Work

A Half-Truth Is a Whole Lie: On the Necessity of Investigating Sex Influences on the Brain

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Sex influences are proving to be extremely widespread on brain function, including the human brain. Ample evidence now proves that the sex of subjects can influence, ever reverse, findings, hence conclusions, at all levels of brain science, down to the molecular level, often in completely unanticipated ways. Thus the still-prominent assumption that sex influences may be safely ignored by neurobiologists is invalid and must be abandoned. The failure to properly consider the issue fills the literature with conclusions tenuous at best, false at worst. The continuing, widespread resistance to investigating sex influences among brain scientists, a resistance largely rooted in deeply entrenched biases against the topic, is becoming increasingly scientifically indefensible and strongly retards progress in our field.

Source: Endocrinology

DOI: 10.1210/en.2011-2167

Author: Larry Cahill

Institution: University of California, Irvine

Language: English

Topic: Sex and Gender in Healthcare

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service