El factor X: Sobre la superioridad genética de la mujer by Sharon Moalem

El factor X: Sobre la superioridad genética de la mujer Reviews

• 
  Brianna

  This is sort of a strange book. One the one hand, it highlights some recent research about sex differences in morbidity and mortality that might be linked to the possession of XX vs XY chromosomes, which is its main goal, but on the other hand it projects a sensationalist and at times perverse narrative style that necessarily distorts many of the findings. I’m going to focus on this aspect of the book because the science is pretty straightforward. This narrative style is basically to define a meaningless term, in this case it’s “genetic superiority,” in such a way as to lead you to the inevitability of the author’s conclusion as indicated in the title. Moalem actually defines “genetic superiority” to mean advantages in longevity and immunity, and then proceeds to show how males are more vulnerable than females, on average, in this context. He argues strongly that this difference arises mainly in possessing two X chromosomes versus one.
  
  It has been known for a long time that recessive X-linked disorders, for instance, are more common in males. These include conditions like color blindness, hemophilia, and some developmental disorders. Additionally, mosaicism of the X chromosome in female cells might provide them some advantages in immune functioning, and this research is a little more recent. These findings are very interesting and especially topical in the current climate. But they are not really that controversial, in my view. I have heard about them for years in classes, literature, and textbooks when doing my PhD work in biomedical science. It has been long proposed to explain, along with many other factors, the differences in longevity between men and women. On that front, the book has merit and brings some interesting facts to light. The only controversial point is that Moalem almost completely neglects that social factors, such as lifestyle or work differences, could be partly responsible. He mentions it a few times, but doesn’t give it the consideration it deserves in my view. Nevertheless, no overall problems with the information presented.
  
  His language and narrative style is really the issue here. “Genetic superiority” is a silly term and not a real concept in biology. Define the criteria however you like and force whatever conclusion you want. The question is should we even have a criteria for such a concept at all? I understand he has a precise definition he is using, but it sows confusion in my view. From a biological and evolutionary perspective, organisms face different challenges and adapt differently to their environments, and so males and females adapted to different challenges to perpetuate their genes and represent two evolved strategies for that purpose. Organisms will compromise their longevity for benefits in other areas, and those compromises come out differently for males and females of many organisms. Do we argue for the “genetic superiority” of males because they are faster, stronger, have higher lung capacity, more red blood cells, greater psychomotor capacity, less likely to have depression, better spatial abilities, have higher pain tolerance, etc? Or how about the “genetic superiority” of whites over blacks because they are less likely to get diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and live longer? Already you can see the issue with this invidious language, as it encourages a kind of divisive thinking and differential valuation of groups. And if you think a book with the opposite title (which could be written with evidence of the differences favoring males mentioned above) would not generate enormous outrage for exactly this reason, I have a bridge to sell you.
  
  Don’t get me wrong, the book is an interesting read and I don’t doubt at all that Moalem has good intentions at heart, despite the problematic way he chose to frame the issue. But ultimately I didn’t necessarily learn anything that new or surprising. There’s interesting science here, but the presentation often leaves much to be desired.
• 
  Martha

  I received an advance copy to review and I have to say that as a woman, I was actually surprised at the number of things I learned from this book that I was never taught in school. I really hadn't understood that women benefit from having two X chromosomes over their whole lives, strengthening their immune systems and even helping them fight some kinds of cancer more effectively than males. I loved how the author explained that two X chromosomes gives females more genetic 'options' to choose from, which is why overall women don't have as many X-linked conditions as males like color-blindness: mind-blowing! I also totally didn't know how many more problems men have in general during brain development because they only have one X chromosome. I feel like this book gave me an overall understanding for how females are different.
• 
  Ariel ✨

  I'm not sure how to rate this! If you found your way here after reading SCUM or Hothead Paisan, you've been misled. Dr. Sharon Moalem mixes personal stories with historical anecdotes and genetics to find different ways to say, "the X chromosome has more genetic diversity to draw on in the event of a problem," and "sex differences allow genetic females to survive in adverse conditions for a longer amount of time." He uses both "women" and "genetic females" when discussing people with XX chromosomes, not as an attempt at gender inclusivity or recognition of trans identity, but more to cut down on repetition.
  
  The title is just a cheeky marketing strategy. The book is dense, but you don't need a medical background to understand it.
  
  For a more detailed account of how sex differences affect our daily lives, I recommend reading
  Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.
• 
  Brinley Harrington

  This is a great book for anyone who has an inkling of scientific interest. The book tackles a topic that is hard to write about anyways but puts it into a format that you can't put down. Not only is it informative but it is easy to read and the author explains everything, so even if you are not scientifically inclined or have that knowledge you will be able to understand. The book focuses on how the two X chromosomes in women give a genetic advantage when it comes to genetic choice against men. The book has nice progress, going from one chapter to the next and you will learn some things that will make you stop and think and want to get more information. I recommend this book to both inexperienced scientists and more well-read scientists. Even with that, anyone can read and enjoy this book!
• 
  Peter Z.

  "They are simply stronger than men at every stage of life"
  Hey this is a really stupid debate but if women are stronger than men why does the military need to lower the strength requirements for women to be able to compete with men?
  Anyway, this is dumb. Women are predisposed to be better at some things and men, others. Fish are totally failing the flying exam given by the birds. But somehow birds are doing really badly at the underwater agility tests the fish are giving.
  Might as well argue that green is a better color than red or daytime is better than nighttime. Silliness.
• 
  seen (the greenhouse of soul)

  ”«لطالما ظننت أن الذكور هم الجنس الأقوى، لكن يبدو أن الأمر ليس كذلك، كلا التجارب السريرية وبحثي الجيني يوضحان ذلك. إذًا لماذا جنس الذكور هو الجنس الأضعف؟» سألتها
  «ربما أنت لا تسأل السؤال الصحيح.» أجابت بعد تفكير عميق «بدل أن تفكر في كون الذكور أضعف جينيًا، ربما عليك أن تسأل: ما الذي يجعل الإناث أقوى؟»“
  
  
  ❁ الفصل الأول: من أقوى: كرموسوم x أو كرموسوم y ؟
  
  في كتاب ”النصف الأفضل“ يطرح الطبيب والباحث "شارون مولِم" فكرة تدحض الفكرة النمطية المعروفة بأن الذكور أقوى في جميع المجالات. يقول "مولِم" في مقدمة كتابه: ”هذه بعض الحقائق الأساسية: تعيش النساء لفترة أطول من الرجال، لديهن أجهزة مناعية أقوى، وأقل عرضة للمعاناة من إعاقات في النمو، ومن المرجح أن يرين العالم بمجموعة متنوعة من الألوان، وبشكل عام هن أفضل في مكافحة السرطان. النساء ببساطة أقوى من الرجال في كل مرحلة من مراحل الحياة. لكن لماذا؟“
  
  السبب في كل ذلك يعود إلى الكرموسومات التي تحدد الجنس، حيث للذكور كرموسوم y و كرموسوم x، بينما للإناث كرموسومان x، بذلك تملك الإناث خيارات أكثر، لكن كيف ذلك؟ أليس من الم��ترض أن على من يملك نوعان مختلفان من الكرموسومات أن يمتلك خيارات أكثر؟ في الواقع، كرموسوم y لا يمتلك أي تأثير مهم عدا اختلاف الجنس، صنع المني، وقد يشكل التحكم بالغضب تحديًا صعبًا إن حصل في الكرموسوم عطل معين. لذلك، كرموسوم x هو الكرموسوم المهم والمؤثر في صحة ومناعة الإنسان وكل مايبقيه على قيد الحياة، فبالتالي امتلاك اثنان من هذا الكرموسوم بحيث يمكن للنساء اختيار الأفضل والأقوى منهما، بل واستخدام الإثنان معًا في الحالات الطارئة، بينما الرجال الذين يمتلكون واحدًا فحسب عليهم العيش مع هذا الكرموسوم الواحد أيًّا كانت قدرته، هو ما يعطي النساء تفوق جيني وراثي.
  أيضًا يحتوي الكروموسوم x على ما يربو على ألف جين، أما الكروموسوم y يحتوي على حوالي سبعين فقط. كذلك، يوفر وجود كروموسوم x آخر قوة حصانية وراثية إضافية لكل خلية، وهي ميزة تتمتع بها الإناث على الذكور. حقيقة الأمر هي: إذا كنتِ امرأة وورثت كروموسومين x في كل خلية من خلاياك، فإن خلاياك لديها خيارات. وعندما تصبح الأمور صعبة في الحياة، تساعدك هذه الخيارات على البقاء على قيد الحياة.
  وليس لدى النساء المزيد من الخيارات الجينية للاختيار من بينها داخل كل خلية فحسب، لديهن أيضًا القدرة على التعاون ومشاركة المعرفة الجينية المتنوعة بين الخلايا، و إن وجِدت طفرة في أحد الكرومسومين، فيسقلل الكرموسوم الأخر من ضرر هذه الطفرة وقد ينهيها تمامًا،.
  
  يتلخص كل شيء في الحقيقة البسيطة المتمثلة في أن الإناث لديهن درجة عالية من المرونة الجينية التي يفتقر إليها الذكور.
  
  
  ❁ الفصل الثاني: كل هذه الميزات دون أيِّ ثمن ؟ !
  
  يبدو أن التكلفة التي تدفعها النساء للحصول على جهاز مناعي أكثر فعالية هو «النقد الذاتي» من الناحية المناعية، أي امراض المناعة الذاتية. من المرجح أن تهاجم الأجهزة المناعية للإناث أنفسهن، حيث قد تخلق خلاياك تهديدًا من لا شيء. لكن الكاتب لم يشرح الموضوع بشكل كاف، ولست متأكدة أن ذلك العيب الوحيد في خلايا الإناث الجينية.
  
  
  ❁ الفصل الثالث: كونك ذكرًا أو أنثى هو متغير أساسي مهم يجب مراعاته في الطب.
  
  ”عندما كنت في كلية الطب، تعلمت أن أتوقع أن يقوم المزيد من مرضاي الإناث بالإبلاغ عن آثار جانبية لا تعد ولا تحصى من الأدوية التي سأصفها. علمت أيضا أن السبب المحتمل لذلك كان سلوكيًا: أن النساء كن أكثر صخبًا بشأن أي مشكلة وكانوا أكثر مرونة لزيارة أطبائهن بشكل عام أكثر من الرجال.“
  
  طبعًا هذا غير صحيح، ليس للسلوك يدٌ في ذلك، ولا عدد مرات زيارة الطبيب، يعود الأمر لكون الطب ومنذ القدم لم ينظر للأنثى على أنها إنسان مختلف، بل مجرد نسخة للذكر، ولذلك لم يتعبوا أنفسهم، فكل ما صلح للذكر من أدوية ونصائح طبقوه على الأنثى. نعرف الآن في الطب الحديث أن الاختلاف شاسع، وأن علينا ألّا نتجاهل ذلك، فنراعي الاختلافات في كل ركنٍ وجزء من الطب، لكن للأسف، تقول دراسة في الطب الحديث: بين ١٠ أدوية في الولايات المتحدة، ثمانية منها يتم سحبها من السوق لإكتشافهم أنها تؤثر سلبًا على النساء.
  من أحد الأسباب لذلك، استخدام شركات الأدوية فئران ذكور فقط في تجربة الأدوية. قيل لأنه من الأسهل والأرخص استخدام الذكور، ولأنه من المحتمل أن تمتلك إناث الفئران أجهزة مناعية أقوى بكثير، مما قد يعقد نتائج تجربة تحاول علاج مرض يعانيه كلا الجنسين(!). ببساطة، من الأسهل أن تتناسى صحة النساء من أجل اختيار الأسهل والأرخص والأقل تعقيدًا.
  
  تمت كتابة -وإعادة الكتابة بوقت لاحق-معظم التاريخ الجيني لكل من الرجال والنساء من قبل الرجال، وقد أثر هذا سلبًا على كيفية تعاملنا مع كلا الجنسين من منظور طبي.
  ما الذي ننتظره حتى الآن؟ نعرف الضرر الذي يصنعه عدم التفرقة الطبية بين الذكور والأناث، فلماذا لسنا نتعامل مع ذلك بجدية حتى الآن؟
  
  هناك كتب أخرى تتحدث عن هذا الموضوع خصيصًا بشكل مفصّل، مثل:
  Unwell Women و
  Invisible Women . إلّا أنني لم أقرأ أيًّا منهم بعد.
  
  
  إن أردتَ قراءة الكتاب، فلا يمنعك عن ذلك أنك قرأت المراجعة، فلم أذكر كل المعلومات الموجودة في الكتاب، جرّب قراءته!
  كتاب مهم جدًا ويستحق القراءة. ليس مترجمًا للعربية للأسف، أرجو أن يحدث ذلك قريبًا. أتمنى أن ينتشر الوعي بهذا الشأن، عله يحدث فرقًا.
• 
  Mikko Saari

  Kirjan alaotsikko Naisten geneettinen ylivertaisuus kuulostaa heti lupaavalta. Niin se vain on, arvon miehet, että vaikka miehiä on perinteisesti pidetty vahvempana sukupuolena ja naisia heikompana astiana, totuus on armottomasti toinen. Miehet voittavat kiistatta, kun mitataan kykyä tuottaa voimaa paljon ja nopeasti, mutta siihenpä se sitten jää. Elämän todellisessa kestävyyslajissa naiset ovat ylivertaisia – ei tarvitse kuin katsoa satavuotiaiden ikäjakaumaa, niin asia tulee harvinaisen selväksi.
  
  Tätä naisten ylivertaisuutta lääkäri ja tutkija Sharon Moalem kirjassaan kartoittaa. Taustalla on yksinkertainen ero geeneissä: tässä kirjassa puhuttaessa naisista tarkoitetaan niitä henkilöitä, joilla on XX-kromosomit. Tämä XX-pari on naisten huomattavien selviytymisetujen taustalla. Kun miehillä on vain yksi X-kromosomi, kaikki virheet siinä näkyvät heti. XX-kromosomisilla on aina varmuuskopio käytettävissään ja enemmän geneettistä vaihtelua tarjolla ja vaihteluhan on aina eduksi, kun on mahdollista valita kahdesta vaihtoehdosta parempi.
  
  Moalem esittelee parillisten kromosomien vaikutuksia monilla eri osa-alueilla. Aivan kaikki ei sentään ole onnea ja auvoa: XX-kromosomisilla on esimerkiksi aivan ylivertainen immuunipuolustus (siinä määrin, että miehet tarvitsisivat monista naisilla hyvin toimivista rokotteista isommat annokset) ja kyky torjua syöpää, mutta se kostautuu sitten autoimmuunisairauksien yleisyytenä. Naisten voimakkaampi immuunipuolustusjärjestelmä kääntyy herkemmin omaa kehoa vastaan.
  
  Parempi puolisko on aiheeltaan kiinnostava, mutta voisi rakenteeltaan olla vähän iskevämpikin. Lisäksi tässäkin kirjassa vähän tökkii kirjoittajan humblebrag-leveily kansainvälisen huippututkijan elämällään ("tämänkin oivalluksen sain loikoillessani Japanissa maailman parhaan omenapuun lehvien varjossa"). Asia kuitenkin toimii ja etenkin lopun viesti siitä, miten lääketieteellisen tutkimuksen pitäisi huomioida naisten ja miesten väliset erot voimakkaammin on ihmisten terveydelle elintärkeä. Samaa asiaahan tarjoili – huomattavasti iskevämmässä muodossa – Caroline Criado-Perez Näkymättömät naiset -kirjassaan.
  
  Kiinnostava kirja yhtä kaikki ja omiaan herättämään lievää kateutta geneettisesti ylivertaisia XX-kromosomiparin kantajia kohtaan. Olisipa minullakin yhtä hyvät geenit kuin naisilla!
• 
  Violet

  I loved this book! It was very accessible, but very informative. I loved learning about chromosomes, the specificities of the female body and its genetics and I was amazed by how little I actually know about it. Reading it I felt like I was discovering some superpowers I have and didn't know about - my immune system works better than the average man's, I can resist a famine better, I will recover faster from an injury... It was amazing to imagine the "silent" chromosomes jumping into action when something goes wrong, like an army of little soldiers. It made me appreciate my body more (in a weird way) - there's something really magic about how it all works and it's amazing to learn than in many ways, women are engineered to be more resistant than men. I can't recommend this book enough.
  
  (Free copy from NetGalley)
• 
  Bri

  This is an absolutely fantastic read. Not written in the tone of "women are the best" or really any sort of feminist lens, this takes it down to strictly the benefits of having a diplo set of sex-linked chromosomes (XX in female humans, ZZ in male birds, for example) and the genetic benefits that come from having a backup copy of each gene on the chromosome. This was a riveting read and fantastic narrative of why more medical and pharmacological studies need to include female subjects (mice, cells, humans, etc), and how medically speaking, the genetic sexes should be treated differently in many cases.
• 
  Christine

  It turns out that two X chromosomes offer a powerful survival advantage.
  Dr. Sharon Moalem explains why, to those of us who are not medical professionals, in clear, understandable terms. He explains his research and gives interesting case histories. Highly recommended. I always love a writer who reads his own book.
• 
  Laura

  An image exists in fiction and our cultural hivemind of the weak woman. Incapable of survival without male guardianship, too frail to lift anything heavier than a baby, too feeble for feats of endurance. It’s nonsense, but the myth persists. Enter stage left Dr
  Sharon Moalem. Drawing on experience and research as a medic, geneticist and specialist in rare diseases, Moalem explores in
  The Better Half why women (or rather, XX chromosome carriers) consistently outperform men (respectively XY carriers) in areas such as immunity, stamina, and adaptability.
  
  It is a thought-provoking premise, that genetically speaking bodies that carry XX chromosomes are stronger than those with XY (or by extension, any variation where only one X is present). I found it exceptionally well paired with
  Invisible Women by
  Caroline Criado Perez. In her book Perez talks about ‘male default thinking’ - the assumption that the male experience is the default, and everything female is an add-on.
  The Better Half does something similar in examining the assumption that male bodies are stronger, and everything female is a handicap. It’s a fascinating exploration not only of the survival advantages XX entails, but the clear need for reconsidering the male-centric view of the human body throughout science and medicine. Just why do women cope with disease better? Why are they unlikely to be colourblind? And why do women suffer more auto-immune conditions?
  
  For the most part the writing is accessible, suffice to say that even I - nought but a lowly film grad - could understand the science. However, there were moments where it felt Moalem couldn't fix on which ‘mode’ to write in. The established specialist addressing their peers, or as easy and breezy pop-science? There were a few tangents, and a couple of paragraphs that I had to double read. That said, after I had finished the initial text and skimmed through the notes and references there were the expansions I had needed. So I don’t know if this is really an issue with the book, or just that I read it as an eBook. Someone with a print version tell me if there are footnotes instead of a notes section.
  
  On the topic of accessibility I have to veer off into Gender Politics for a bit. When I read the title and summary I did worry
  The Better Half would be ‘terfy’ - endorsing Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist views on gender and sex. If you had that same worry, you really don’t need to. While not much page space if given to trans or intersex bodies, very early on Moalem draws a sharp line between a person’s gender identity and their genetic sex. This book is concerned with the contents of your chromosomes, not the contents of your pants.
  
  I haven’t been able to get
  The Better Half out of my head since finishing it (particularly the immunity part). I’ve already mentioned Invisible Women, I’d also recommend this to anyone who enjoyed
  The Gendered Brain by Gina Rippon, and/or
  Inferior by Angel Saini. To everyone else, if you’ve ever looked at a female anglerfish or spider and wondered why nature endowed them with size and survivability over their male counterparts, this is a book for you.
  
  I received my copy through NetGalley in exchange for a review, all opinions my own etc etc
• 
  Andrés Astudillo

  Women are harder to make.
  The X chromosome is way bigger than the Y chromosome, meaning that it has way more genes, and more “tools” to survive.
  
  They are made, cell-by-cell to endure life, both biologically and psychologically speaking. And this, at any point means that you, female reader, must endure a selfish little man that treats you like shit, do not buy into that.
  
  The book mentions a lot of differences concerning men and women. Men are designed to live in a more intense way; thus, are hearts beat stronger, and it’s easier for us to build muscle, and grow hair (?). Women, on the other hand, are designed to endure life, thus, living longer. The main premise of the book is that the female human species, is the one that creates life, so, nature has endowed her with another X chromosome, which comes in handy to battle everything, this is why women have stronger immune systems, and are able to handle sickness way better. This is one of the many reasons men have a shorter life span. The oldest human being was a woman, who has the Guiness Record of living more than 115 years. Male babies die more than females do, and so on.
  
  SJW and the LGBTQ community won’t like this book, because they think that by "perceiving themselves differently" they can change their whole genetic make-up.
  
  If you are a woman struggling, with anything, just remember: it could be worse, you could be a man.
• 
  Julie Brochmann

  læste den på en dag!! er måske et bevis på dens anekdotiske og derfor lettilgængelige struktur, og det at jeg elsker at lære om medicin gennem casearbejde. 3 stjerner for sensationalismen og den troværdighed der går tabt i den slags, but despite the attention-seeking title it was v nuanced w/o being neither valerie solanas nor transphobic.
  har det med at tænke biologiske kønsforskelle gennem testosteron og østrogen (reduktivt i know) så tak til denne omgang der lige fik mig oplyst i genetikkens endeløse afskygninger👍 a rec if you are intrigued!
  
  update 10/10/23: har fortalt min k om den og han er practically læge already ofc (mangler 3 semestre i mean cmon now) og siger at det “lyder meget rigtigt” så den får lige en ekstra stjerne
• 
  Carin

  I was already intrigued by this book but after the author wrote this article in the New York Times, I was determined to read it. After all, why are more men dying of COVID-19? I know that in every place I've ever seen average life expectancies, regardless of era or culture, women always outstrip men by several years. I joke with other girlfriends about how our male spouses seem just decimated by simple colds when we keep on truckin'. But maybe there's something to that?
  
  Now, Dr. Maolem doesn't address "the man cold" specifically, but his other conclusion lead me to believe that it might be a real thing. After all, women's immunological systems are stronger, which is why it hurts so much when I get my last tetanus booster but my husband didn't recall his being a big deal. And women are, in general, healthier.
  
  Let me back up. It all boils down to the two X chromosomes. Because genetic women have two, when there's an error or bad gene on one, we usually can fall back on the other. Genetic men cannot. In addition, in certain areas, such as the parts of our bodies that produce antibodies, we likely have 2 Xs in operation, leading to more diversity among the antibody production, which leads to more options and better outcomes. Genetic males, with only one X, don't have these options. Sadly, the Y seems to make a penis and testosterone, and nothing else. It's a tiny, pretty useless chromosome. And it means that men get X-related problems like color blindness, whereas woman sometimes can have super color vision, allowing them to see ten times the number of colors a typical person can see, and even to see a fourth color beyond the standard three (like birds do.)
  
  Before anyone jumps on this book for bias, I should note that Dr. Moalem is himself male.
  
  And obviously, he's very enlightened, to investigate the differences between the genetics of men and women to see what advantages women have. In the past, when the differences were acknowledged at all, it was only to point out disadvantages women's genetics give us (hormonal, difficult for drug testing). But by looking at the advantages, we might be able to help ALL humans live longer and better lives.
  
  Of course, there aren't only advantages. There's always a flip side. Women do get autoimmune diseases at a dramatically higher rate than men, due to our strong immune systems that can sometimes backfire, and there are a few other diseases like Alzheimer's which strike genetic women more often. Then there's the fact that since up until a few years ago, drugs were only tested on male mice and male people, the dosages for women might be way off, if they work for women at all (and don't maybe cause women extreme harm!)
  
  Tons of fascinating facts, from why cats and dogs produce their own vitamin C, to how elephants stave off cancer despite being both incredibly large (the more cells you have, the more likely one of them is to go rouge) and their long lives (the longer you live, the more likely you are to get cancer.) If you like armchair science at all, this is incredibly accessible and truly interesting.
• 
  Judyta Szacillo

  The core matter of the book I found very interesting, i.e. the argument that having two X chromosomes benefits women greatly. The X chromosome is much bigger and more complex than Y, so obviously more information gets encoded on X than on Y, and if you have only one X, you can’t replace any of its weaknesses, while if you have two Xs, your cells get to choose which fragment of the genetic code suits their needs better. It makes the cells of a genetic female much more resilient, and it gives a massive boost to her immune system, making it much stronger on average than that of a male. The downside is that women are much more likely to develop autoimmune conditions than men.
  
  So reading this book was a good learning experience, and I have absolutely no reason to dispute any of the conclusions, but I did get an impression that the author was a bit biased, i.e. disregarding or playing down any factors that didn’t fit well under the attention-grabbing title like socio-cultural patterns of behaviour (which may add to your average woman’s chances of survival) or the toll of human reproduction disproportionally affecting women (which may reduce female survival rate even in this day and age).
  
  Also, this type of narrative style doesn’t sit too well with me. I prefer a more traditional, well-structured, lecture-like narration in pop-science books – it helps me focus on the matter under discussion. I find it difficult to follow a narrative that jumps from one anecdote to another and fills the gaps with scientific facts. Here’s a conversation about the meaning of life with an orchard-owner from Japan, there’s the author suffering from the height sickness in Peru, and by the time I got to the descriptions of the porticos in Bologna I was totally confused. This is why I don’t think I’ll be reading more of Sharon Moalem’s writing.
  
• 
  Jan Peregrine

  The Better Half: On The Genetic Superiority Of Women~~
  
  I've just enjoyed my third nonfiction book by Sharon Moalem, MD, Phd. The first was The Survival of the Sickest and the second How Sex Works. This one is 2020's The Better Half: On The Genetic Superiority of Women. Moalem is a male physician renowned around the world for creating vital antibiotics in this time of antibiotic overuse and resistance. He wants to save the human race from pandemics if he can, but he needs our ears. He needs us to listen.
  
  It is no joke for him to declare that women are genetically superior to men.
  
  It's the biological truth. It's science. Women have two X chromosomes giving them far more genetic diversity while men have one X chromosome only they must rely on. When there's a genetic mutation, women can use their other X chromosome. Men can't.
  
  Moalem explains that this is why women around the world win at resilience, intellect, stamina, immunity, and more. They live longer, even if as premature twins. They survive famines when man can't. They get much less of the cancers both sexes get and much less heart disease and infections. Women have such hypervigilant immune systems they're more prone to autoimmune diseases and Alzheimer's, but much less autism and neurological disorders..
  
  I learned that there are only 100 females born for every 105 males. This is because females are more difficult to make, requiring one X chromosome to be silenced for fetal growth and this often fails to go right. Most miscarriages are for females. The silenced X is partly active, however, after birth, giving women genetic diversity.
  
  The main point of Moalem's book is to help us understand that the sexes need to be treated medically according to their sex.
  
  Women react much more dramatically to drugs and vaccines than men.
  
  Our donated organs need to come from the same sexed patient
  
  He tells about his wife and him getting typhoid shots together. She had a strong response that made her sick and sore, but he didn't and contracted typhoid while she didn't.
  
  He talks about how only male rats would be sent him at his lab and he'd have to special order female rats. There's significant differences in how even female rats respond to drugs and that can be dangerous or ineffective for human females.
  
  Remember this: women's digestive system works slower than a man's. Women need to wait longer to take medication that';s supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.
  
  Fascinating book and highly recommended! .
• 
  CatReader

  I've got many of the same qualifications as the author (also an MD, also a PhD, also trained in a genetics speciality; but unlike the author I do have XX chromosomes) and while I found this book very interesting, I'll echo other reviewers who call it out for being misleading and using a mix of scientific evidence and anecdotal experiences to support a central thesis that's spurious at best. Yes, it's true that humans born with XX chromosomes tend to have stronger immune systems (and correspondingly, higher rates of most autoimmune diseases) than those born with XY chromosomes. Yes, it's true that those born with XX chromosomes are much less likely to be affected by X-linked recessive diseases than XY individuals. But similar cases could be made for why those born with XY chromosomes are genetically superior on the basis of their generally larger size, more muscle mass and upper body strength, inability to have their physicality and stamina challenged for months or years of their lives by the demands of carrying pregnancies, etc.
• 
  Kris

  Do not be lulled into believing this book is an argument for feminism. It is the scientific celebration of biological differences on the miniscule level. I originally won a hardcopy through #GoodReadsGiveaway; but, due to the Covid outbreak, the book took quite a while to arrive. In the meantime, I got impatient. I REALLY wanted to read this book. So, I bought a second copy online. Every time I put the book down, someone else in the family would run off with it. So, it's probably a good thing, I purchased a back-up. Otherwise, I would have never finished it.
  
  As it is, I read the book a second time.
  
  Moalem's credentials are beyond dispute. He is not only perfect for covering the subject; he writes in a style that takes science and makes it digestible for those of us who can't begin to understand genetics. It is a homage to looking at sex and the genes that normally 'define' sex in a much broader sense. From the standpoint that XX provides unique opportunities that XY doesn't. From the obvious (childbirth) to more subtle abilities.
  
  This book is so perfect for this time & place in human development. It opens doors for mothers, daughters, nieces, and gives them the tools to feel good about who they are. Regardless of how they identify.
  
  My original intent in wanting this book? Self-education. I come from a family where generation after generation, the women suffer from horrible, debilitating & deadly auto-immune diseases. Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. For the longest time, I felt I had been spared...until a Leukemia diagnosis nearly 3 yrs ago. This book, gave me back not only a measure of control; but hope. With doctors like Moalem working to not only understand diseases, but how our bodies are adapted to make the best of a bad situation.
  
  I could easily offer examples and spoilers; but, the reader deserves to bring their own personal experience to this encounter, unhindered by my interpretations. Please, Please consider investing in this book. Not only for the science, but for the insight Moalem brings to having practiced medicine for so long. I have already gifted one of my copies to a high school science teacher. My own 18 yr old twins have also read it (to mixed reviews of course!). I have already finished reading sections a second time & have post-it tabs throughout. But the general consensus is that this in an incredible find.
  Thank-you Mr. Moalem & Farrar, Straus and Giroux for offering up this giveaway. This is one of my 2020 Top 5 books for making science accessible!
• 
  Mephistia

  I was nervous about reading this. There's a lot of anti-trans stuff out there lately, and I wasn't sure about reading something with a title like that -- it sounds very radically feminist, and inflammatory, and trans*-erasy. I was definitely nervous about reading this book.
  
  But. I don't believe in avoiding information just because it's uncomfortable or potentially unpopular, and I do believe in assessing the trustworthiness and validity of the research, source, and claim for myself as best I can. So I ordered it and read it, and ... he lays out, clearly and cleanly, that 1) medical science has been built on the premise that genetic males and females differ very little, and 2) this premise is flawed, and that underlying flawed assumption negatively impacts the medical and pharmacological treatment both genetic males and females recieve (potentially effecting everything from vaccine dosages to medical transplant policies and procedures to medication dosages to different warning signs between the sexes for major medical events).
  
  He makes it clear this is not so much about "women" in terms of the gender-identitification thing; he is discussing homosapien genetic women, who have diploid chromosome pairs. He references that existence of male diploid chromosome pairs in other species (birds and reptiles) as an example that it is the diploid chromosome pair which confers the particular immunological strengths he discusses; not whether or not that pair is associated with a genetic male or female. In the case of our species, a diploid chromosome is associated with genetic females.
  
  Basically, this is biology, not politics.
• 
  Elentarri

  RATING: 3.5 stars
  
  This is an interesting book that focuses mainly on the benefits (and occasionally costs) of having two X chromosomes as opposed to only one. The author barely mentions lifestyle differences or differences in hormones between the sexes, but then again, the book is subtitled "on the genetic superiority of women". The broad topics covered in this book include resilience, brain function, stamina, immunity, and that women's health is not men's health. The last is important, since women's bodies function differently, have different organs, and also metabolise drugs differently than men's organs. I do wish there had been more about the mechanics of these genetic differences. There are several anecdotes and case studies included in the book, most of which I felt weren't incorporated into the medical science sections very effectively - that rare beast known as an editor should have solved this issue! None the less, an interesting book and one which should definitely be read by medical professionals, just to raise awareness that "women's health is not men's health". The writing style is accessible and easily digestible.
• 
  April

  I absolutely chose this book for its title, and it didn't disappoint. I think even the genetically interior half will appreciate the biological considerations contained herein.
  
  Moalem (male, despite a first name that might cause people to think otherwise), as a doctor and researcher, considers the implications of the double-X chromosome and the benefits it imparts to genetic females throughout life. He considers how having options of which chromosome to use in any case gives women a survival advantage at every stage. Why do female premies survive better than males? Why are the oldest humans disproportionately women? Although the science is complex, he breaks it down into accessible language and anecdotes. Interestingly (and unexpectedly), he considers the hardiness of potatoes and the genetics of birds and other species as comparisons to clarify the science and outcomes.
  
  While fun and interesting on its own, this book makes a very important case for considering sex and genetics in research and medicine. People interested in longevity, general biology/genetics, illness, and research would do well to have this book under their belts.
• 
  Tanya

  I would say it's a pretty fun read considering it's a nonfiction book (but I'm also kinda nerdy, so take that into consideration). I wouldn't suggest reading this if you have little boys, you might be a little heartbroken about the potential health problems they could have just by being born with XY chromosomes. But if you are a woman that needs a pick me up, this book might just do it for you.
  
  I've known for a while that medical care and more (hello, seat-belts/cars where not designed for women) have not been taking women's bodies into account. This book helps to bring that a bit more into the light, but also why men have such a harder time with being sick (man cold is a thing, but not for the reasons we thought). We're just at the toddler stage of understanding what our bodies do/can do.
  
  I think anyone that deals with medical care would be benefited by reading this book, but with the lack of medical professionals not being updated with the most current information, everyone can benefit from having a bit more knowledge about what is going on in their body.
• 
  And On She Reads

  There is an immense amount of power in this book. The strength that Sharon Moalem shows through her personal experiences and through her research is as supportive as it is fascinating, and you feel as if you are almost witnessing a change in yourself as you read, almost unwittingly, sucked in by the power of this book. It is utterly intriguing, and there is so much to be gained from reading it.
  
  At times I felt I was sitting there with my eyebrows raised, but every statement was backed up with various points that the author had evidently dedicated herself to writing, and there were various points that I said to my friends "did you know?" or "What do you think about this?". If nothing else, it led to some interesting discussions!
  
  Highly recommended reading, especially during these troubled times.
• 
  Verónica Fleitas Solich

  Very interesting.
  Informative, very interesting and accessible.
  The topic discussed interested me a lot because I already knew the differences with which medicine treats men and women, and differently that some medications work in both sexes, but this book finished clarifying the panorama for me.
  I will look for more books by the author because, above all, his way of explaining the topics he deals with in his books fits me very well.
• 
  Anne ✨ Finds Joy

  (3.5)
• 
  Brittany Zimmerman

  Provocative title, but worth reading for the interesting biological tidbits throughout this book.
  
  “The ability to use more than one X chromosome in their brains helps females dampen any ill effects of having a mutation on either one of their X chromosomes. Females have genetic options. I believe this to be the underlying mechanism that explains why genetic males are overrepresented in a host of conditions like autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and countless other developmental delays.”
  
  It also explains why colorblindness is far more common in men than women. Fascinating.
• 
  Sophia

  This is one of those books that opens your eyes to a whole new idea that has actually been in the world around you all along. We may all have this little factoid in the back of our minds that women live longer then men, but this book explains how in so many ways the fact that women have 2 chromosomes improves their chances of survival for so many different things, and almost none of them have actually to do with hormones and the “classic” sex differences. Basically, by having two copies of the same genes, women end up more immune to diseases, more able to fight off cancer, less likely to have genetic disorders and also less likely to starve to death. The downside is increased risk of autoimmune disease, but the net effect is longer lifespans and greater survival rates during crises.
  
  The book is very accessible and enjoyable to read, but veeeery repetitive, at least about the main message. Having read books like Invisible Women which painfully document all the ways women are disadvantaged, it was at first pass very refreshing and enjoyable to be reading about how we are “genetically superior”, but then it occurred to me that if by some chance men were the one with double chromosomes, it would have been an absolutely awful book to read with the way it was worded, so overall it would have been better without the gratuitous pandering to women. It’s really over the top.
  
  The author seems really knowledgeable, and at least from his own telling has a lot of experience in both medicine and genetic research. I liked how he both uses anecdotes to make a point, followed by population data and actual studies as proof.
  
  Overall, I think this is a really interesting book that fights back on misinformation about the differences between female and male health, and I’d recommend it to pretty much anyone.