does socialising boys gender neutral or in accordance with the opposite sex truly take effect?

Question

and socialising girls in accordance with male gender norms?does it really dictate the person we becoem and the behaviours we aquire,is it all instrumental conditioning or is there a deeper reality there of our intrinsic masculine and feminine identities?

ie giving boys dolls and barbies from the day they were born and expecting feminine behaviour and giving girls monster trucks and expecting aggressive haughty behavior?

Answer 1

Not in the slightest.
We've got 2 boys and 1 girl, and I'm certain we could notice differences from birth.

Answer 2

No because hormone levels and outside influences will effect the child's behavior as well. Gender roles are much greater than giving a boy a doll or a girl a truck.

When I was born I was dressed in yellow. Nearly everything I had until the age of 4 or 5 was unisex. The only time I wore a obviously girls clothes was to church or swimming. I was given the types toys I wanted, which were typically girl (dolls, Barbies, puzzles, books, etc.) or unisex toys. I did have a few water guns though, and played Cops and Robbers with one of the neighborhood boys. My mother is an Art teacher so I have nearly every art media imaginable.

I am now a teacher and have looked into the subject quite a bit. It seems as though both nature and nurture effect gender roles and even very young children's perceptions of them. If you are really interested in the topic there are numerous studies that have been done.

Answer 3

I used to wonder about Nature vs. Nurture.

Turns out it's just about all Nurture.

You guys also seem to be ignoring the input that the children get from the REST of society, not just their parents. If you were to be isolated in the middle of the woods with just your family, and you raised boys to play with dolls and dollhouses and girls to play with model trains, of course it would take. But since roughly 100% of us live in the "normal world", where TV shows, toy commercials, friends, their friends' parents, and other family members all seem to have different opinions (that tend to agree with each other) on what constitutes "male" and what constitutes "female", to pretend that their behavior is "innate" is simple blind sighting. We've never had a truly controlled study for this type of thing in our own society. The only way that we can accurately gauge what is inherently female or male is by looking at cultures where roles are either more pronounced or lax than our own. Do they differ from what we consider male and female? YES!! There is your answer! To look at little Freddy or Suzie from Little Town, U.S.A. and make sweeping generalizations of male and female behavior based on what they do is to be a really, really bad researcher.

Answer 4

Although its been fashionable to say that our environment shapes our gendered behaviour, case studies show that its mainly down to nature i.e. chromosomes and sex hormones.

For some reason this 'nature' explanation is politically incorrect. Maybe some people think it threatens their right to choose their gendered behaviour, but this is a sociopolitical stance and has little to do with reality. I personally think people should be free to make whatever choices they want to, but our natures will have a pretty strong influence on what we choose.

Edit
The Money/Reimer case is the most dramatic and famous example, but there is lots of other research that points in the same direction.

Answer 5

I consider the argument being forwarded about David Reimer to be a bit irrevelant. Yes he was raised as a girl after his penis was destroyed by a cauterizing device during a botched circumcision. However, he also had an indentical twin he undoubtedly compared himself with plus his sex organs were different. He had his testicles removed when he was a toddler but he still didn't have female organs. He was supposed to have a vagina created when he was about 14 years but his parents decided not to go through with it and tell him the truth about his sex. Of course, somebody like that will feel tormented and it doesn't really have anything to do with how children are socialized according to their sex. This was a troubled individual who would have been better off if he had been raised as he really was and been told about what happened to him. He could have had reconstructive surgery when he was older. I've heard it said that he was a hero for coming forward and letting the world know what can happen to people when others arbitrarily decide what sex they should be instead of letting them decide for themselves.

Answer 6

I ahve 2 boys and favour the gender neutral approach, combined with childrens choice. My boys adore football and toy cars. When they were v. young they CHOSE to have a doll, for a very short period. They will both wear nightdresses to bed sometimes because they are more comfy - but they do not want to wear anything that they would see as feminine where others would see them.
However, I do still believe that this is mostly nurture. Children are totally imitative and as soon as they start mixing with other kids they will drop anything that they don't see as fitting in. Kids are not stupid - they pick up approval and disapproval signals very easily, and they do it from everyone, not just primary carers.
In society the way it is now it is impossible to raise your children gender neutral, unless you go and live in a community committed to that.

Answer 7

Its the olde nature vs nurture argument. The definition of gender vs sex should be discussed. Remember that gender is socially defined, ie it is an expression of our social role while sex is physically defined ie males are males females are females and there can be no debate (even a hermaphrodite is physically defined). If the discussion implies that we can shape the sexual orientation of a child by manipulating its social development then it is false. Many cross dressers are straight even though their social persona might be that of the opposite sex.
Sexual orientation has been shown to be a 'nature' rather than 'nurture' phenomenon (much to the displeasure of many anti-gay christian archivists) so it doesn't seem to matter too much if we socialize our kids male or female, they will be straight or gay based on some other, deeper predisposition.

Answer 8

the place the lads Are - Connie Francis BQ1 - Eyes. BQ2 - definitely, have intercourse with somebody just to be sure what it feels like for a guy. extraordinary i assume yet i can not quite think of of the rest on the 2d i might do if i improve right into a guy for an afternoon. BQ3 - Nope.

Answer 9

My aunt was (and is) a strong believer in breaking gender stereotypes and consequently actively encouraged her son to play with dolls houses and her daughter to spend time with action man. As they have grown up however, their interests are very typical of their gender - he likes computer games and cars and she enjoys shopping and talking on the phone for hours!

This would suggest that we are born with either masculine or feminine characteristics (or a combination) and that being dressed in pink or blue makes no difference.

Answer 10

I dont think allowing youngsters to play the roles associated with the other sex would have much influence in later life-
Its the reaction of the adults towards it that would influence the person in later life. But I doubt if even psychologists can agree on this question.