It’s a question of sex, gender and your thought process

An exhibit at the Science Museum in London has created quite a stir thanks to a test that claims to determine whether you think like a male of female.

The test is called ‘What Sex is your brain?’ and claims that on average men are much better at “seeing things in 3D” and are better able to “imagine how things rotate”. Women on the other hand perform better in tests that “distinguish between subtle hints and details” and require “a good visual memory”.

https://twitter.com/helenlewis/status/775952018959630336

Alex Tyrrell, who heads up the museum’s exhibitions and programs, says that creating cutting-edge science is hard work for museums. He says that in the past week the lively discussion about the Who Am I? gallery, which explores the science of sex and gender, has been “playing on my mind”.

“Scientific accuracy is vital to the Museum – our reputation depends on it – and we put in place rigorous processes to ensure we get things right, from expert advisory boards who look at the broad messages in an exhibition, to subject specialists who are invited to scrutinise every word we write,” he writes in a blog on the Science Museum website.

“Specifically, the game presents studies scientists have carried out to investigate if there are small differences on average in the way that men and women complete certain tasks, largely based around the recognition of abstract shapes and patterns.”

He says the game, which dates back 16 years, was designed to be tongue-in-cheek and provocative, and visitors have been invited to take some of the real tests that scientists used, scoring make and female ‘brain points’ on a ‘sex-o-meter’ that is coloured pink and blue.

You are curious thought, aren’t you? You can do the test here.

If you’ve taken the test, what was the result? Should exhibitions like this one be allowed in museums?