neurosexism · noun — the use of neuroscientific research to support preexisting ideas about inherent sex differences. It carries an Arena rating of 1236, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, neurosexism ranks #1,130 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,249 of 17,192 for The Improbable, #2,291 of 17,171 for Scariest Words, #5,173 of 17,194 for Most Exacting Words.
Why “neurosexism” is a great word
The misuse of neuroscientific language, data, or imagery to lend a modern, objective-seeming legitimacy to stereotypical beliefs about innate, fixed, and consequential differences between the sexes. From the combining form neuro- (relating to nerves or the nervous system) + sexism (prejudice or discrimination based on sex); the term was popularized, if not coined, by psychologist Cordelia Fine in the early 21st century. Unlike general sexism, a blunt prejudice, or biological essentialism, a broad doctrine of biological determinism, neurosexism is a subtler, more insidious alchemy—the translation of bias into the gleaming, authoritative vernacular of fMRI scans and synaptic pathways. It is the pop-science article declaring brains are 'hardwired' for different aptitudes, the colorful diagram of a 'female connectome' used to explain a preference for empathy, and the TED Talk that reduces complex social patterns to glittering neural “pathways”—a modern phrenology that dresses ancient stereotypes in a lab coat, making them appear not just natural, but inevitable.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From neuro- + sexism.
noun
- The use of neuroscientific research to support preexisting ideas about inherent sex differences.e.g.“Neurosexism reflects and reinforces cultural beliefs about gender—and it may do so in a particularly powerful way. Dubious “brain facts” about the sexes become part of the cultural lore.” — 2010, Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference, W. W. Norton, →ISBN, page xxviii:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.