cover image Man and Woman: An Inside Story

Man and Woman: An Inside Story

Donald W. Pfaff, Oxford Univ., $27.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-19-538884-8

The take-away from this abbreviated look at sex and gender differences is simply stated at the outset: "biological influences on sex differences in brain and behavior operate at so many different levels, and they interact with environmental influences in so many different ways, that rigid, stereotyped ideas about what is and is not typical male or typical female behavior have become impossible to sustain." Pfaff, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University, has been a major player in the field; indeed, much of what he discusses originally came from research conducted in his laboratory. Despite this expertise, Pfaff struggles to make his point because he covers too many topics without devoting enough space to any of them. Although he addresses fascinating subjects including sex determination, hormonal influences on behavior, causes and treatment of autism, and the treatment of developmental abnormalities in genitalia, most of his discussion is technical and remarkably truncated, thus not readily accessible to the general audience. Pfaff covers some of the same ground as Rebecca Jordan-Young's recently released and outstanding Brainstorm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences, but not nearly with the same depth and panache. 70 b&w line drawings. (Dec.)