"Ah! The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women merely adored," says a character in Oscar Wilde’s play, "An Ideal Husband." Would you believe that, despite the advances on issues about gender equality, the female brains are still wired for Stone Age necessities? This is a fascinating fact for feminists, and for men who cannot understand women. It may explain, in part, why a woman is an enigma.
Research shows that male and female brains are very different -- in architecture and chemical composition. Dr. Louann Brizendine, neuropsychiatrist at UCSF, asserts, "The sooner women -- and those who love them -- accept and appreciate how those neurological differences shape female behavior, the better we can all get along."
It almost impossible to show why and how women and men are so different.
One way to describe the contrasts is to use metaphors of women on highways and men on country roads to illustrate emotions.
"Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion while men have a small country road. Men have O’Hare airport as a hub for processing thoughts about sex, where women have an airfield nearby that lands small and private planes," Dr. Brizendine explains. Sex thoughts for men are like extremely busy airports while women use small planes on obscure landing fields.
The studies were based on comprehensive scientific studies from genetics, molecular neuroscience, fetal and pediatric endocrinology, and neurohormonal development. They do not necessarily reflect the workings of the Asian male and female brains. (That would probably be more complex and need voluminous cultural data.)
Here are a few significant neurological differences on "head cases."
1. Women remember fights that a man insists never happened.
2. Women excel at knowing what people are feeling. Men have difficulty spotting an emotion unless someone cries or threatens bodily harm.
3. Women over 50 are likely to initiate divorce. (In the local setting, women choose to stay in the marriage for practical reasons -- social status and family pressure, financial dependence.)
4. Women use 20,000 words per day. Men use only 7,000 words per day.
5. Thoughts about sex enter women’s brains once every couple of days. For men, thoughts about sex occur every minute.
Dr. Brizendine’s interesting insights show the following:
1. A financially independent woman may discuss her thoughts on finding a soul mate. However, when she meets a potential mate, her brain subconsciously sizes up his portfolio. It is the primal instinct to seek a qualified provider and protector for the family. This is the phenomenon that traces its roots to the Stone Age when women chose a mate based on his strength and ability to hunt for food. Millions of years later, the modern woman still retains that prehistoric imprint in her brain.
2. Working moms suffer withdrawal pains when they return to their jobs after giving birth. This is because they get a hormonal high from breastfeeding their babies. Thus, there is a strong reluctance to let go of the baby who depends on her. It is not merely a mood swing or the blues.
3. There is no "unisex" brain.
Girls are wired as girls, and boys are wired as boys -- from birth. The male brain may be larger overall, but the main hub for emotion and memory is larger in a woman’s brain. Her "neurological reality" is affected by the fluctuating hormonal surges throughout a woman’s life. Their brains drive their impulses values and reality.
Bruce McEwen, a Rockefeller University brain researcher wrote, "Men and women approach the same problems in somewhat different ways, at least in part because of the biological differences in the brain, which in turn interact with experience -- the nature-nurture story."
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus, the 1993 bestseller on the culture of the brains, has made people more aware of the biological and psychological differences. This is not to say that one gender is superior to the other. There is no competition. We should celebrate the differences. It makes life so much more interesting and complex.
Scientists, however, note that there are some clear advantages of the female brain. Take the "mommy brain." This is the brain that multitasks, juggles work responsibilities and domestic chores, and tries to balance career and family.
Previous studies have shown that a woman has a "diffused consciousness" and a peripheral awareness, like a lamp that lights up a room. Men tend to focus like a spotlight on a specific area.
Dr. Brizendine studied neurobiology at UC Berkley in the 1970s. She discovered during that period that manipulating the hormones of an animal produced different behaviors.
It was the era and culture of domesticity that prevented many women from achieving their full potential. Emancipation happened some 20 years later.
At Yale Medical School, Dr. Brizendine was astounded that studies on the brain were exclusively based on males. Research did not include females because, as her professor said, "The menstrual cycles would mess up the data."
(The chauvinist male can provoke major discussions with an emancipated feminist. In the ’70s, modern women were asserting themselves in fields such as science and medicine, traditionally dominated by men.)
She did not argue with her professor. However, she wanted to ask him, "Then how can you make medications, and how can you make assessments that you’ll apply to female patients when you don’t really know?å
It was a valid point and one that she eventually pursued when she established the Women’s and Teen Girls’ Mood and Hormone Clinic at UCSF in 1994. It is the only psychiatric facility in the US with such a comprehensive focus. (A satellite clinic at SF General Hospital has a center for cultural issues and concerns of African American Women, Latinas, and lesbians.)
Dr. Brizendine has one important point for all women and those who love them.
The female brain naturally releases oxytocin after a 20-second hug. The embrace bonds the huggers and triggers the brain’s trust circuits.
She advises, "Don’t let a guy hug you unless you plan to trust him, and if you do, make sure it last 20 seconds."
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