The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?

Sometimes one can be shocked by just how good something is. This is a remarkable book - extremely important, and absolutely delightful! I hope to read many more books in life, but I am sure this will go down as one of the best things I have ever read.
The author's writing style is extremely incisive and full of dry humor, but never does it stray from the gravity of the consequences of the myths she busts with amazing skill in every sentence. I truly think this is one of those books you can enjoy while feeling grateful for learning so much and unlearning so many harmful notions fed to all of us by popular psych and 'scientific' narratives.
I loved every moment of reading this, and wish everyone in the world would read it.

Gender essentialism- the idea that men are men and women are women, and never the twain shall meet- is one of the base problems in the lives of everyone human. Women, men and especially those of us who float somewhere between the two essentialist poles are badly served by the conviction- in politics, economics, civil rights, and everything else- that gender is perforce binary.

The "Mars and Venus" trope accepts this premise, and the idea that men and women are by our very natures utterly incomprehensible to each other.

This book proves them wrong, in a short, very readable, and generously documented way. Although succinct, it is also quite thorough, which I (having taken a class in rhetoric and sex roles over 35 years ago) show more appreciated.

Cameron points out that despite the brouhaha around gender differences in communication, in actuality there is far, far more overlap between the genders than differences. men and woman not only do understand each other almost all the time, but can be proven to do so.

Personally, I found it interesting to learn which of the studies I read in that long-ago class were supported by more recent work, and which were not.

Not only is this relevant to most of our personal lives, but also to public policy when it comes to dealing with sexual violence and other sexual harassment.

Very recommended! show less

This book carefully and in an evidence-based fashion busts all the current myths around the "differences" between men's and women' brains and language. At points scathing, very bracing. One of those ones you wish you could make everyone read. I wonder how the author feels about the fact that the entire design and packaging of the book screams "chick lit"- it's very disconcerting and made me feel embarrassed reading it on the train. It means that many people who might find this book useful might also overlook it on a bookshop or library shelf.