London, Sep 13 (IANS) Don’t underestimate women’s brains, which are as capable as that of men, says a neuroscientist.
Prof Gina Rippon from Aston University in Birmingham dismisses the idea that our brains are controlled by gender as ‘outdated and wrong’.
The neuroscientist also says researchers produce results that can be used to prop-up old prejudice that women are men’s intellectual inferiors, reports the Daily Mail.
‘There is increasing concern within the neuroscience community about the misinterpretation and abuse of our findings on the links between brain structure and behaviour,’ Rippon said.
This ‘neurohype’ suggest that there is a major biological and structural difference in the brains of men and women underlying their social roles and status.
‘This is nonsense. There may be some very small differences between the genders but the similarities are far, far greater,’ she said.
Rippon’s comments follow a tide of books selling the idea that there are structural differences between men’s and women’s brains.
‘Throughout history, biological explanations have been used as weapons to explain and maintain social differences,’ she added.
‘In Victorian times, scientists suggested women thought with a different part of their brain from men. In the 1950s they came up with the idea that women’s ‘inferior’ thinking was controlled by their hormones,’ Rippon said.
‘Now the idea is that men and women have different brain structures – but there is no real evidence for any of it.’
