Posted on 08/07/2006 6:45:39 AM PDT by Valin
San Francisco neuropsychiatrist says differences between women's and men's brains are very real, and the sooner we all understand it, the better
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Louann Brizendine's feminist ideals were forged in the 1970s, so the UCSF neuropsychiatrist is aware that some parts of her new book, "The Female Brain," sound politically incorrect.
Such as the part about how a financially independent woman may talk about finding a soul mate, but when she meets a prospective mate her brain is subconsciously sizing up his portfolio. Or the part describing the withdrawal pains moms feel when they return to work and can no longer cop a hormonal high from breast-feeding their babies.
Women have come a long way toward equality over the past 50 years, but the Yale-trained Brizendine, 53, says her research indicates that human brains are still wired for Stone Age necessities.
Male and female brains are different in architecture and chemical composition, asserts Brizendine. The sooner women -- and those who love them -- accept and appreciate how those neurological differences shape female behavior, the better we can all get along.
Start with why women prefer to talk about their feelings, while men prefer to meditate on sex.
"Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing for processing emotion, while men have a small country road," she 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Gee, shocking news!! I would have never known. Learn something new every day!!!!!!!!
Did these people miss kindergarten???
Going off breastfeeding results in withdrawal pains for losing a hormonal "high?" Is she for real?
Uh, yes, she is. Trust me on this. If you've ever breast-fed a baby and had to give it up suddenly, you'll know that it's very unpleasant, very hard on a mother. It's not withdrawal pains like heroin addicts apparently have, but it's saddening and hard to deal with. Nature made that bond a very tight one for adaptive reasons.
Larry Summers is sending a bulletproof vest.
Yep -- *laugh*
The milk ejection reflex is set off by oxytocin. Oxytocin is also the hormone that is released with, shall we say, "pleasure"?
Works on pain, de-stressing, relaxing etc. Look it up :)
~B.
With the bridge over the creek out at that.
Can't knock what she's saying. But then, I'm not a feminist. I've always thought along the lines of different but not so different. As in, we have different roles as men and women -- and are designed as such. The roles are NOT inequal, and some people may not wish to fulfill that role (their choice). In the grand scheme of the world though, the gender roles aren't just "expected" but on many levels very biological.
I do have to give that as far as what women are able to do/accomplish was helped along by many "feminists" along the way. But these same women all too often forget that in giving women the choices in their own destinies, they have to allow for those of us who choose family and home over a career.
~B.
And yes, you can have it all. Twins at 22, back to college at 33. 10+ years at home. *shrug*
I'm a feminist, married 26 years to the same husband, two lovely almost grown sons, a job, a nice house, and a happy life.
Feminism means that you believe that women should have the same political rights as men, and the same economic rights as men, and the same educational rights as men. No more, no less.
Uh, no! I breastfed for a total of six years. Never once got high.
"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."
Amazing that it takes research to realize that a 20 second hug between a similarly aged man and woman (unrelated) has a sexual component.
Six years...not all on one kid, folks. :)
Most of the people who put down feminists don't realize what it means to be a feminist, that "equal rights" is just that, no more, no less.
Most people believe in equal rights for women, whether they call it "feminism" or not, and the rest are just losers.
She called me back about 45 minutes later to tell me that the power was still off, and I asked her if she had called the power company.
She explained that no, she hadn't, because the power outage had disabled all the land-line phones (since they were all cordless phones and required electricity).
I then reminded her that the cell phone she was talking to me on could probably reach the electric company as well as the land lines. She hadn't thought of that.
Yeah. men and women think different. Sometimes it really is like men and women come from different planets.
But as my buddy Bob reminds me, "yeah, but men are from Earth".... ;)
According to my wife, she is pretty much on the mark. I can't really provide any insight, except to say that the old girl was never more at ease and peaceable than when one of the young'uns was latched on.
Oxytocin isn't just about sex -- unless you think everything emotional is about sex.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin
Ha ha ha! Good one. Yes, we are from Earth, but women are from Heaven if you meet the right one.
Yesterday one of my kids spilled water during a shower and it started dripping through the kitchen light fixture below.
My husband started to take the light fixture apart, but when I asked him whether he had shut down the circuit to that fixture, no, he hadn't.
Extremely bright man, with a Master's in engineering.
People do strange things under stress. If I wanted to be a jerk, I could say that this anecdote proves that "men are foolish creatures" but that would be asinine.
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