Just Like a Woman: How Gender Science is Redefining What Makes Us Female

by Dianne Hales

Throw out the stereotypes! "Just like a woman!" The very phrase is a put-down, echoing the long-entrenched stereotypes of what it means to be female. From earliest recorded history, women have been cast in terms of males: lesser versions that are frailer, smaller, dimmer, less competent, defective. Never again. This lively, meticulously documented book turns the dismissive old catchphrase inside out.It is only in the past few years that researchers in many fields have actively focused on what being female really means. Their startling conclusion: almost every assumption made about women--physical, medical, historical, psychological--turns out to be untested, unproven, or untrue. Rather than classifying women only by their biology (as the medical establishment has), or denying they are biological creatures (as some feminists have), "Just Like a Woman" presents the cutting-edge findings in anthropology, physiology, psychology, neuroscience, endocrinology, and medicine that are redefining what a woman is.

These findings reveal the complex interconnections between all aspects of a woman's life from infancy to old age. Gender science is confirming that the female of the species is not the second sex but the separate sex. She is as powerful as the male but with different strengths: intuitiveness, adaptability, durability, sensitivity, sensuality. Her brain is smaller but more densely packed with neurons, her senses of smell and hearing more acute, her core body temperature higher. She processes emotions and perceives pain differently; she sleeps more lightly; she is more vulnerable to certain mental disorders and more resistant to others; her body reacts differently from a man'sto many medications; and the rhythms of her monthly cycles shape not only her fertility but her mood, her creativity, and her resilience. These are only some of the special aspects spelled out in this book, and all of them are crucial to a woman's understanding of her body, her mind, her spirit, and her relationships with those she loves. From conception on, she is female to the core.
This stereotype-shattering book lays out what it means to live in a woman's body, think with a woman's brain, drink in the world with a woman's senses, and react with a woman's sensibility to the stresses and elations of her multiple roles. Refreshingly free of ideology, "Just Like a Woman" offers a stunningly liberating message that expands our concept of human potential and will forever change the way every woman views herself.

Genres: Science, Psychology, Gender

416 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 1999

About the author

Ever since I was a girl, I had only one career goal: to write for a living. And so I have! I've written more than forty trade and textbooks and about a thousand articles for national publications.

Along the way I fell in love with Italian and wrote LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language, which became a New York Times best-seller and earned me the great honor of an Italian knighthood.

I then wrote a biography of Mona (Madame) Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, the real woman in Leonardo's iconic portrait. MONA LISA: A Life Discovered was an Amazon "best book of the year" in art history and was translated into six languages.

LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World is a sweeping journey through three thousand years of Italian history, celebrating the great contributions of Italy’s artists, artisans, writers, film directors, racers, fashion designers—and more. It appeals to the Italian in all our souls, inspiring us to be as daring as Italy’s gladiators, as eloquent as its poets, as alluring as its beauties, and as irresistible as its lovers.

Reviews

[Ripple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun and informative read, dispute being written and revised about 10 to 20 years ago the language and ideals still hold water in today's advanced climate. Very quick read, I enjoyed every enlightening page.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an accessible look, grounded in reasonably recent science (a lot can change in 15 years, but not enough to invalidate this sort of survey), of women's minds and bodies which makes every effort to avoid male-normative standards of the western scientific tradition and look at women as people who are not simply "men - except..."

Much of what I read was eye-opening. Especially disturbing is the paucity of women in critical health research; in every area most studies look only at men.

It is obvious that every woman should read this book; it is written assuming a female reader and is intended to be deeply empowering. Every man should as well; everyone benefits whenever people are empowered. I will be giving copies to my sons.

[Lily Graf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks a lot about gender stereotypes specifically about female stereotypes. This book actually was why I decided to write about gender stereotypes in English! It's really inspirational and full of so much information. Women are not less then men, women have been shown as dimmer, fragile, and less. This book explains what being female means. We are strong. Don't feed into stereotypes. I recommend this for women of any age who are passionate about being treated equally.