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Why Gender Matters

What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences
Aug 17, 2017jeremycarroll rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
This is a bad book of bad science. The same content, if presented honestly as the author’s opinions and hypotheses, would make a thought-provoking exploration of the benefits of single-sex education, amongst other issues. Unfortunately rather than well-established scientific facts, the author is presenting contentious hypotheses based on a minority interpretation of raw data (see, for example, Lise Eliot in The Trouble with Sex Differences, Neuron , Volume 72, Issue 6). Overall, this critique damns the book as pseudo-science. The reader has to remain on guard throughout to this all-pervasive defect, if not to be drawn in to a potentially erroneous way of thinking. I have requested that San Francisco library withdraw this book for this reason, or at least put a thoughtful warning in the beginning. The structure of the main argument of the book is as follows: - in chapter 2, Dr Sax presents various research results from the literature which demonstrate: “Today we know that innate differences between girls and boys are profound”. These results, if true, are fascinating ideas and act as the foundation for the whole book. Mark Liberman, goes through much of Sax’s claims in detail (see, for example, Liberman on Sax on Liberman on Sax on hearing). It appears clear that Sax significantly overstates the strength of his claims. - in the remainder studies of gender differences, in bigger children, are assumed to be based on innate factors not developmental influences, and Dr Sax’s prescriptions have their foundation in this assumption. It is hard work to always remember that he is stating his opinion, masquerading as fact, and sometimes that opinion is worth hearing, and sometimes his suggestions for how to treat boys and girls differently may help; but the utility of this book is totally undermined by the weakness of the scientific foundations and I recommend avoiding it.