[AnnieBL]

I had this exchange with my wife this morning while trying again to repair the lawn tractor after our initial joint efforts to fix it following her adventures with it yesterday:

Myself: "Have you noticed the 7/8 inch wrench anywhere?"

She: "You must be joking! I have a male brain but not that male!"

This isn't the first such comment she has made, and it's a subject we have not discussed in quite those sort of terms, though we have discussed factors from conception to adulthood that may have contributed to making us the way we are and to some of our gender attitudes.

[flamesabers]

When it comes to the male/female brain differences, I'm all over the map (pun intended). This was even before I started taking pm.

For example, I use landmarks as a guide (or preferably my GPS) when I'm driving through unfamiliar areas. It's much easier for me to give directions in regards to landmarks than in distance and direction. On the other hand, I'm stubborn about asking for directions and admitting I'm lost when I am lost. I figure sooner or later I'll find a familiar landmark and get back on my way.

[sfem]

I wouldn't get too hung up on stereotypes. I'm sure there are a small number of them that genuinely reflect the different hormonal influences of our bodies. But mostly they're driven by ulterior motives as much or more than observations. A lot of the things often portrayed as male or female are neither male or female. They're just ideas pushed at us, usually to serve either a marketing agenda or to cover someone's insecurities. It gets reinforced through the public and private education systems much the same as religions are shoveled onto minds not equipped to evaluate them. I believe that is one of the biggest clues as to why the stereotypes of male and female behaviour wind up being so localized when you start to look beyond your own borders.

[MonikaT]

Years ago, I watched a series on PBS done by BBC about this very topic. This is a link to an article about it, and one of the links leads to a quiz. While I do have a male brain, according to the quiz, I am closer to the middle than the outer end. I'm actually quite good at reading facial expressions and many of the other 'female' things, but also have great spatial abilities and am quite mechanical. It is fascinating stuff, but I'm not sure how much they really know, yet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/s..._sex.shtml

[Destiny]

Ok I had to take the test. I scored barely over the middle towards the male side. I can read peoples emotions through their eyes very well with a 9-10.
Apparently that's a feminine trait I prefer feminine faces. I am not sure what to make of my results. Apparently I am more of a male brain than female brain but not by much. Crazy thought! Considering where we are currently at. At least I know I am not crazy. Apparently my brain doesn't know if it wants to be male or female either!

One thought is I am going to save this thread so in a few months after taking PM see if the results change.

[JustEmily]

I think that it is more nurture than nature when it comes to attitudes and emotions. I have noticed that I am much more emotional since taking PM, but I don't think my overall brain structure has changed (or that it's even possible at this point.)

We went to the Cleveland Art Museum today, and they had a sound exhibit that was so moving I had tears. This would have never happened pre-PM.

It may be psychosomatic (we want to behave more female, so we do) or it may be that we are less depressed because PM balances something we were lacking. For some the GD goes away (sadly, mine has not yet).

There a few structural differences in the brain... female brains have a thicker corpus collusum which causes better communication between the hemispheres. I doubt PM could change that.

I think it is possible to have a more female brain if the connections were laid down in fetal development. I totally support that there can be men with female brains and females with male brains... I just don't agree that your brain can switch if it wasn't that way already.

Here is a good link to differences:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/me...rains1.htm

From a neurology point of view, I think that PM may have an influence on certain neurotransmitters like dopamine and GABA. That's just a theory, though... take it with a grain of salt, please.

[AnnieBL]

MonikaT, the test to which you linked is very intriguing, but having run through it, I note that most of the sections are spectrum tests in which males and females may tend to different intermediate parts of the spectrum. In my own case, I ‘froze’ on the word test, in which I would have expected to make quite a high score (I tend to act as my wife’s thesaurus), and I probably fouled up the ‘faces’ test, in which I tended to prefer the images I felt were less 'Photoshopped'. On the other hand, and according to the explanations with the test, my low testosterone might tend to bias my scores towards the female end of the spectrum. In fact I ended up slightly on the male side of centre.

That said, I am uncertain as to the relevance of this type of test to actual gender orientation, to which I believe my wife may have been really referring. While such orientation seems generally supposed to be determined during fetal development and thus innate, I really made my post with a view to leading into the question of environmental interaction with gender orientation. I sometimes wonder what my situation might be if I had been born forty or fifty years later. During my youth, transition was not only a practical impossibility, it was something that was not on the radar even as an idea. To an extent I was lucky because I only recently began to understand the nature of my problems, and my dysphoria was not so severe that it could not be submerged or sublimated for much of the time by absorbing preoccupations of one sort or another, and less successfully until recently by trying to find things that made me feel female to some extent. By the time that transition might have become an option, it was no longer a practical possibility because my relationship with my wife had become an overriding consideration. I’ve been intending to post something on the subject of environmental factors, particularly during upbringing, since I believe that both I and my wife have been influenced, but have had difficulty in organising my thoughts. I am glad that JustEmily has to some extent preempted me in raising the issue - 'more nurture than nature'.

I would be very interested in any comments on how those here feel that their nurture or life experiences or preoccupations have interacted with their gender orientation.

[sfem]

I scored a zero overall, smack dab in the middle. No surprise. The individual tests first claim I am all man, then pure woman and back and forth. I scored very high on the eyes and words, and also on the 3D shapes and "systemizing". Like most tests, it is geared to what is expected of individuals and is therefore strongly influenced by age, role models, background, education and probably quite a few other factors not relevant to brain gender. Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids.

[MissC]

Oh boy. Next thing you know, they'll be saying that boys are better at math, science, and mechanics... and that girls are better at verbal communication...

... watch out!

[AbiDrew85]

Oh boy. Next thing you know, they'll be saying that boys are better at math, science, and mechanics... and that girls are better at verbal communication...

... watch out!

Well, actuallly... That's EXACTLY what that BBC "test" boils down to.

Which is so much fluff it's ridiculous.

BTW... I took it a long long time ago, and I forget exactly which part I totally bombed at, but I was rated female in every category but ONE... and then I was rated male over all. I think it had something to do with spatial perception.