And I never expected to develop sympathy for the idea of gender-segregated schools, but his comments on the topic and why it's valuable make me wish that we had schools like that nearby. View all 5 comments. I could not finish this book. The science is sketchy, and twisted to favor the authors very biased, sexist views.
Avoiding this book would be an unparalleled act of self-compassion. If you tried to read it but couldn't, treat yourself to icecream, you did good. I spent roughly I could not finish this book.
I spent roughly twenty minutes on this conservative wet dream, and am highly annoyed I won't be getting those twenty minutes back. Leonard Sax's Why Gender Matters sets out to persuade that biology plays a significant role in how gender works, that we are not born androgynous blank slates that are molded by societal expectations and enculturation alone, and purports to back up his claims with data from scientific studies.
Now, going wherever the evidence leads you to, particularly if it works against your interest is one of the most admirable intellectual endeavors one can embark on - so my intuition was that if it would tur Leonard Sax's Why Gender Matters sets out to persuade that biology plays a significant role in how gender works, that we are not born androgynous blank slates that are molded by societal expectations and enculturation alone, and purports to back up his claims with data from scientific studies.
Now, going wherever the evidence leads you to, particularly if it works against your interest is one of the most admirable intellectual endeavors one can embark on - so my intuition was that if it would turn out that the evidence uncomfortably pokes at our modern, ultimately noble, but potentially misguided egalitarianism gender-blind being the term that crops up in the book , then so be it - and hope we end up all the better for knowing the truth.
The author even voices his frustration with there seemingly being only two positions to be had - either the PC flavoured gender-equality-or-else stance and appealing to traditional roles for the sake of appealing to traditional roles. So far, so good. The first few chapters of the book start with stories that have the air of verisimilitude, if not actual veracity on their side I'll get to that soon enough. For me, these comprise the book's strongest cases for its thesis in that at least the first one seems to rely on actual studies, and they both seem to be neutral enough at first glance to not have an agenda behind them.
The devastating fact is that the second story can be detected to be a gross oversimplification even without all that much mental gymnastics you don't need to fall back on biology to justify the author's chosen anecdotes even if you could go about it that way , and the first story is just plain wrong , if not even deliberately misleading. The shortcomings of these chapters are significant, because they are the closest the author ever comes to the title's espoused rigorous scientific approach.
As you read on, the tone uncomfortably shifts towards pandering the author's own various opinions and agendas i. While I have my own issues with the book so far as I've read it that I'll hopefully be able to address in a separate review in the best of all worlds - Cordelia Fine's Delusions of Gender debunks the validity of most such research as is used here even so far as specifically mentioning the fallacies of Sax's reasoning , in exposing how flawed most of the studies surrounding sex and gender differences are - from methodology, study sample sizes, and all the way up to interpretation of data and rather illogical jumps to conclusions about test results for rats somehow being significant to the inner workings of their human cousins.
As far as the anecdotes go - one of their purposes in popular science books is to breathe life into data and make it less of an abstraction to the reader. Sax uses the anecdotes presented here not to elucidate wildly esoteric data, but rather convince himself and the readers that his opinions represent an immutable reality. The author's stories somehow manage to simultaneously support all the traditionally accepted notions, like the system-thinking vs.
I guess one has to be grateful the gay section of the book wasn't as overtly homophobic as it could've been - but, while admitting that the more effeminate men are in all likelihood not quite as representative of the gay community as most non-queer people might think, Sax still can't explain them away and have his opinions hold.
Sure, he addresses the existence of what he calls anomalous males and females - but all his reassurances are invalidated by a whole rant on how parents should deal with these gender-atypical children spoiler alert: Sax's method of choice - forcing them into conformity, usually via team sports. For all his purported facade of even-handedness, his actual beliefs about masculinity and femininity plummet fast to the traditional end of the spectrum as you go deeper into the heart of darkness that are the later chapters of the book.
You have to look no further than the rather ridiculous masculinity and femininity tests he provides, and it should be abundantly clear how context-specific and subjectively flavoured his ideas of those concepts are. Worse still than being merely traditional is how terribly confused they are - as he insists upon projecting the masculine-feminine dichotomy to domains which have nothing to do with gender in particular so far as I can muster.
As mentioned, he continuously prescribes team sports as a solution to a number of gender-atypical cases in the book - but to me, all of these came across as blatant attacks on introvert kids they were described as bookish and shy to engage in social situations under the excuse to cure them of their gender-nonconformity.
When reading these sections, you'd think he was completely ignorant of the entire existence of an introversion vs. The author holds unfavourable opinions towards video games and other in his mind male-typical hobbies, but - again - this more than anything illustrates a profound ignorance on his part about the fiction fantasy vs.
Given this, it may not be that surprising that he also fallaciously draws the conclusion that playing violent video-games results in violent players, watching films and TV shows about serial killers somehow unleashes your inner Hannibal Lecter, and indulging in sexual fantasies somehow makes you a pervert and a rapist or worse still - maybe he was implying that the desire to rape is somehow natural to men?
One could go on about the myriad of ways this book fails to deliver on the promise of a scientific backing for significant biological differences in the sexes, but whatever science is there is faulty at worst, skewed to the author's fancy at best - and the rest of the book is a parade of the author's pet biases packaged to mislead you in believing it actually is part of some larger corpus of research the author has spared you of reading by distilling it into his advice.
To paraphrase Hanlon's razor - I won't assume malice and insincerity where ignorance would suffice in regards to the author's opinions, but the way he presents the data, and some of the perplexing misunderstandings of human nature on his part do cast shadows on considering him a worthwhile expert in the field.
His intentions may have been good, but we all ought to know, that without the rigour to test one's beliefs on the strength of their own merits rather than on its holder's desire for them to be true, they are but only passable pavement material. This book is categorized as both science and philosophy for me because while some parts are based in empirical studies, a lot is based in opinion or anecdotes.
This book is interesting. High-speed crashes are also interesting. I read this book for a grad school class I read the updated edition, with chapters on social media, sexuality, video games, and LGBT teens. I started with my assigned chapter to teach to the class, social media and video games, and f This book is categorized as both science and philosophy for me because while some parts are based in empirical studies, a lot is based in opinion or anecdotes.
I started with my assigned chapter to teach to the class, social media and video games, and found it interesting, if a bit limited—the social media aspects I found to be true with my own knowledge and experiences, but the video game portion dealt solely with boys, and solely with violent video games, as if there are not also girls who play, or people who prefer nonviolent games.
Intrigued, I read the book from the beginning. Sax is nothing if not an antiquarian. He celebrates and believes in the strict binary of gender roles. He laments the rise of hookup culture and the differences valid in how girls and boys view sex, but provides no useful commentary.
He derides gender-neutral child rearing and education and claims that education favors girls. Far from being a helpful study and guidebook into some valid and important differences in sex and how they can be addressed i.
Also, Dr. Sax, gender and sex are not the same thing. Jun 05, Lesli rated it really liked it. My friend recommended this book to me and it was beyond interesting to me. Four years later, it finally clicked why my oldest child who loves school, hated kindergarten. He loved preschool and loved first grade but not kindie. Why because he had a soft spoken teacher who wanted him to describe colors and read fiction and sit still.
He does so good with loud teachers who allow him to stand at his desk instead of sit in a chair. But yet my daughter who always struggled in preschool thrived in kind My friend recommended this book to me and it was beyond interesting to me. But yet my daughter who always struggled in preschool thrived in kindergarten with a calm soft spoken teacher.
Those poor boys in her class. On page 24, it said, "Girls draw nouns, boys draw verbs I love hearing children describe their pictures before kindergarten, especially boys.
Since I just read a different book on neurology, I was surprised when he said males feel emotions in their amygdala while women experience it cerebral cortex. Which explains why my husband never wants to discuss his bad moods. Its hard to verbally express what is happening in the amygdala. Also I thought it was useful to hear the difference in how boys prefer to discuss books. Makes so many conversations with my husband or oldest son make so much more sense. I also thought it was interesting when the book said, "Ironically, the result of her lack of awareness of gender differences is a reinforcement of traditional gender sterotypes.
Since I only have small children I loved the beginning of the book. The chapter on teenage sexuality was beyond depressing. I hate the sexual revolution because it seemed that instead of empowering females it has turned them into objects by males instead of liberating them. I'm always pleased to be reminded as a parent "Your job is not to maximize your child's pleasure, but to broaden her horizons. I thought now I know why I love Colorado. I don't have a problem with medication as long as it is needed, but I think its used too early when diet and exercise can change lots.
Not to mention active children are normal not sick. Aug 06, Elizabeth rated it liked it Shelves: non-fiction , This book started out so promising The author says that it his goal to not make any statements on the differences between boys and girls without referencing a peer reviewed journal article.
He believes that there are differences between boys and girls but that shouldn't be used to justify outdated gender stereotypes.
The first 4 or 5 chapters were good. I thought wow, i can't wait to see how our understanding of the differences between boys and girls will change in the next 20 years. At this This book started out so promising At this point i would have given the book 4 stars. Then, there were chapters on Sex and Drugs that were disturbing and started to get away from the goal of outlining the biological differences between the sexes. Then a chapters on Discipline that just got into the standard approach for a parenting book.
I like to read parenting books that give me objective information that I then use in making my own decisions. The author has way to many stories that involved parents not doing what he said and it turned out badly Nov 25, Elizabeth Kennedy rated it really liked it. Sax's writing is very clear, interesting and informative. The overall thesis of his book can be summed up in one of the last lines of the book: "Our job now is to create a society that has the courage and the wisdom to cherish and celebrate the innate differences between the sexes while at the same time enabling equal opportunities for every child.
For most of us educating our children within the framework of the A Sax's writing is very clear, interesting and informative. For most of us educating our children within the framework of the American public education system, single-sex education isn't really an option, however. He also advocates cross-generational single sex activities as a way to help children and teenagers grow into healthy, happy, well-adjusted and productive individuals.
I couldn't agree more. The chapters on education and discipline are really enlightening, and have already helped me understand my kids, especially my sons, better. The chapters on Sex and Drugs were a bit alarming, but a good wake-up call. I really wanted this book to be good. The first few chapters were extremely good and i had high hopes.
It already had me thinking this would be one of the more influential books for me on understanding children and such, and already had me insisting that Kate read it and talking about it with other people. Then the rest of the book happened. The author broaches the taboo subject that males and females might be intrinsically different, not just different by cultural training, choice, etc. What's more, he attempts to show that this difference is more basic and pervasive than I had suspected.
In the first few chapters, he talks about differences in the brain, eyes, ears and extends those to learning styles and behavior. The expressed differences are credible and even actionable. This material promises to help you understand people of both sexes better and do a better job in raising kids through such awareness.
It is like a switch is flipped around the time that the author starts talking about sexuality. He starts with a rather bizarre and prudish outlook and interprets sex differences through that lens. Such a blind spot, while upsetting, isn't totally shocking. It happens. But it then gets much worse when he starts writing about controlling the sexuality of children. That part would be far too bad to even get through except with an author who had established such extreme credibility earlier in the book.
It then gets crazy worse yet in talking about general discipline in children. Not only do his conclusions crumble throughout this part of the book, but even his facts are clearly wrong in some cases. Things are so bad that I find myself doubting the stuff I had previously liked in the first part of the book.
While I was willing to give the M. The book isn't a total loss. It did convince to think more carefully about intrinsic sex differences. There were some conclusions in the book that really resonated with me that I can focus on even if my overall faith in these conclusions isn't high because they're in the book.
That's really quite a lot to get from a book. I'm just extremely disappointed that I didn't get more from a book that initially looked so promising. Jul 12, Norma Jesus rated it really liked it. The author, a family physician and psychologist, cites numerous studies and his own experience to support his assertions.
There is so much food for thought in this book, all very interesting, some terrifying. I'm really glad I read this book, even if I didn't believe everything in it, and I plan to read his next one as well.
It's worth reading even for those without children. Covers how we as a society raise and educate our children based on what we believe about gender and what common beliefs m The author, a family physician and psychologist, cites numerous studies and his own experience to support his assertions. Covers how we as a society raise and educate our children based on what we believe about gender and what common beliefs may or may not be accurate.
Nov 19, Carissa rated it really liked it. This was a fascinating book. So much of what this author wrote seemed to click in my mind and made sense. I now think differently about how boys and girls learn and the advantages of all-girls or boys schools. I know that this will effect how I raise my son.
I loved the authors sample lesson for boys and girls. The girls' one definitely had me more interested! It makes me wonder if I would have liked science and math better if I would have been taught with a more girl-friendly approach. There This was a fascinating book. There was a lot of interesting parenting advice.
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Pay using card ending in. Taxes where applicable. P Leonard Sax. More from the same Author The Collapse of Parenting. Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
Amazon Reviews. Sort by:. Most Helpful Most Recent. Filter by:. All stars 5 star only 4 star only 3 star only 2 star only 1 star only. Sportys Great and unexpected I was really surprised by some of the things explained in this book.
Davon Smith Terrible Read Based on stereotypes of the sexes. Don't waste your time unless you want to reinforce your idea the the sexes are different and that all stereotypes between boys and girls are true 1 person found this helpful. Sunshine Reader Science Not Ideology Prescient discussion on gender, a worthy listen for those of us perplexed by gender differences and the politicization of gender. Fisselified A Grounded Argument of Sex Differences Excellent book, the performance was great and the author masterfully wove together anecdotes with data to create an interesting and informative story.
Genaro Martinez CC Amazing Read Such a well written book. JJ Rodriguez Very relevant during this time Fair written book with opinions that are backed by research.
Daniel Cohen An unexpected gem! Still learning WOW This book is amazing and should really be a must read for every parent, but anyone really! Show More.
Amazon Customer Rikki Arundel Very biased anti trans message The first half of this book was very interesting and informative. This treatment led Sax to become a lonely and withdrawn boy. Sax assures us that "anomalous" or gender-non-conforming, males are physiologically distinct from normative boys and therefore ought not to be forced to adopt more masculine behaviors.
Yet in the same breadth, Sax paradoxically suggests that some withdrawn boys could become normatively assertive men with a little urging from their parents.
Sax wants to keep the world safe for parents who might want to do just that. Non-conformity, he argues, ought not to be valued for its own sake. Of course, the psychotherapeutic retort to that is, "Why not? In the case of this embattled "anomalous male," it may be possible to see to the child's best interest without imposing any gender ideology, conformist or otherwise. It seems a comfortably realist position to hold that individuals differ in their adaptation to gender-based expectations and sensible to recommend that children who are a poor fit for their context receive support to develop skills to cope with the additional stress they must bear.
Copious reminders from the media and peers make it likely that most children already know that gender-conforming behavior is the customarily preferred kind, even if their parents fail to remind them. For the current author, it is obvious that atypical behavior need not be praised or blamed but rather a child can and should be supported, empowered and protected, irrespective of their gender expression.
Sax's book is a challenge for the progressive psychologist. At a time when we are all struggling to tolerate and learn from opinions that differ from our own, this book forces one to articulate the grounds on which we disagree. Conversely, it contains much ammunition for readers sympathetic to his cause.
Yet the book is valuable as a non-offensive opener for diverse community groups to discuss their concerns about children and gender conformity.
It will hopefully leave parents open to hearing the best data available and the lack of definitive answers. Why Gender Matters would also be a provocative addition to an undergraduate gender studies course or an introductory graduate counseling course. Chawla, N. Experiential avoidance as a functional dimensional approach to psychopathology: An empirical review.
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63 9 , Pauletti, R. Psychological androgyny and children's mental health: A new look with new measures. Sex Roles, 76 , Schwartz, J. College male sexual assault of women and the psychology of men: A commentary.
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