darin McGrew		mcgrew@Sun.COM