> Les numéros > Scumgrrrls N°10 - Automne / Fall 2006
Een interactieve test op de BBC Science website laat je toe uit te maken hoe "vrouwelijk" of "mannelijk" je hersenen zijn. Maar wat levert het resultaat op ? Een oplossing voor je identiteitscrisis, een overbodig label, of een subtiele maatschappelijke boodschap over de plaats van man en vrouw ?
EN
Get your brain sex profile ! The “Sex ID test” on the BBC’s Science & Nature site wants to let you find out how "male" of "female" your brain is. But what do you gain from the result ? An answer to your identity crisis, another useless label, or a subtle social message about the place of men en women in society ? The test itself turns out to be a fun one, albeit not very surprising. Good verbal skills, feelings of empathy show a more "feminine" side, whereas analytical capacities, a good sense of orientation indicate a stronger "male" side. To emphasise that this test is entirely scientific, and only looks at the biologically sexed, not culturally constructed brain, there is even a ring finger measurement test, to determine the levels of testosterone exposure in the uterus. Still, even the not so critical reader would raise her/his eyebrows at the following questions : “I find it difficult to programme video recorders” “I do not enjoy in-depth political discussions” “I know very little about the different stages of the legislation process in my country” Would all this really be sexually and biologically determined ? And must we therefore conclude that politics and legislation processes are best left to the "male" brain ? Anyway, why this compulsory need to see our grey mass of cerebral blubber as either a pink or a blue one ? Interestingly, most studies about gender differences have found far more similarities than differences between men and women, whether the tests were about personality, cognitive capabilities or leadership. So why would it be that the media always want to talk about the small differences, and never about the big similarities ?
FR
Le profile sexuel de votre cerveau ! Sur le site web de la BBC, un test interactif propose de déterminer le degré de masculinité ou de féminité de votre cerveau. Qu’en ressort-il ? La solution à votre crise d’identité, un label superflu, ou un message social subtil sur la place respective de l’homme et de la femme dans la société ?