Doing the readings this week was great. I have never
before thought about what truly is the difference between boys and girls, and
why we are different? It really made me go back in time and think about my
childhood and my friends. I would really love to know more about what truly sets
us apart. If I could discuss this topic with the author I would ask about how
much culture was involved in shaping children as well as or maybe only
parenting is the key here. In my mind I see that kids do what they see other
kids like them do, which brings me to another question. What would kids do if
they were never introduced to or exposed to media or other kids and toys? Would
they still be so creative, adventurous, and imaginative children or would they be just blank
slates doing what their parents told them to do?
When
I was a lot younger my little sister and I were very close, and would always be
playing with dolls. We had everything from bottles to strollers to diapers. We
never played with Barbie or what we called “boy toys”. It wasn't until my mother
took our dolls away that we stopped playing with them. Sometimes I think if we
kept playing with them we would have never stopped on our own. To my parents
though playing with a boy toy or playing a rough boy game was not something a
little girl should do and it was never allowed. It feels like we were raised
very gender specific and girls are to be compassionate, soft and cuddly while
boys are supposed to be tough.
I would
really like to know more about how to set a gender neutral environment where
being warm and fuzzy was not a necessity in order to pass for a girl or rough
and touch for a boy. I would rather have no one judge you on being the opposite
of what is only culturally okay.
I think you bring up a good point about how culture may also influence how children are taught to be attracted to certain feminine or masculine things. Presumably some cultures are better at providing a more gender neutral environment for children.
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be very interesting to see what a child who hasn't had much social interaction with othre children would be like. My friend's son is basically an only child (he has two sisters who live in another state and he only sees them during the summer) and sometimes I think that he acts much older than my 6 year old (they are 2 months apart) but in other ways he acts much younger. It makes you wonder how much of that comes from being around only adults for the majority of his time.
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