D&R Recommends

1-800-EROTICA
Free Gift and 50% off one item at Adam & Eve
Betty Dodson: Sex, Love, Feminism, Politics › In the News ›

At Birth, No Difference Between Male & Female Brains

Posted January 9th by Carlin
in

Makes so much sense! THE difference between male and female brains may come down to something as simple as a mother's touch. Treating a baby boy like a girl and vice versa can change the way their brains work, new research suggests.

It had previously been thought that such things were decided long before birth. But US scientists found that mother rats spent many more hours licking and grooming male offspring than female ones.

By tickling a baby female rat's tummy for hours on end, the team from the University of Wisconsin managed to make the DNA clusters in its brain become more like a male's.

The research, reported in the New Scientist, challenges the long-accepted belief that the physical differences between a male and female brain are genetic. Celia Moore, of the University of Massachusetts, said: "Sex may not be just genes and hormones."

Technorati Tags:
  • Carlin's blog
  • E-mail this blog to a friend

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

In the news but not New!

dor's picture
Submitted by dor on Sat, 01/10/2009 - 17:05.

May make sense to some wishing that homosexualty can be blamed on faulty parenting.

This has been going around for years and it is not True Science!

Gender identification is not

Submitted by MLE (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 23:44.

Gender identification is not the same as sexuality.

Um, to use a social

Submitted by J. (not verified) on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 04:58.

Um, to use a social constructivist argument to say that "homosexuality can be blamed on faulty parenting" is to imply at the same time that homosexuality is abnormal and some kind of illness, and thus that parents should be doing something to discourage it. It is NOT abnormal. It is not an illness. Just like it is not abnormal to be a woman, even though the scientific community said so until about 100 years ago. We should not need to discourage homosexuality.

This is important research, especially considering high school students still think such erroneous things about gender as that the reason we live in a patriarchal society is because "men are stronger and have more muscles."

Also, yay for Wisconsin, my alma mater!

What does this have to do with homosexuality?

Submitted by Anonymous User (not verified) on Mon, 01/12/2009 - 23:50.

It never occurred to me until I saw the comments, and I still do not understand.

Hi jessica

Submitted by Anonymous User (not verified) on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 07:50.

"But US scientists found that mother rats spent many more hours licking and grooming male offspring than female ones.

By tickling a baby female rat's tummy for hours on end, the team from the University of Wisconsin managed to make the DNA clusters in its brain become more like a male's"

No no it is the male's belly that she is licking. The licking does not make it male silly. I've read the same study and the licking just starts development of the brain in general only if the offspring are nurtured in general. So it is not making a male more male it is just making a healthy male. I hope I helped.

Gender identification isNOT

Submitted by Anonymous User (not verified) on Mon, 01/19/2009 - 12:10.

Gender identification isNOT THE SAME as sexuality.
blueoo.com

This research is being misusd...

Submitted by lyssa (not verified) on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 02:19.

to prove a pet point of several groups, (feminists, gays, etc) that should not have to prove anything.

The net result is to misconstrue healthy nurturing behavior informing us in any way about what it means to be trans, alternatively sexualized (ie a faggot) or conventionally male or female.

This article does not help us understand anything beyond what being a healthy rat pup requires.

Dr Milton Diamond

Submitted by Anonymous User (not verified) on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 00:59.

Dr. Milton Diamond made the same argument in the early part of the 20th century, and spent many years supressing the research that would prove his theory wrong. It has since been scientifically proven that a child's gender identity(not sexuality, the two are indeed not the same) is not based on their physical appearence or which gender they were treated as, but by chemical factor's in the brain, prior to birth.

Interesting

Submitted by cheap lcd (not verified) on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 17:31.

I would not expect there to be any difference. Intelligence is not an inherent right of either sex.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
You can change the default for this field in "Comment follow-up notification settings" on your account edit page.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
"kink feminism Betty Carlin pleasure"