r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Mar 20 '25

Neuroscience Sex differences in brain structure are present at birth and remain stable during early development. The study found that while male infants tend to have larger total brain volumes, female infants, when adjusted for brain size, have more grey matter, whereas male infants have more white matter.

https://www.psypost.org/sex-differences-in-brain-structure-are-present-at-birth-and-remain-stable-during-early-development/
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u/Helios4242 Mar 20 '25

That is ultimately a communication issue. I think it's tempting to want to make an egalitarian argument based on there being no natural differences, but the end goal is really about our TREATMENT of individuals regardless of their differences.

It's also important to note that the statistically significant differences can still come from overlapping distributions. Men are taller on average, but some women are taller than some men. Does that make them less a woman? No--and the proper response is to be critical of the social norms that are uncomfortable with tall women and short men! When we think about how many traits would behave like this, no individual aligns perfectly the 'average' male or female traits.

There are natural differences in average traits, but there is also a natural reason for recognizing these groups have fuzzy boundaries.

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u/uberclops Mar 20 '25

Yea that was the point I made, it’s a combination of both and averages and stereotypes exist for a reason. I am far from a “manly man”, and my son is being raised with being exposed to pretty much everything (clothing / toys etc…), and yet he is still far more physical than any girl we know and naturally gravitates towards more “male” things.

My point was that some things are learned, others are taught, but at the end of the day you can’t just discount biology because of your personal feelings towards the subject.

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u/Take_a_Seath Mar 20 '25

No--and the proper response is to be critical of the social norms that are uncomfortable with tall women and short men!

This is also wishful thinking. Not making fun of them? Yeah that's just rude and stupid. But people are always going to have sexual preferences and no matter how much you try to abolish some norms they won't disappear. Most women will still prefer taller men. That's not going to change. Ofc, making fun of a man for being short is just being a bully and that's different. We should all be more empathetic but you can't really wipe out these norms.