男女来自不同星球?专家称属无稽之谈

Some days the opposite sex seems so different, you can almost believe that they come from another planet.

Indeed, the theory that we are all hard-wired by our gender has proved so popular that a book on the subject, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, became an international best-seller.

Now a leading neuroscientist says women's brain power is no different to men's after all – and we are actually incredibly similar when it comes to intellect. Professor Gina Rippon says the idea that our brains are controlled by our gender is outdated and wrong.

And she has even accused researchers of producing findings that can be used to support the old prejudice that women are not men's intellectual equals.

'There is increasing concern within the neuroscience community about the misinterpretation and abuse of our findings on the links between brain structure and behaviour,' she said.

'This "neurohype" is designed to support stereotypes and to suggest that there is a major biological and structural difference in the brains of men and women that explains their social roles and status.

'This is nonsense. There may be some very small differences between the genders but the similarities are far, far greater.’

Professor Rippon's comments follow a spate of books promoting the idea that there are structural differences between men's and women's brains.

However, the professor from Aston University in Birmingham, argues that although today's researchers can observe the minute workings of the brain, they are still asking questions that appear to be inspired by old-fashioned male-female stereotypes.

Take a look at the characters in programmes such as Mad Men, the TV series about a 1960s advertising agency, and you'll get the idea.

'Throughout history, biological explanations have been used as weapons to explain and maintain social differences,' she added.

'In Victorian times, scientists suggested women thought with a different part of their brain from men. In the 1950s they came up with the idea that women's "inferior" thinking was controlled by their hormones. Now the idea is that men and women have different brain structures –but there is no real evidence for any of it.'

有时候男人和女人看起来是如此不同，你几乎都以为他们来自另外一个星球。

事实上，我们天生就由自己的性别决定这一理论非常受欢迎，有关这一主题的书——《男人来自火星，女人来自金星》成为了全球畅销书。

如今一位顶级神经学家称，女性的脑力与男性差别并不大，在智力方面男女实际上是惊人地相近。吉娜•瑞彭教授说，认为我们的大脑由我们的性别控制的想法是过时的，也是错误的。

她谴责一些研究者“制造”研究结果来支持女性智力不如男性的老偏见。

她说：“在神经科学界中，有些人会曲解和滥用我们在有关大脑结构和行为之间的联系方面的发现，这一现象越来越让人担心。”

“制造这种‘神经夸大论’目的是为了支持固有成见，表明男性和女性的大脑存在着重大的生理上和构造上的不同，从而解释男女的社会角色和地位的不同。

“这是无稽之谈。男女之间可能存在着一些很小的差异，但是相似性要多得多。”

在瑞彭教授发表这些言论之前，已出版了许多宣扬男性和女性在大脑构造上有区别的书。

不过，这位来自伯明翰市阿斯顿大学的教授说，虽然现在的研究人员们可以观察到大脑的细微运作，但是他们的论题似乎依然受到对男女的老式成见的影响。

看看讲述20世纪60年代一家广告公司的《广告狂人》电视节目里的人物吧，你就明白了。

她补充说：“纵观历史，生理上的理由一直被用作武器来解释和维持社会上的差异。”

“在维多利亚时代，科学家们指出女性思考时使用的大脑部位与男性不同。20世纪50年代他们认为女性的思考能力‘弱’是因为受她们的荷尔蒙控制。现在又认为男性和女性的大脑构造不同——但任何论断都没有确切的证据。”

Vocabulary:

hard-wired: 天生的

a spate of: 一连串，大量的