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Testosterone Rex

Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds

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About this listen

Testosterone Rex is the powerful myth that squashes hopes of sex equality by telling us that men and women have evolved different natures. Fixed in an ancestral past that rewarded competitive men and caring women, these differences are supposedly recreated in each generation by sex hormones and male and female brains. Testosterone, so we're told, is the very essence of masculinity, and biological sex is a fundamental force in our development.

Not so, says psychologist Cordelia Fine, who shows, with wit and panache, that sex doesn't create male and female natures. Instead, sex, hormones, culture and evolution work together in ways that make past and present gender dynamics only a serving suggestion for the future - not a recipe.

Testosterone Rex brings together evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience and social history to move beyond old 'nature versus nurture' debates, and to explain why it's time to unmake the tyrannical myth of Testosterone Rex.

©2017 Cordelia Fine (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Biological Sciences Gender Studies Science Social Sciences Discrimination Human Brain
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I think that there are some strong points in the book highlighting research that is done in not the best way. My biggest issue is that while some studies could be discounted as "bad" research, the same could be said for work that was cited in this book to bolster her point.
I laughed out loud at the part which discussed publication bias only to then discuss stereotype threat which also has publication bias.
Ultimately I think the point of the book is that human behaviour is complicated and we should have a more nuanced view. Which is perfectly agreeable to me.

Interesting even if I have quibbles

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Well worth a read. Great insights to gender views in the modern world and science. Well written and amusing

Informative and amusing

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Absolutely fascinating book that manages to make clear points out of an area of science that has been muddied and skewed for decades. A total must read for parents, women, men, and everyone else. the only slight annoyance is the occasional mispronounced scientific word by the reader, but otherwise it's great 👍

Fascinating and brilliant

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Genes, gonads, genitalia and gender. Thank you Cordelia. And well read Willow. A very worthy investment of my time.

An important book

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Having read much evolutionary psychology down the years I'd almost got to the point where I believed the gender issue settled. But Fine has made me think again, largely by her fine grained descriptions of matters which turn out to be more complicated than broad generalisations. Her writing is sharp and witty. Highly recommended.

Thought provoking and highly readable

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