The Science Museum in London is taking a beating after gender campaigners discovered its Who Am I? exhibition, which dares to suggest that men and women think differently.
They’re particularly affronted by a part of the showcase which invites them to find out how female or male their brain is, on a ‘sex-o-meter’ coloured pink and blue.
Interestingly enough, the exhibition has been about for six years, so I’m not sure why everyone’s upset now. If these people care about science so much, you might have expected them to spot this aberration a while ago.
What’s troubling about this backlash is there are differences between male and female brains, which the Science Museum is right to demonstrate.
It’s just a fact. You can see it most clearly in psychological disorders, which show which prove that different parts are most active in men and women.
Females generally suffer from more emotional illnesses, like anxiety and depression. In males, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders are more prevalent.
Some suggest this disparity is because sometimes certain disorders “don’t get picked up” in one sex. But Tourette Syndrome is one very clear affliction that cannot be missed – and it’s at least three times more common in boys.
Study after study has highlighted this difference as well, even without any special conditions at play.
One of the most bizarre things about conventional feminism is that it denies that male and female brains are different, on the basis that this must be bad. Actually, differences can be a great thing!
A McMaster University professor has found that, overall, women’s brains are generally more interconnected than men’s. Another scientist has found that women use less of their brain to complete the same cognitive tasks as men.
These differences are actually really useful, as they help the sexes complement each other and work together better.
Another way these differences can be seen is in the different careers men and women pick. This is often used to highlight gender inequality – seeing too many men or women doing a particular job as evidence for sexism. But more often than not it probably reveals who likes what job.
Dr Gijsbert Stoet, a psychology expert, recently got into trouble for suggesting that schemes to get more girls into science ignore their innate learning inclinations. (Ironically, he used to teach me, and his classes bored me to tears).
But he has a point – most girls avoid science because they find it dull, not because mum and dad hate the sight of them in a labcoat.
Of course, it is too far to suggest on a rigid separation between male and female brains – a whole host of factors can make you masculine, feminine or something in between.
But it’s not wrong to say that there are sex differences. We see the evidence all around us – and it isn’t just the result of social oppression.
Feminists should back off the Science Museum. These sort of attacks really do make science more difficult, as they force academics to bend their research to say politically correct things – or just conceal their findings to protect the easily offended.
The truth is that there are differences; and, if feminists want their arguments to be taken seriously, they have to observe the facts.