Louann Brizendine
Author of The Female Brain
About the Author
Louann Brizendine, M.D. received a degree in Neurobiology at the University of California at Berkeley, graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and did her internship and residency at Harvard Medical School. She is currently a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California at San show more Francisco who specializes in the relationship dynamics that result from the neurobiology of male and female brains. She founded the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic in 1994 and serves as the clinic's director. She has written two books: The Female Brain and The Male Brain. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Louann Brizendine
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Brizendine, Louann
- Birthdate
- 1952-12-30
- Gender
- female
- Short biography
- Louann Brizendine, M.D. is a practicing clinician at UCSF, best-selling author, public speaker and media commentator.
She completed her degree in Neurobiology at UC Berkeley, graduated from Yale School of Medicine and did her internship and residency at Harvard Medical School. She has also served on both the faculties of Harvard University and University of California at San Francisco. Now at UCSF, Dr. Brizendine pursues active clinical, teaching, writing and research activities, where she founded the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic in 1994 and continues to serve as the clnic’s director. Her New York Times best-selling first book, “The Female Brain,” has been translated into 30 languages and its follow-up, “The Male Brain,” ..well, is trailing behind in only 16 languages! She is working on launching a Mom's Program in 2014 at UCSF for early detection/prevention of anxiety/depression in pregnant and postpartum women. Save a mom, Save a child.
http://drlouann.ning.com/page/6351196... - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Sausalito, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
I stopped reading this book on page 68.
It's amazing I made it that far. Part of me thinks I should finish the book because I should know what is inside. People not only like to come to me for gender advice, but also test my boundaries on "gender roles." A friend loaned me this book, I believe as a way to see what my expert opinion of it would be. I have no idea how she feels about it.
It frightens me to think this was a NY Times Best Seller. Oh, the masses who read this and loved it!
You know show more what made me finally put this book down?
*It wasn't her pointing out that female and male brains work in different ways.
*It wasn't her stating on page 8 that a female engineer quit her work to be in a more people-oriented career, thus giving more credibility to the idea that engineers don't work with people or for people.
*It wasn't even when she dug up the old "I gave my daughter a truck and she treated it like a baby" cliché.
*It was almost when she says men look for visual clues (plump lips, smooth skin) to ensure fertility when looking for women to date.
It was her slut shaming.
In the chapter about how the female brain works in the areas of love and trust, she states: (Warning, put that cup down and swallow that bite)
"Social reputation is often a factor in male assessment, since the most reproductively successful males also need to pick women who will mate only with them. Men want to ensure their paternity but also to be able to count on a woman's mothers skills to make sure that their offspring thrive. If Melissa had immediately gone to bed with Rob or showed off to him about all the guys she has had, his Stone Age brain might have judged that she would be unfaithful or had a bad reputation."
Go ahead, read that passage again. Yes, you read it correctly. Cave men don't want slutty women to hook up with.
There's a lot of research in here and a lot of medical terms that aren't clearly explained. But from all the things on gender that I have learned from reading outside and inside the classroom and the science background I have, I have to say that this person takes facts and uses a huge rubber band to tie it to normative behavior.
Instead of this book, pick up Pink Brain, Blue Brain. Sure it's 2-3 times longer, but it doesn't traffic in stereotypes and certainly believes that we have evolved from the Stone Age.
A reader suggested Cordelia Fine's "Delusion of Gender" as another alternative to "The Female Brain." http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html
Have other suggestions? Keep them coming! show less
It's amazing I made it that far. Part of me thinks I should finish the book because I should know what is inside. People not only like to come to me for gender advice, but also test my boundaries on "gender roles." A friend loaned me this book, I believe as a way to see what my expert opinion of it would be. I have no idea how she feels about it.
It frightens me to think this was a NY Times Best Seller. Oh, the masses who read this and loved it!
You know show more what made me finally put this book down?
*It wasn't her pointing out that female and male brains work in different ways.
*It wasn't her stating on page 8 that a female engineer quit her work to be in a more people-oriented career, thus giving more credibility to the idea that engineers don't work with people or for people.
*It wasn't even when she dug up the old "I gave my daughter a truck and she treated it like a baby" cliché.
*It was almost when she says men look for visual clues (plump lips, smooth skin) to ensure fertility when looking for women to date.
It was her slut shaming.
In the chapter about how the female brain works in the areas of love and trust, she states: (Warning, put that cup down and swallow that bite)
"Social reputation is often a factor in male assessment, since the most reproductively successful males also need to pick women who will mate only with them. Men want to ensure their paternity but also to be able to count on a woman's mothers skills to make sure that their offspring thrive. If Melissa had immediately gone to bed with Rob or showed off to him about all the guys she has had, his Stone Age brain might have judged that she would be unfaithful or had a bad reputation."
Go ahead, read that passage again. Yes, you read it correctly. Cave men don't want slutty women to hook up with.
There's a lot of research in here and a lot of medical terms that aren't clearly explained. But from all the things on gender that I have learned from reading outside and inside the classroom and the science background I have, I have to say that this person takes facts and uses a huge rubber band to tie it to normative behavior.
Instead of this book, pick up Pink Brain, Blue Brain. Sure it's 2-3 times longer, but it doesn't traffic in stereotypes and certainly believes that we have evolved from the Stone Age.
A reader suggested Cordelia Fine's "Delusion of Gender" as another alternative to "The Female Brain." http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html
Have other suggestions? Keep them coming! show less
This book left me unsatisfied and feeling less feminine than before I started (the book cover doesn't help either with it's stereotyped images overlaying a brain shape). It read to me like a "women good, men bad" 1970's/80's feminist diatribe with a softer overlay. Instead of informing it confused and instead of enlightening it obscured. I really wanted to like this book but one of us failed and I'm not convinced that it was me. The emphasis on "take this pill and you'll feel better" I think show more undermined the whole thing. Yes there are differences between men and women, I'm just not convinced that they're that great. show less
This got repetitive after a while, but it made a lot of sense to me. Now if I had only known about some of these hormones and their effect on me when I was younger....
There was one thing I took umbrage at. The author writes that girls are born to nurture and told a story of a child who was given a truck as a gift. She played with it, and one day her mother saw her cradling it in her arms like a baby and cooing to it. Now, I personally think that if you don't have that desire to have kids, no show more amount of hormones are going to make you want to cradle a truck and sing to it like a baby. What about transgender people, etc? I was disappointed that the author would paint women with such a broad brush.
Needless to say, I skipped right over the chapter entitled "The Mommy Brain".
That being said, this was a quick read that didn't tax my brain at all, and I did learn a few things. show less
There was one thing I took umbrage at. The author writes that girls are born to nurture and told a story of a child who was given a truck as a gift. She played with it, and one day her mother saw her cradling it in her arms like a baby and cooing to it. Now, I personally think that if you don't have that desire to have kids, no show more amount of hormones are going to make you want to cradle a truck and sing to it like a baby. What about transgender people, etc? I was disappointed that the author would paint women with such a broad brush.
Needless to say, I skipped right over the chapter entitled "The Mommy Brain".
That being said, this was a quick read that didn't tax my brain at all, and I did learn a few things. show less
This is a fascinating book, but it suffers from a few serious issues:
* It’s definitely a sexist book. Some sections clearly offend the male sensitivity (Yes, dear Louann, males can have some sensitivity!). The author describes male sexuality as a “simple hydraulic device” (maybe she simply met the wrong men).
* The author promotes a mechanistic and simplistic view of the human brain. She doesn't really believe in neuroplasticity, preferring the old-school localizationist approach. show more Whatever your problem is, a few hormones and the usual antidepressant pills can fix it. IMHO, humans should not be viewed as a simple chemical device, I believe we are slightly more complex...
* The author's use of evolution and human history to sustain her theories is inferior. She describes all sorts of silly theories about the evolution of the human and female brain, assuming that human life has always been the same as it is today. Sorry, Louann, our ancestors didn't go shopping, they didn't live in suburbia, nor did they become grandparents at 50 (the average life expectancy was 30-35!).
* Despite the ridiculously long appendix with over 60 pages of bibliographical references, many of her statements are unsubstantiated, poorly documented, and lacking references. She presents her opinions as facts, with an overly confident tone. A softer approach and a more open mind would have made this book much more enjoyable.
Despite those limitations, the book is a rich source of information and ideas. show less
* It’s definitely a sexist book. Some sections clearly offend the male sensitivity (Yes, dear Louann, males can have some sensitivity!). The author describes male sexuality as a “simple hydraulic device” (maybe she simply met the wrong men).
* The author promotes a mechanistic and simplistic view of the human brain. She doesn't really believe in neuroplasticity, preferring the old-school localizationist approach. show more Whatever your problem is, a few hormones and the usual antidepressant pills can fix it. IMHO, humans should not be viewed as a simple chemical device, I believe we are slightly more complex...
* The author's use of evolution and human history to sustain her theories is inferior. She describes all sorts of silly theories about the evolution of the human and female brain, assuming that human life has always been the same as it is today. Sorry, Louann, our ancestors didn't go shopping, they didn't live in suburbia, nor did they become grandparents at 50 (the average life expectancy was 30-35!).
* Despite the ridiculously long appendix with over 60 pages of bibliographical references, many of her statements are unsubstantiated, poorly documented, and lacking references. She presents her opinions as facts, with an overly confident tone. A softer approach and a more open mind would have made this book much more enjoyable.
Despite those limitations, the book is a rich source of information and ideas. show less
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- Works
- 8
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 2,149
- Popularity
- #11,968
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 53
- ISBNs
- 72
- Languages
- 13
