Princesses and Angels
I was listening to ZM a few mornings back and they were discussing some issue regarding the ways that males and females perceive things differently. Anyway someone made the comment was that women are princesses and angels. What does that make men, warriors and ogres?
But then again for all the words said for gender equality there still are fundamental perceptions of the behaviour of both genders. This is especially to be noted when kids are younger, a phrase often heard is 'boys will be boys' in other words boys are allowed to and should play violent games when younger, because that is what boys do. But not girls? Is it that there is a fundamental difference in the genetic makeup of boys which makes them aggresive into warriors and ogres? Or could it be that because such behaviour while not smiled upon is not frowned upon, while not desireable is forbidden? And since it is not forbidden then the boy finds that he can do such things without reprimand (excepting of course hitting a girl).
Conversely, are little girls naturally less troublesome than little boys? Or because they are little princesses and angels are they taught that they do not indulge in those things that grubby ill-mannered little boys do? Are these differences inherent or are they structures that people inherent force upon their kids making or allowing them to conform to the expected behaviours of their respective genders?
This is another post of interest dealing with a similar topic.
But then again for all the words said for gender equality there still are fundamental perceptions of the behaviour of both genders. This is especially to be noted when kids are younger, a phrase often heard is 'boys will be boys' in other words boys are allowed to and should play violent games when younger, because that is what boys do. But not girls? Is it that there is a fundamental difference in the genetic makeup of boys which makes them aggresive into warriors and ogres? Or could it be that because such behaviour while not smiled upon is not frowned upon, while not desireable is forbidden? And since it is not forbidden then the boy finds that he can do such things without reprimand (excepting of course hitting a girl).
Conversely, are little girls naturally less troublesome than little boys? Or because they are little princesses and angels are they taught that they do not indulge in those things that grubby ill-mannered little boys do? Are these differences inherent or are they structures that people inherent force upon their kids making or allowing them to conform to the expected behaviours of their respective genders?
This is another post of interest dealing with a similar topic.
4 Comments:
Well there are differences in male and female brain structure which is likely to have some effect on behavior. Also Males and Females have rather different levels of a number of hormones which likely effect behaviour as well.
i was hanging out with some 13/14 year old college girls yesterday and they were talking about the older boys they were having sex with
I have a sneaking suspicion I've heard this debate before... the whole nature vs. nurture thing, basically. From what I recall of first year Psych, it's been extensively studied by both psychologists and biologists and such. Not sure what their conclusion(s) were, although I'm sure there's opposing camps who are divided over it, as per usual :)
Bad Jared! Shame on you. You know breakfast shows thrive on poorly considered, shallow opinions XP.
Not that mine counts for much...I discarded Sex Ed in 5th Form as being biased and largely propaganda ;).
Anyway, according to your dad, the trick to minimising a gender difference is in knowing when to just shrug your shoulders and keep quiet.
Post a Comment
<< Home