Comment by groby_b

"No difference in physiology" ignores the general presence of a very different endocrine system.

And, indeed, ethanol is an endocrine disruptor. The endocrine system, in turn, is known to influence neuroplasticity. Given that estrogen and testosterone impact neuroplasticity in the DMS via different pathways, there's a good chance that plays a role.

As wild speculation, estrogen acts as an inhibitor for long-term potentiation (or strengthening of synaptic connections), which lends mild support to the idea that it could prevent changes in outcome-related encoding. (The paper points out a possible mechanism, as footnote 72. I admit I was too lazy to read it, so it might well say that this was a really bad theory.)

In general, whenever something weird happens that has observable differences across sexes, blaming the endocrine system is a good first go-to strategy ;) Hormones are extremely powerful influences in our body.