Are gender differences inborn? Does my son like trucks because he’s as different from girls as cats are from dogs? Boys come out of the womb clutching footballs, girls cuddling dolls?
Probably not, but young kids seem to believe that.
In a U.S. study of 450 kids aged 5-college aged, researchers found that the young ones were more likely to believe that gender differences were nature, not nurture. As in: differences are there because they’re born into you, as species is. The differences are innate, they think.
Interestingly, over time children’s beliefs on gender differences fade, not grow stronger.
By age 10, the participants–diverse across racial and socioeconomic groups–believed closer to what their parents might. That is, that gender and species differences were distinct from one another, and environment plays a role in human sex-based differences.
No Men Are From Mars, then. Marianne Taylor, assistant professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University, led the study. She said that parents and teachers could help children by encouraging interest in subjects that were previously thought to be “girls-” or “boys-only”.
These results have important implications for how children think about activities that are culturally associated with the other gender, for example, how girls think about science or math. By confronting this belief directly, parents and teachers can help encourage girls and boys to explore a wider range of school activities.
Image: Yukari* on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.
Makes sense. Young kids don’t really lack the capacity to think about the fact that gender is a culturally-defined construct all they know is pink vs. blue or dolls vs. trucks. This gender issue becomes a frequent concept for discussion as children get older. By the time kids are in college, there are whole classes devoted to the subject.
‘Probably not, but young kids seem to believe that.’
Every ounce of scientific discovery in the field of Evolutionary Psychology says your wrong about this. It’s the grown-up culture/nurture vs. nature perspective that’s truly flawed…and severely limiting to most folks’ understanding of how people’s brains really work.
All the hand-wringing around this subject runs in the same direction as the absurd ‘without belief in god there is no morality’ position of creationists and intelligent design proponents.
Equality, respect and compassionate treatment of others and healthy childhoods can coexist with the notion that men and women are ‘wired’ differently. I just wonder when it’s going to in a world in which people don’t accept these differences…
Peter,
It’s odd to be compared to a creationist, though I suppose both topics seem controversial to you.
As a feminist, I certainly believe we’re wired differently. I also *do not* believe that my sons are more likely to like football because they are males. That is absolutely ridiculous. And although I’m no expert in the field, I’ve read enough about “gendering” children to understand that as a culture, we raise boys and girls differently.
We teach boys to talk differently than girls (read Deborah Tannen), to problem solve differently (one example: it’s much more socially acceptable for boys to work out their problems with fist fights than it is for girls), and even show them that they are better at certain subjects (some studies have shown that biases in teachers have them calling on boys much more in science in math and girls more in language arts classes).
This is not to say that there aren’t differences in our biology that makes men and women different. There absolutely, certainly are.
But it’s perfectly fine to see that the tapestry of gender has many facets, not just biology. Humans, being as complex as we are, may take biological differences and run with them. It’s both nature and nurture, period. We’re not as simple as biology. And we’re certainly not different species or from different planets.
im 13 and a girl, i eat my butterfinger when i crap, and i play rough, as in ruff doggy, lol. i think girls are dogs, and cats r boys, so um yea. i really hate cats. im a dog, i have issues, im dum, i like it. im really ammature. so world ur missin ever1’s different. im outgoing, i act l9ike a dog.