The Female Brain

Chapter One: The Birth of the Female Brain
Leila was a busy little bee, flitting around the playground, connecting with the other children whether or not she knew them. On the verge of speaking in two- and three-word phrases, she mostly used her contagious smile and emphatic nods of her head to communicate, and communicate she did. So did the other little girls. Dolly, said one. Shopping, said another. There was a pint-size community forming, abuzz with chatter, games, and imaginary families.

Leila was always happy to see her cousin Joseph when he joined her on the playground, but her joy never lasted long. Joseph grabbed the blocks she and her friends were using to make a house. He wanted to build a rocket, and build it by himself. His pals would wreck anything that Leila and her friends had created. The boys pushed the girls around, refused to take turns, and would ignore a girl s request to stop or give the toy back. By the end of the morning, Leila had retreated to the other end of the play area with the girls. They wanted to play house quietly together.

The Female Brain
Common sense tells us that boys and girls behave differently. We see it every day at home, on the playground, and in classrooms. But what the culture hasn't told us is that the brain dictates these divergent behaviors. The impulses of children are so innate that they kick in even if we adults try to nudge them in another direction. One of my patients gave her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter many unisex toys, including a bright red fire truck instead of a doll. She walked into her daughter s room one afternoon to find her cuddling the truck in a baby blanket, rocking it back and forth saying, Don T worry, little truckie, everything will be all right.

This isn t socialization. This little girl didn t cuddle her truckie because her environment molded her unisex brain. There is no unisex brain. She was born with a female brain, which came complete with its own impulses.

Louann Brizendine, M.D., a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, is an endowed clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. She is founder and director of the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic. After receiving her degree in neurobiology at University of California, Berkeley, and her medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine, she completed an internship and residency in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She has served as faculty at both Harvard and UCSF. She sits on the boards of peer reviewed journals and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards.

Finally, a satisfying answer to Freud s question, What does a woman want? Louann Brizendine has done a great favor for every man who wants to understand the puzzling women in his life. A breezy and enlightening guide to women and a must-read for men.
Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence

The Female Brain is sassy, witty, reassuring, and great fun. All women and the men who love them should read this book.
Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of The Wisdom of Menopause

Louann Brizendine has been a pioneer in using medical science to empower her women patients. Now she seeks to share her hard-won knowledge with a wider audience. The result is a timely, insightful, readable, and altogether magnificent book.
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of Mother Nature

An eye-opening account of the biological foundations of human behavior. Destined to become a classic in the field of gender studies.
Marilyn Yalom, author of A History of the Breast 

In a breezy, playful style, Brizendine follows the development of women s brains from birth through the teen years, to courting, pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing, and on to menopause and beyond.
Deborah Tannen, Washington Post