Sex in the Brain

November 11, 2019
The oft-ignored link between neurological disabilities and sexual behavior receives a compassionate but overly niche overview from clinical neuropsychologist Baird. Emphasizing the different roles played by different parts of the brain, Baird covers case studies involving sometimes extreme behavioral changes, such as those of a man whose brain tumor may have been the cause of his pedophilia, which disappeared after the tumor’s removal. It’s hard to read the case studies without thinking of Oliver Sacks’s work—in fact, Baird notes, the late neurologist wrote about one of them—but Baird fails to match Sacks’s powerful descriptive language. Baird is best at exploring broader societal implications, such as whether porn and sex addiction are valid diagnoses, or how aberrant sexual behavior influenced by neurological problems should be treated in the criminal justice system. However, the behaviors discussed tend toward the outré, other than an intriguing discussion of the relationship between seizures, blood flow, and orgasm. Baird’s kind, personal involvement in the book’s case studies testify to her perspective as a researcher and care professional, but readers may struggle to see the implications of her otherwise scrupulous survey of rare cases for their own lives.