Why Gender Matters

In "Why Gender Matters", family doctor Leonard Sax (Random House) takes issue with the modern tendency toward gender-neutral child-rearing. According to this theory boys and girls behave differently because of the way they are educated, or because of cultural factors.

Sax describes how in the mid-1990s he began to see more and more young boys arrive at his office with requests for medication, due to their supposed attention-deficit disorder. This experience sparked off Sax's interest in the subject of sex-based differences. His research showed that behavioral differences are not just caused by cultural factors. Sax shows how boys and girls have marked physical and psychological differences (sense perception, feelings, brain development) and hence they have to be educated differently. This difference, he argues, should be acknowledged by educators, and then used positively.