{{short description|French neurobiologist}} {{about||the Canadian actress|Catherine Vidal (actress)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Use Irish English|date=May 2020}} '''Catherine Vidal''' (born 7 July 1951) is a French neurobiologist, feminist and essayist. She is the author of popular science books in the field of cognitive differences between genders. thumb|right|Catherine Vidal at the 2012 Mouans-Sartoux Literature Festival.. ==Biography== She obtained her doctorate in 1986 at Pierre and Marie Curie University,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inserm.fr/content/download/72789/565167/file/CV%20Catherine%20Vidal|title=Curriculum vitae|website=www.inserm.fr|access-date=21 May 2020}}{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> Paris, under Pierre Buser. Her thesis concerned stress, nociception and body temperature. She pursued a research career at the Pasteur Institute, from 1981 to 2014; she was appointed research director there in 1997 and worked in areas including infection of the brain by the AIDS virus, neuronal death in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and prion infections.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.franceculture.fr/personne-catherine-vidal.html|title=Catherine Vidal|website=www.franceculture.fr|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> She authored popular science books on the ethical issues of neuroscience, determinism in biology, neuroplasticity, brain sex and gender. She suggests that rather than just genetics, the differences in the skills and behaviour of men and women are the products of a cultural environment and social construction related to gender which influences brain development because of neuroplasticity.
She is a member of the Émilie duChâtelet Institute, [https://www.onufemmes.fr/ UN Women France], the Equality Laboratory, the Women & Science association and is co-director of the ''Égale à Égal'' collection. She was co-founder of the NeuroGenderings network (:fr:Réseau NeuroGenderings)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://neurogenderings.wordpress.com/members-2/|title=Members|website=neurogenderings.wordpress.com|access-date=21 May 2020|archive-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824013659/https://neurogenderings.wordpress.com/members-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref> in 2010 and has been a member of the Inserm ethics committee since 2013, where she is co-director of the Gender and Health Research working group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1498445?ln=fr|title=Le cerveau a-t-il un sexe ?|website=cds.cern.ch|access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.laboratoiredelegalite.org/2017/09/27/femmes-et-sante-encore-une-affaire-dhommes-nouvelle-publication-de-la-collection-egale-a-egal/|title=Femme et anté, encore une affaire d'hommes? Nouvelle publication de la collection Égale À Égal|website=www.laboratoiredelegalite.org|access-date=21 May 2020|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219212856/https://www.laboratoiredelegalite.org/2017/09/27/femmes-et-sante-encore-une-affaire-dhommes-nouvelle-publication-de-la-collection-egale-a-egal/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Lauren Bastide wrote a biographic radio broadcast of her on ''Les Savantes'', on France Inter on July 15 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/les-savantes/les-savantes-15-juillet-2017|title=Catherine Vidal, neurobiologiste|website=www.franceinter.fr|date=15 July 2017 |access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref>
==Professional criticism== In the journal ''L'Obs'' in 2014, the biologist Jacques Balthazart criticised the theories of Catherine Vidal, not questioning neuroplasticity but expressing the opinion that biology plays a significant role in the differentiation of male and female behavior as well as in sexual orientation and gender identity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paroledeslecteursdunouvelobs.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2014/03/18/a-catherine-vidal-par-le-professeur-jacques-balthazart-525780.html|title=A Catherine Vidal, par le professeur Jacques Balthazart|website=paroledeslecteursdunouuvelobs.blogs.nouvelobs.com|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140701093147/http://paroledeslecteursdunouvelobs.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2014/03/18/a-catherine-vidal-par-le-professeur-jacques-balthazart-525780.html|archive-date=1 July 2014|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2014, researchers Franck Ramus and Nicolas Gauvrit published in the journal ''Science et pseudo-sciences'' an article entitled ''La 'Méthode Vidal''',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lscp.net/persons/ramus/docs/MethodeVidal.pdf|title=La "Méthode Vidal"|website=www.lscp.net|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20161014224431/http://www.lscp.net/persons/ramus/docs/MethodeVidal.pdf|archive-date=14 October 2016|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> in which they express the opinion that "the synthesis that Catherine Vidal makes of it is extremely biased, incomplete, and that the arguments it uses do not support its conclusions."
In 2016, Claudine Junien, Jacques Balthazart, Franck Ramus and six other signatories, in a free forum published by ''Le Monde'', cite several works on the differences between men and women at the cerebral level and contest Vidal's opinions about cerebral plasticity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2016/04/18/les-differences-sexuelles-meritent-mieux-que-des-caricatures_4904436_1650684.html|title=En sciences, les différences hommes-femmes méritent mieux que des caricatures|website=www.lemonde.fr|date=18 April 2016 |access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www6.jouy.inrae.fr/breed/Page-d-accueil/Actualites/En-sciences-les-differences-hommes-femmes-meritent-mieux-que-des-caricatures|title=En sciences, les différences hommes-femmes méritent mieux que des caricatures|website=www6.jouy.inrae.fr|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20161213144944/http://www6.jouy.inra.fr/bdr/Page-d-accueil/Actualites/En-sciences-les-differences-hommes-femmes-meritent-mieux-que-des-caricatures|archive-date=13 December 2016|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Publications== * (with Dorothée Benoit ''Cerveau, sexe et pouvoir'' [Brain, sex and power] Paris, Belin, 2005, 110 p. ({{ISBN|978-2-7011-3858-9}}). * ''Féminin Masculin. Mythes et idéologies'' [Feminine, Masculine. Myths and Ideologies] Paris, Éditions Belin, coll. « Regards », 2006, 123 p. ({{ISBN|2-7011-4288-1}}). * ''Hommes, femmes: avons-nous le même cerveau?'' [Men, women: do we have the same brain?] Paris, Le Pommier, 2007, 56 p. ({{ISBN|978-2-7465-0322-9}}). * (with Sylviane Giampino) ''Nos enfants sous haute surveillance: évaluations, dépistages, médicaments…'' [Our children under close observation: assessments, screening, drugs...] Paris, Albin Michel, 2009, 283 p. ({{ISBN|978-2-226-18999-8}}). * ''Cerveau, sexe et liberté''[Brain, sex and freedom] Gallimard/ CNRS (EAN 3260050645720). * ''Le cerveau évolue-t-il au cours de la vie?'' [Does the brain evolve during life?] Paris, Le Pommier, 2009, 55 p. ({{ISBN|978-2-7465-0438-7}}). * ''Les filles ont-elles un cerveau fait pour les Maths?'' [Do girls have a brain made for maths?] Paris, Le Pommier, 2012, 63 p. ({{ISBN|978-2-7465-0588-9}} et 2-7465-0588-6). * ''The Sexed brain: between science and ideology'', from ''Critical studies of the sexed brain'' Springer, Neuroethics, 2012. * ''The Sexed Brain: from Neurosexism to Neuroethics'', from ''Gendered Ways of Knowing in Science'' FBK Press, 2012. * ''Neuro-Pedagogy of the Gender Theory'' in ''Gendered Neurocultures'' Vienna, Zaglossus. * ''Nos cerveaux, tous pareils, tous différents!'' [Our brains: all the same, all different!] Belin, from ''Egale à Egal'' 2015. * ''Femmes et santé : encore une affaire d’hommes?'' [Women and health: still a man's business?] avec Muriel Salle, Belin, 2017, from ''Égale à Égal'' ({{ISBN|2410009336}}) * ''Nos cerveaux resteront-ils humains?'' [Will our brains stay human?] Le Pommier, from ''Manifeste'' 2019, ({{ISBN|978-2-7465-1776-9}})
==Awards== * Officer of the Legion of Honour<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/sites/default/files/lh20190101.pdf|title=ORDRE NATIONAL DE LA LÉGION D'HONNEUR|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20190524062433/http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/sites/default/files/lh20190101.pdf|archive-date=24 May 2019|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> (2019) ['Chevalier'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2009/01/01/01016-20090101ARTFIG00277-legion-d-honneur-promotion-du-nouvel-an-re-partie-.php|title=Légion d'honneur: promotion du Nouvel an (1re partie)|website=www.lefigaro.fr|date=January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213141428/https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2009/01/01/01016-20090101ARTFIG00277-legion-d-honneur-promotion-du-nouvel-an-re-partie-.php|archive-date=13 February 2021|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> (2009)] * Marcel Blum Award (2016)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asmp.fr/prix_fondations/fiches_prix/marcelle_blum.htm|title=Bourse Marcelle Blum|website=asmp.fr|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20160730093310/http://www.asmp.fr/prix_fondations/fiches_prix/marcelle_blum.htm|archive-date=30 July 2016|access-date=21 May 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{Portal|France|biology|medicine|psychology|feminism}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Catherine}} Category:1951 births Category:French neuroscientists Category:French women biologists Category:French feminist writers Category:French physicists Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour Category:Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:Living people Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour