AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

“Taking Cordelia Fine’s Delusions of Gender as it point of departure, together with popular gender theories by Simon Baron-Cohen and Louann Brizendine, we raise the following question: how strong is the foundation of biological determinism and how can we decide?” In this project the point of departure is taken in Cordelia Fine’s book Delusions of Gender. Fine brings forth several published scientific studies on gender differences, and she systematically debunks them one by one. This research scrutinizes and questions a series of studies regarding the topic of gender, and whether or not gender is biologically determined or if gender is instead shaped by social surroundings. After repeatedly looking through claims, published theories and numerous references we conclude that gender research is a gigantic field with many flawed theories. In many aspects of gender differences, social constructionism offers answers, but it is far from having all of the answers. We do not neglect the importance of biological determinism, however we do conclude that the studies conducted by Brizendine and Baron-Cohen have been too flawed to confirm any brain differences in gender.