This is an excellent book which I think should be read by females and males alike. It's companion, The Male Brain, was recently released and I plan to read that soon. Both books are written in a very accessible style, and both emphasize the effects hormones have on making women unique from men or vice versa.
The Female Brain talks through the development of the female brain from conception through old age. With my Early Childhood Education background, those chapters particularly stuck out to me, but I would recommend that if nothing else, you read the chapter which applies to your current age (for women) or the current age of your significant other (for men).
The Chapter on the Mommy Brain (all the changes that occur in the brain for both biological and adoptive mothers) was especially fascinating. I have heard a lot of moms say their brains when to mush while they were pregnant or when they brought the baby home, and their are biological causes and reasons for that.
The book is broken up into the following chapters and appendices:
What Makes Us Women
The Birth of the Female Brain
Teen Girl Brain
Love and Trust
Sex
The Mommy Brain
Emotion: The Feeling Brain
The Mature Female Brain
The Future of the Female Brain
Hormone Therapy
Sexual Orientation
Postpartum Depression
By reading this book, I gained a great deal of insight into myself and many of the women I know at all stages of life.
Here are a few things that stood out to me:
-Girls brains are ready for emotional connection at birth. In general, infant girls are more skilled at gazing at people and reading emotions. This ability for mutual face gazing and eye contact increases 400% in the first 3 months of life, while this ability does not increase at all for infant boys in the same time period.
-Girls seek approval in facial expressions. They do not tolerate flat faces and will keep trying to elicit an expression. Thus, if a mother is depressed, her daughter will think her straight expression is a form of rejection of the daughter's self.
-Girls can hear more vocal tones than boys, which makes it easier for them to obey instructions and heed warnings.
-Girls talk to see if they are being listened to and they use this information to determine if others take them seriously.
-Girls calm more easily than boys because they can "absorb" their caregivers emotions and empathize with him/her.
-Infantile puberty lasts 24 months for girls (9 mo. for boys) and bathes the brain in estrogen which makes girls emotionally adept and into caregiving even as toddlers.
-"The 'nervous system environment" a girl absorbs during her first two years becomes a view of reality that will affect her for the rest of her life." Even being raised by the same parents, 2 girls born at different times could absorb nurturing if born in good times or fear if born in unsettling times, thus shaping their world views. "If you're a mom-t0-be carrying a female fetus, take it easy so your daughter will be able to relax." (p. 20)
-When teenage girls talk, it increases the intimacy of their relationships which releases dopamine in the brain (pleasurable) making the reward for talking with friends even greater, thus encouraging them to keep talking.
-Women's self-image is based largely on the quality of their relationships.
-Fear of conflict and end of relationships can make girls willing to sacrifice anything in order to maintain a relationship.
There were plenty of other interesting things in the book. There are some things in the book with which I completely agree and others of which I am skeptical. I recommend you take a look at it to better understand yourself and the women around you.
