I'm glad I was scratching my head when I saw the latest "scientist find difference in brains between men and women" study. Turns out there is, once more, a lot wrong with the study to begin with:
http://theconversation.com/new-insights-into-gendered-brain-wiring-or-a-perfect-case-study-in-neurosexism-21083
I assumed my head-scratching was mostly based on the newsmedia's strange obsession with trying to re-establish outdated stereotypes, but the assumptions from the researchers themselves were not much better. Forget about stereotypical behavior assigned to either sex - what's more interesting is that there is no information about the background of the research subjects. That seems to indicate that to the researchers, the difference in brains between male and female is deemed more significant than the difference between a mathematician and a marriage councilor.
Edit: whoopsie, the reason why there isn't much known about their occupational background is because they're kids between 8 and 22 :p
This nice storify gives a better overview of the strangeness of this and other neurological research between sexes:
http://storify.com/deevybee/postpublication-peer-review-on-sex-differences-in/slideshow
I was especially amazed to find that apparently comparing MRI data between men and women is difficult anyway because men *move* more during a scan.
Does this mean we should not study the neurological differences between male and female brains? Of course not, but you'll find it's far more important in the research of mental illness and development disorders than to explain social behavioral differences between the two sexes.
