Going Undercover

on the brain are introduced, with particular discussion the depth of treatment is uneven, as if one committee of harrowing experiences of children raised in an alterna-member or another briefly escaped the restraints of the tive sex role as a result of genetic or surgical accident. task. However, overall it hangs together remarkably well. Short sections summarize the evidence for sex differ-Generally, the information is interesting and accurate, ences in verbal abilities, reading and fine motor, spatial, although I regret the unwarranted resurrection of the and quantitative abilities, and an attempt was made to Y-borne " hairy ears " gene. sort out the origin of these effects. Discussions among the 16-strong committee (nine These background chapters lead naturally to the point women and seven men) must have been lively to say of the report. What sex differences affect human health? the least. Members are distinguished in fields ranging What other sort of data do we need? And how should across pathology, genetics, psychology, endocrinology, sex differences be taken into account in planning and epidemiology, women's studies, and health policy. interpreting research? Clearly there were some major disagreements of philos-The big surprise to me was how fragmentary and ophy and interpretation, with two members electing to incomplete are the data on some of the most far-reach-contribute an alternative view that studies on sex differing health issues faced, at least by the Western world. ences in health should take more account of interactions I would have imagined that questions such as the effect between biology and the environment. (Yes, but exactly of sex on coronary heart disease, and how much of this what kind of studies?) Only rarely is the scraping of is attributable to hormones, had been studied to death; barrows being pushed evident. likewise differences in susceptibility to infectious dis-The recommendations at the end of each chapter, ease and allergy, and the contribution of differences in also listed in the Executive Summary, make interesting exposure to infectious agents and allergens. However, reading. Not surprisingly, these include exhortations to this report documents the inconsistent reportage and promote research on sex at the levels of cell, tissue analysis of sex and hormonal differences, and highlights (including brain), and organism. However, rather than the particular problem that negative results rarely see advocating more money for everything, the committee the light of day. A major thrust of the report is the value has been …