The Sexual Brain

It's a small book composed of only about 120 pages of actual text, which should appeal to those customers who don't like to purchase books with high page numbers, however, that is no indicator to the quality of the text inside. LeVay covers a variety of topics concerning the origins and beliefs into our sexuality and inserts his novel and sometimes unorthodox ideas, which prove to be fairly interesting most of the time. Synopsis : LeVay covers every aspect of life and biological aspect that controls our sexuality. It delves into the differences between genders as well as the process of courtship. The book is written with the casual reader in mind. There are no terms that are too big to understand or no concepts too difficult to grasp. Everything is presented in such a way that someone with no knowledge of neuroscience would be able to pick up most, if not all, of the the ideas that LeVay is trying to share with us. The chapters are short, which provide that psychological advantage of completion that was present in the Harry Potter series to me. LeVay also helps us with short term memory problems by referring us back to previous ideas that he's presented previously. Parts of the Book: The beginning of the book is devoted to a lot of background on sex and our behaviors regarding sex. It goes into a pretty interesting discussion about why we evolved into sexual creatures as opposed to sexual creatures, which is something I never thought about. He presents the idea that we evolved into sexual creatures to rid our species of harmful mutations, but also presented a world where a mutation allowed someone to reproduce asexually. Additionally, he goes over the hypothalamus, whose purpose in our body is nowhere indicative of the small size it occupies in the brain. LeVay spends several chapters looking at fetal development and the differences that exist therein. I had always believed that development is determined by the presence of hormones, but LeVay lets us know that in some cases it is the absence of some hormones that can affect development. I liked how he provided details on this aspect that he went over. For example, levels of testosterone from two days prior to birth to six days after can drastically affect the size and number of the sexually dimorphic nucleus, which obviously enough is larger in males than females (due to the testosterone). He examines some studies about how the exposure to hormones or other scenarios can lead to different behaviors. He also touches base on the actual action of sex and the biological pathways that occur during the different aspects of it including hormones such as vasotocin (which actually is very similar to two very important hormones -- vasopressin and oxytocin). He starts off with courtship and examines cases involving birdsongs in birds or eye contact with monkeys and somewhat sidestepped discussing human courtship. I suppose that's because we experience it in our everyday lives and there's no reason to d

This book summarizes research on sexual behavior and the brain for general readers. Topics covered include: why most organisms use sex for reproduction, pre- and post-natal hormones and sexual development, brain structure, hormones and sexual behavior, instinct and courtship behaviors, hormones and behavior during pregnancy, sexual dimorphism in behavior and brain structures, sexual orientation and genetics, and gender identity and hormones. Research cited in the book involves a variety of organisms, from yeasts to birds, from rats to humans. End material includes sources and suggestions for further reading, a glossary and an index. LeVay's style is informal to the point of being flippant. For example, in a discussion pointing out the importance of a mothering practice amongst rats for future sexual behavior (licking the anogenital region to promote urination), LeVay launches into a discussion of whether the practice is uncouth, contributing to our feelings of revulsion towards rats. He goes on to point out that even attractive animals can have unattractive behaviors, such as koala mothers who feed their offspring feces. In a book of this nature, considering a normal animal behavior in a subjective light such as this is inappropriate, and emphasizing it by going off the topic to an unrelated behavior in another animal, that isn't even related to the main topic at hand (sexual behaviors) is going way overboard. LeVay may consider such an approach humorous, but it takes away from the credibility of the remaining material. Rather than present a simple collection of facts about hormones, behaviors, and the brain, there is a central, underlying argument, and each chapter builds toward this argument, that there is a hormonal, if not genetic explanation for homosexual behaviors in humans. The evidence of hormonal effects on animal behavior is very clear, and the examples that LeVay provides are quite interesting. I still come away from the book with the feeling however, that I would have preferred LeVay to present his argument more explicitly from the beginning of the book rather than taking such an implicit (and almost sneaky) approach.

Levay has a wonderful handle on sexuality as it relates to the brain. A well documented discussion on what is known about sex, sexuality, and the brain. I referenced it in my own book, "The Care and Feeding of your Brain" Giuffre, DiGeronimo, Career Press 1999. Ken Giuffre MD