B.Sc., Ph.D., C.Psychol., Hon.FBSA
GINA RIPPON, author of
The Gendered Brain
US Edition
UK Edition
Professor Gina Rippon is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Aston Brain Centre, Birmingham.
Her research involves state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to investigate how the brain interacts with its world, and what happens when this process goes wrong.
She is an outspoken critic of ’neurotrash’, the populist (mis)use of neuroscience research to (mis)represent our understanding of the brain and, most particularly, to prop up outdated gender stereotypes.
In her new book ‘The Gendered Brain’ (Bodley Head - UK edition), 'Gender and our Brains' (US edition), she challenges the idea that there are two sorts of ‘hardwired’ brains, male and female, and offers a 21st century model for a better understanding of how brains get to be different.
THE GENDERED BRAIN - UK edition
(Gender and our Brains - US edition)
The new neuroscience that shatters the myth of the female brain
An agenda-setting book that demolishes the myth of the male or female brain
UK - available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle and Audiobook
US - available in hardcover
'The Gendered Brain is one of those books that should be essential reading before anyone is allowed to be a teacher, or buy a child a present, or comment on anything on Twitter, ever again' The Guardian (Best books of 2019 so far)
'Rippon takes a scalpel to the research surrounding sex differences in the brain with precision and humour ... Rippon rightly includes the impact of misleading media reporting and the effects of living in a society that assumes all girls like pink and women can’t read maps ... The context and examples cited throughout are fascinating — from the Tomboy Index to how playing Tetris can easily change the results of a mental rotation performance study ... examples are what makes The Gendered Brain so enjoyable. The chapter on the social brain is particularly enlightening' Sue Nelson, The Financial Times
'A smart and witty addition to the literature on sex differences. Gina Rippon is one of the most outspoken scientists in this area, and she debunks a whole host of sexist stereotypes in her new book.’ Angela Saini
Chosen as ‘one to watch in 2019’ by Observer and The Times
'A treasure trove of information and good humour' CORDELIA FINE, author of Testosterone Rex
'A brilliant and thorough debunking of the popular myths around sex differences in brains and behaviour’ DR EMILY GROSSMAN
Book covers (US & UK Editions)
‘This book is about an idea that has its roots in the eighteenth century and still persists in the twenty-first century. This is the notion that you can ‘sex’ a brain, that you can describe a brain as ‘male’ or ‘female’ and that you can attribute any differences in behaviour, abilities, achievements, personality, even hopes and expectations to the possession of one or the other type of brain. It is a notion that has inaccurately driven brain science for several centuries, underpins many damaging stereotypes and, I believe, stands in the way of social progress and equality of opportunity.’
The twenty-first century world is one which seems determined to magnify ‘essential’ differences between men and women’s brains, from (or even before) the moment of birth. This comes via toys, clothes, books, through schools, the workplace and the influence of social media. But where do these supposed differences come from and how ‘essential’ are they?
Taking us back through centuries of sexism in science, The Gendered Brain shows how we arrived at the idea of an inferior, female brain and how cutting-edge breakthroughs in neuroscience can liberate us from this outdated understanding of what our brains can do. Rippon shows us the reality behind much of the data that is used to justify the gender gap, and explains how major breakthroughs in neuroscience will help us dispel these stereotypes and ‘neurotrash’.
The Gendered Brain is an accessible and polemic popular science book with huge repercussions for the gender debate, for education, for parenting and for how we identify ourselves.
Read more reviews...
The TIMES - UK
Book Marks - USA
National Post - Canada
E&T (Engineering and Technology) - UK
The Guardian - UK (Best books of 2019 so far)