#GAReads | The 'female' brain: why damaging myths about women and science keep coming back in new forms
photo credit: Pierre Acobas, via Unsplash
“The 'female' brain: why damaging myths about women and science keep coming back in new forms”:
In 1879, French polymath Gustave Le Bon wrote that even in “the most intelligent races” there “are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains”. He continued his insult with: “This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion.”
Today we have moved on, right? But whenever we attempt to explain the under-representation of women in science, debunked myths seem to sneak back into the debate in different guises – no matter how often they are challenged.