Why Gender Matters Second Edition

Are boys and girls really that different? Twenty years ago, doctors and researchers didn’t think so. Back then, most experts believed that differences in how girls and boys behave are mainly due to differences in how they were treated by their parents, teachers, and friends. It's hard to cling to that belief today. An avalanche of research over the past twenty years has shown that sex differences are more significant and profound than anybody guessed. Sex differences are real, biologically programmed, and important to how children are raised, disciplined, and educated. In Why Gender Matters, psychologist and family physician Dr. Leonard Sax leads parents through the mystifying world of gender differences by explaining the biologically different ways in which children think, feel, and act. He addresses a host of issues, including discipline, learning, risk taking, aggression, sex, and drugs, and shows how boys and girls react in predictable ways to different situations. For example, girls are born with more sensitive hearing than boys, and those differences increase as kids grow up. So when a grown man speaks to a girl in what he thinks is a normal voice, she may hear it as yelling. Conversely, boys who appear to be inattentive in class may just be sitting too far away to hear the teacher—especially if the teacher is female. Likewise, negative emotions are seated in an ancient structure of the brain called the amygdala. Girls develop an early connection between this area and the cerebral cortex, enabling them to talk about their feelings. In boys these links develop later. So if you ask a troubled adolescent boy to tell you what his feelings are, he often literally cannot say. Dr. Sax offers fresh approaches to disciplining children, as well as gender-specific ways to help girls and boys avoid drugs and early sexual activity. He wants parents to understand and work with hardwired differences in children, but he also encourages them to push beyond gender-based stereotypes. A leading proponent of single-sex education, Dr. Sax points out specific instances where keeping boys and girls separate in the classroom has yielded striking educational, social, and interpersonal benefits. Despite the view of many educators and experts on child-rearing that sex differences should be ignored or overcome, parents and teachers would do better to recognize, understand, and make use of the biological differences that make a girl a girl, and a boy a boy.

A revised and updated edition (with more than 70% new material) of the evergreen classic about the innate differences between boys and girls and how best to parent and teach girls and boys successfully, with completely new chapters on sexual orientation and on transgender and intersex kids. Eleven years ago, Why Gender Matters broke ground in illuminating the differences between boys and girls--how they perceive the world differently, how they learn differently, how they process emotions and take risks differently. Dr. Sax argued that in failing to recognize these hardwired differences between boys and girls, we ended up reinforcing damaging stereotypes, medicalizing normal behavior (see: the rising rates of ADHD diagnosis), and failing to support kids to reach their full potential. In the intervening decade, the world has changed drastically, with an avalanche of new research which supports, deepens, and expands Dr. Sax's work. This revised and updated edition includes new findings about how boys and girls interact differently with social media and video games; a completely new discussion of research on gender non-conforming, LGB, and transgender kids, new findings about how girls and boys see differently, hear differently, and even smell differently; and new material about the medicalization of bad behavior.

An economic way of thinking about the gender issues confronting women around the world Gender matters in economics—for even with today's technology, fertility choices, market opportunities, and improved social norms, economic outcomes for women remain markedly worse than for men. Drawing on insights from feminism, postmodernism, psychology, evolutionary biology, Marxism, and politics, this textbook provides a rigorous economic look at issues confronting women throughout the world—including nonmarket scenarios, such as marriage, family, fertility choice, and bargaining within households, as well as market areas, like those pertaining to labor and credit markets and globalization. Mukesh Eswaran examines how women’s behavioral responses in economic situations and their bargaining power within the household differ from those of men. Eswaran then delves into the far-reaching consequences of these differences in both market and nonmarket domains. The author considers how women may be discriminated against in labor and credit markets, how their family and market circumstances interact, and how globalization has influenced their lives. Eswaran also investigates how women have been empowered through access to education, credit, healthcare, and birth control; changes in ownership laws; the acquisition of suffrage; and political representation. Throughout, Eswaran applies sound economic analysis and new modeling approaches, and each chapter concludes with exercises and discussion questions. This textbook gives readers the necessary tools for thinking about gender from an economic perspective. Addresses economic issues for women throughout the world, in both developed and developing countries Looks at both market and nonmarket domains Requires only a background in basic economic principles Includes the most recent research on the economics of gender in a range of areas Concludes each chapter with exercises and discussion questions

Gender-based violence undermines the core values of human rights on which the Council of Europe is based and to which its member states have subscribed Gender-based violence refers to any type of harm that is perpetrated against a person or group of people because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Gender-based violence can be sexual, physical, verbal, psychological (emotional), or socio-economic and it can take many forms – from verbal violence and hate speech on the internet, to rape or murder. Statistics show that gender-based violence affects women disproportionately. Gender-based violence undermines the core values of human rights on which the Council of Europe is based and to which its member states have subscribed. It is a problem in all member states and affects millions of women and men, young people and children, regardless of their social status, cultural or religious background, sexual orientation or gender identity. Preventing, addressing and combating gender-based violence are intrinsic to human rights education, youth work and non-formal learning activities which support young people on their path to autonomy as active citizens, mindful of everyone’s human rights. The issues that are addressed through this work are all relevant to young people’s lives, and they relate directly to the world in which young people live. Gender Matters is a manual to address gender-based violence with young people. It provides insights into gender and gender-based violence, background information to key social, political and legal issues and, especially, educational activities and methods for education and training activities with young people. Gender Matters should be used as a practical resource in guiding young people to become more aware of their own actions and the actions of others. It contributes to a better understanding of how to stay safe and secure and how to support those who have experienced violence in their lives. It will not suffice to eradicate gender-based violence. However it is a necessary and urgent step towards dignity for all.

Fully revised and updated, this second edition of Gender Matters in Global Politics is a comprehensive textbook for advanced undergraduates studying feminism & international relations, gender and global politics and similar courses. It provides students with an accessible but in-depth account of the most significant theories, methodologies, debates and issues. This textbook is written by an international line-up of established and emerging scholars from a range of theoretical perspectives, and brings together cutting-edge feminist scholarship in a variety of issue areas. Key features and benefits of the book: Introduces students to the wide variety of feminist and gender theory and explains the relevance to contemporary global politics Explains the insights of feminist theory for a range of other disciplines including international relations, international political economy and security studies Addresses a large number of key contemporary issues such as human rights, trafficking, rape as a tool of war, peacekeeping and state-building, terrorism and environmental politics Features detailed pedagogical tools and resources – seminar exercises, text boxes, photographs, suggestions for further reading, web resources and a glossary of key terms New chapters on - Environmental politics and ecology; War; Terrorism and political violence; Land, food and water; International legal institutions; Peacebuilding institutions and post-conflict reconstruction; Citizenship; Art, aesthetics and emotionality; and New social media and global resistance. This text enables students to develop a sophisticated understanding of the work that gender does in policies and practices of global politics.

Why America's sons are underachieving, and what we can do about it. Something is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. The gender gap in college attendance and graduation rates has widened dramatically. While Emily is working hard at school and getting A's, her brother Justin is goofing off. He's more concerned about getting to the next level in his videogame than about finishing his homework. In Boys Adrift, Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature and draws on more than twenty years of clinical experience to explain why boys and young men are failing in school and disengaged at home. He shows how social, cultural, and biological factors have created an environment that is literally toxic to boys. He also presents practical solutions, sharing strategies which educators have found effective in re-engaging these boys at school, as well as handy tips for parents about everything from homework, to videogames, to medication.

In the last century it was argued that men are from Mars and women are from Venus - but things have moved on a long way since then. In this timely new approach to the debate, Tom Whipple travels far and wide - from a Home Counties swingers' party to a gay penguin sanctuary in Germany - and draws on the latest studies in behavioural science as well as fascinating explorations into anthropology to present a surprising tale of expectations and mismatches.If you are currently single, this book is about your place in the dating market - your successes, your failures and what they mean. If you are in a relationship, it is about why you chose the person you are with, why they chose you - and the circumstances in which either of you might put it all at risk and stray.In X and Why, Tom Whipple delves into the sexual subconscious to explain the inner workings of character and desire. It will change the way you see yourself and everyone around you.

Most contemporary discussions of sex differences assume that they are determined by society rather than biology. It is society that teaches little girls to be feminine and little boys to be masculine--society that tells women to respond to babies and men to respond to sports. Reflecting the fashionable idea that male and female roles have been "socially constructed," most commentators speak of gender instead of sex. Because men and women are virtually interchangeable, so the argument goes, men should do an equal share of domestic and childrearing work so that women can compete equally outside the home There's only one problem with this beguiling vision of androgyny. Whatever we might like to believe, as Dr. Steven Rhoads shows, sex distinctions remain a deeply rooted part of human nature. In "Taking Sex Differences Seriously," Rhoads assembles a wealth of scientific evidence showing that these differences are "hardwired" into our biology. They range from the subtle (men get a chemical high from winning while women get one from nursing) to the profound (women with high testosterone levels are more promiscuous, more competitive, and more conflicted about having children than those with average levels.) Rhoads explores disparities in aggression and dominance, in sexuality and nurturing. He shows how denial of these differences has helped to create the sexual revolution, fatherless families, and policies such as Title IX, and the call for universal day care. But while insisting that we must take sex differences seriously, Rhoads also advocates discouraging some natural tendencies, like men's desire for irresponsible sex, and encouraging others, like women's greater interest and talent in caring for babies. In this provocative exploration of the masculine and feminine, Steven Rhoads dispels contemporary clichéeacute;s and spotlights biological realities. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, "Taking Sex Differences Seriously" is a groundbreaking look at the way we are.