science

The Sexual Brain

The Sexual Brain is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Sexual Brain rather than just read about it. In short: The Sexual Brain is a 1993 book about brain mechanisms involved in sexual behavior and feelings, and related topics such as sexual orientation, by the neuroscientist Simon LeVay. The book was praised as a well-written work on science.

Key takeaways

The Sexual Brain belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Sexual Brain to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Sexual Brain from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Sexual Brain is a 1993 book about brain mechanisms involved in sexual behavior and feelings, and related topics such as sexual orientation, by the neuroscientist Simon LeVay. The book was praised as a well-written work on science. However, some reviewers pointed out factual errors, and stated that LeVay failed to prove that homosexuality has a biological basis.

Summary

LeVay discusses "brain mechanisms that are responsible for sexual behavior and feelings"; topics considered include sexual orientation, the evolutionary basis of sex, sexual development, the organization and development of the brain, the neural mechanisms associated with sexual intercourse, gender differences, and gender identity. LeVay expresses skepticism about the work of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, writing that while he once accepted the Freudian view that "a young child's relations with his or her parents play a decisive role" in the development of sexual orientation, he rejected it after he came to know large numbers of gay men and lesbian women. LeVay writes that he doubts that there is anything scientific about Freud's ideas. He describes the functions of the hypothalamus, which plays a key role in, "sex, feeding, drinking, cardiovascular performance, control of body temperature, stress, emotional responses, growth, and many other functions". LeVay notes that his INAH 3 study was his only publication on sex to that date, and that most of his previous research had been on the visual areas of the cerebral cortex. LeVay compares homosexuality to the disease sickle cell anemia, arguing that it may have persisted through a similar genetic mechanism.

Publication history The Sexual Brain was first published in 1993 by MIT Press.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Sexual Brain

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Sexual Brain claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Sexual Brain before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Sexual Brain ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Sexual Brain

In research: The Sexual Brain appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Sexual Brain in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Sexual Brain is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1993 English-language non-fiction books, 1993 non-fiction books, American non-fiction books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Sexual Brain outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Sexual Brain in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Sexual Brain means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Sexual Brain out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Sexual Brain in simple terms?

Why does The Sexual Brain matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Sexual Brain?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Sexual Brain.