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  • Why Gender Matters

  • What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences
  • Written by: Leonard Sax MD PhD
  • Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
  • Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (44 ratings)

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Why Gender Matters cover art

Why Gender Matters

Written by: Leonard Sax MD PhD
Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
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Publisher's Summary

A revised and updated edition (with more than 70% new material) of the classic book about innate differences between boys and girls and how best to parent and teach girls and boys successfully, with new chapters on sexual orientation and on transgender and intersex kids.

Back in 2005, the first edition of Why Gender Matters broke ground in illuminating the differences between boys and girls—how they perceive the world differently, how they learn differently, how they process emotions and take risks differently. Dr. Sax argued that in failing to recognize these hardwired differences between boys and girls, we ended up reinforcing damaging stereotypes, medicalizing misbehavior, and failing to help kids to reach their full potential. In the intervening decade, the world has changed, with an avalanche of new research which supports, deepens, and expands Dr. Sax's work. This revised and updated edition includes new findings about how boys and girls interact differently with social media and video games; a new discussion of research on gender non-conforming, LGB, and transgender kids, new findings about how girls and boys see differently, hear differently, and even smell differently; and new material about the medicalization of misbehavior.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Leonard Sax

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One of the most informative books

This book is one of the most informative books I’ve ever gotten through. It manages to get straight to the point while not being jarring. The combination of real life stories and raw information is really well handled. This book offers a great complete package for understanding gender and sexuality and in my opinion is a must read (or listen).

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Eye opening to the research on gender differences

If you are looking for up to date research on gender differences with an emphasis on how it relates to the classroom then I would highly recommend this book.

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great read

loved it! I'm an ABA SW in an elementary school in Canada and it was enlightening to better understand the differences and why

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Informative, Respectful, Impactful

Without making anybody the bad guy, Sax succeeds in shining light on where bad ideas about gender come from and how we can keep them from damaging boys and girls.

the author explores his own findings along with the results of multiple gender studies and what they mean for children, teens and later adults, including the issues of gender roles, transgenderism, and simple differences in the ways boys and girls perceive and interact in the world.

this is an important book to read for anyone confused by political correctness in gender studies and by anyone offended by the mere notion of differences inherent in the series.

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Masterfully Misrepresents Arguments and Data

Leonard Sax skillfully misrepresents information, makes solid arguments based on false premises, uses the exception to the rules as antidotes, pathologies gender incongruently all while condescending.

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  • Sam
  • 2022-08-10

Not current or accurate

I was shocked to learn that this book was written in 2017. It reads like something from the 1950’s, utilizing very old studies to make arguments that have been refuted by more recent research. Sax also frequently backs up his assertions with studies whose conclusions can’t be extended to the claims he’s making because the study was investigating something else entirely.

I was also shocked and appalled that he would assert that gender is biologically based, then turn around and claim that transgendered people are actually gay people who are confused by a culture that tells kids they must be either macho men or Barbie girls.

What about the various studies (including MRI studies that were published prior to 2017) that showed that gender dysphoria is biologically based? What about the reality that, logically, nobody would choose to be a member of a group that is hated, discriminated against, and to which being a member presents the very real threat of being murdered for the singular crime of existing? He completely ignored all of these issues and quite frankly failed to provided any evidence to back up his claims.

Sax presents himself as an authority figure, but really just uses his book as a medium to spread his prejudice to the parents and teachers who are trying to help kids.

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