A Riddle

• A father and son are both seriously injured in a car accident. When the paramedics arrive they take the father and son to 2 separate hospitals, 30 miles apart. Upon entering the son’s hospital room, the doctor says, “I cannot work on this boy, he is my son” How is this possible?

Is Gender A Social Construct?

What would you say to this baby?

What wouldyou give this baby for a 1st

Birthday Present?

What would you say to this Baby?

What would you give This Baby for a 1st BirthdayPresent?

NATURE OR NURTURE?

• Differences between the genders beyond the evident physical ones have always been observed.

• Are these differences the result of cultural and social conditioning?

• Are these differences the result of observable differences in the brain?

• In the last 10-15 years scientists have developed the technology to examine the brain in new ways.

Brain Science - Corpus Collossum

• Flat bundle of nerves that allows left half ofThe brain to communicate with the right half of theBrain.• 23% wider in women than in men.

One Brain or Two?

Women’s Brains are like a Bowl of Spaghetti

• Corpus Collossum 23% larger in women.• More communication between the

hemispheres. • Women use both sides of their brains more

often.• Good for: Language (draw onmore experience), more Intuitive, recover from stroke

Men’s Brains – Boxes

• Men tend to use one side of the brain for a given task.

• Map Reading – Men use the Right hemisphere• This is an advantage. Crosstalk between the

hemispheres distracts the brain from its job. For spatial rotation it is a

disadvantage to have neural pathways like spaghetti.