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The field of sex differences in psychology is not new, though today it enjoys greater academic freedom than in past decades. The 196Os and 70s, while socially liberating, also made an open-minded debate about any possible role of biology contributing to psychological sex differences impossible. Those who explored the role of biology - even while acknowledging the importance of culture - found themselves accused of oppression and of defending an essentialism that perpetuated inequalities between the sexes. It was not a climate in which scientists could ask questions about mechanisms in nature. Today, the pendulum has settled sensibly in the middle of the nature-nurture debate, and scientists who care deeply about ending inequality and oppression can at the same time also talk freely about biological differences between the male and female brain and mind.
A new theory, known as the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory, claims that the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy and that the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems. "Empathizing" means the drive to identify another person's emotions and thoughts and to respond to those with an appropriate emotion. The empathizer intuitively figures out how people are feeling and thus how to treat them with care and sensitivity. "Systemizing" means the drive to analyze and explore a system, to extract underlying rules that govern the behavior of a system, and to construct systems. The systemizer intuitively figures out how things work, or what the underlying rules are that control a system. Systems can be as varied as a pond, a vehicle, a computer, a plant, a library catalogue, a musical instrument, a math equation, or even an army unit. They all operate on inputs and deliver outputs, using rules.
According to this new theory, a person (whether male or female) has a particular "brain type." There are three common brain types. For some individuals, empathizing is stronger than systemizing. This is called a brain of type E, but we can also call it the female brain, because more females than males show this profile. For other individuals, systemizing is stronger than empathizing. This is called a brain of type S, but we can also call it the male brain, because more males than females show this profile. Yet...