Abstract
Neuroscience research on sex difference is currently a controversial field, frequently accused of purveying a ‘neurosexism’ that functions to naturalise gender inequalities. However, there has been little empirical investigation of how information about neurobiological sex difference is interpreted within wider society. This paper presents a case study that tracks the journey of one high-profile study of neurobiological sex differences from its scientific publication through various layers of the public domain. A content analysis was performed to ascertain how the study was represented in five domains of communication: the original scientific article, a press release, the traditional news media, online reader comments and blog entries. Analysis suggested that scientific research on sex difference offers an opportunity to rehearse abiding cultural understandings of gender. In both scientific and popular contexts, traditional gender stereotypes were projected onto the novel scientific information, which was harnessed to demonstrate the factual truth and normative legitimacy of these beliefs. Though strains of misogyny were evident within the readers’ comments, most discussion of the study took pains to portray the sexes’ unique abilities as equal and ‘complementary’. However, this content often resembled a form of benevolent sexism, in which praise of women’s social-emotional skills compensated for their relegation from more esteemed trait-domains, such as rationality and productivity. The paper suggests that embedding these stereotype patterns in neuroscience may intensify their rhetorical potency by lending them the epistemic authority of science. It argues that the neuroscience of sex difference does not merely reflect, but can actively shape the gender norms of contemporary society.
Highlights
On 2 December 2013, the well-known scientific journal PNAS published an early online edition of an article entitled ‘‘Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain’’, which purported to reveal ‘‘fundamental sex differences’’ in the structural connectivity of male and female brains [1]
It validated abiding sex stereotypes and was drawn into ongoing disputes between different cultural and ideological communities. It catalysed debate about social issues external to the research itself, such as patterns of discrimination against men and women. This analysis tracked the journey of one high-profile study of neurobiological sex differences from its scientific publication through various layers of the public domain
The analysis showed that scientific research on sex difference is embedded within the wider terrain of gender politics, and illustrated how scientific claims can be absorbed into the social psychological processes that sustain gender stereotypes, norms and values
Summary
On 2 December 2013, the well-known scientific journal PNAS published an early online edition of an article entitled ‘‘Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain’’, which purported to reveal ‘‘fundamental sex differences’’ in the structural connectivity of male and female brains [1]. In the days following its release, this article provoked a flurry of coverage in the international print and electronic media. The current paper traces how the ideas introduced in the original PNAS article evolved as they moved from the scientific into the public sphere It presents a content analysis of the study’s depiction in five different domains of communication: the original scientific article, a press release, the traditional news media, online reader comments and blog entries. In so doing, it seeks to elucidate how the science of sex difference can influence public understandings of gender, as well as furnish insight into the dynamics of science communication in the new media environment
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