Just a few weeks ago in a video blog, I discussed how robust the research on male/female brain difference is these days.  In fact, after four decades of brain scans showing male and female brains, it seems unnecessary to have to keep saying this, but every few years a social trend develops in which a few people decide to argue very loudly that female and male are small things.  Unfortunately, our society got burdened with this argument decades ago, and our schools and other systems suffered significantly, with girls’ needs not met in some areas and boys’ needs not met in others.  But….the idea of gender indifference does reappear, and has reappeared lately.

Meanwhile, a new study came out just a few days after I posted my blog.  This one is amazing–it uses fetal MRI scans to show significant female/male brain difference, even just a few months in utero!   Check out:  M. D. Wheelock, et.al.  Sex differences in functional connectivity during fetal brain development.  Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience., Vol. 36, April 2019.  This is groundbreaking work, and will hopefully put to rest the gender indifferent concept that female and male do not sit at the core of human development.

Here now is a new video blog on this subject I hope you will use in your communities.  For more than 1,000 studies on female/male brains, and the whole gender spectrum, check out:  https://www.michaelgurian.com/about/research-reference-list/.   We must remember–this is not a zero sum game:  there is a gender spectrum, but that spectrum does not negate female and male.

We will look at brain scans and other leading edge information like this at our Summer Institute in June at Army and Navy Academy.  We hope you’ll join us.  See www.gurianinstitute.com for more details, and please reach out to us with your questions.

— Michael Gurian