Do I have a ‘male’ or a ‘female’ brain?

Last weekend, I found a fascinating online survey at the BBC web site, SEX I.D. find out how your mind works! The survey takes about half an hour, and aims to try and work out whether the person filling in the survey has a ‘male’ or a ‘female’ brain. Being a gay man, do I have a female brain to some extent? I had to find out.

The six-part test asked quite a lot of personal questions. For example, it wanted to know whether I’m gay or straight, how many sexual partners I’ve had in the past year, how many times I’ve been unfaithful, and so on. But the web site kept telling me that by filling out these questions I was taking part in real scientific research. Although I don’t see how the answers to those kind of questions can help determine the gender of my brain, I can see that it’s the kind of information that’s interesting to researchers in this area.

The results are a bit coarse, with only 5 possible results: 100% female, 50% female, 0% male or female, 50% male, 100% male. The average score for men who have taken the survey turns out to be 50% male. My result? My brain is 100% male! Now what does that mean?