There are days when the opposite sex seems so different, that you can almost believe they come from different planets。

　　Indeed, the theory that we are all hard-wired by our gender has proved so popular that a book on the subject, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, became an international best-seller。

　　Professor Gina Rippon, a leading neuroscientist, said that women's brain power is no different to men’s after all and we are actually incredibly similar when it comes to intellect, according to the Daily Mail of September 13.

　　Gina Rippon also said the idea that our brains are controlled by our gender is outdated and wrong,

　　She has even accused researchers of producing findings that can be used to support the old prejudice that women are not men's intellectual equals. "This is nonsense. There may be some very small differences between the genders but the similarities are far, far greater. Besides, there is increasing concern within the neuroscience community about the misinterpretation and abuse of our findings on the links between brain structure and behaviour," she said。

　　However, the professor from Aston University in Birmingham, argues that although today's researchers can observe the minute workings of the brain, they are still asking questions that appear to be inspired by old-fashioned male-female stereotypes。

　　一段时间以来，人们普遍认为男性和女性在思维上存在很多差异，他们几乎相信男性和女性分别来自不同星球的这种说法。

　　的确，性别差异造成思维方式不同的理论曾经深入人心，而且这一理论被反映在国际上都很畅销的《男人来自火星，女人来自水星》这本书中。

　　据《每日邮报》9月13日报道，如今有一位著名神经学家吉娜•里彭教授称，女性大脑能力与男性大脑能力根本不存在差异。当谈到智慧问题时，男女相似度高到让人难以置信的程度。

　　吉娜•里彭还说大脑完全由性别决定的理论已经过时，而且是错误的。

　　她甚至指责那些性别差异理论制造者，说他们的理论支持由来已久对男女性别的偏见，那就是女性的智慧从来不及男性。她说：“简直是胡说八道， 性别可能会造成男女之间一些微小的差异，但是相同之处要远远大于不同之处。而且，在神经科学领域中，人们越来越关注对于大脑结构和行为之间联系的误解和滥用。”

　　然而，来自英国伯明翰的阿斯顿大学的教授却认为，虽然现代的研究人员可以时刻对大脑的运作进行观察，但是他们依然会提出有关男女性别的问题，而这些问题似乎也是由于人们对传统的男性和女性的刻板印象引起的。