How far are the differences in the behaviour of women and men the result of sex rather than gender? […] Some authors hold that there are innate differences of behaviour between women and men that appear in some form in all cultures; such researches are likely to draw attention to the fact that, in almost all cultures, men rather than women take part in hunting and warfare. Surely, they argue, this indicates that men possess biologically based tendencies towards aggression that women lack?
Other researches disagree. The level of aggressiveness of males, they say, varies widely between cultures, and women are expected to be more passive and gentle in some cultures than others (Elshtain, 1987). Moreover, they add, because a trait is more or less universal, it does not follow that it is biological in origin; there may be cultural factors of a general kind that produce such characteristics. [eg. In most cultures women raise children, making them unable to go out hunting]
Studies of mother-infant interaction show differences between boys and girls even when parents believe their reactions to both are the same. In one classic experiment, five young mothers were observed in interaction with a six-month-old called Beth. They tended to smile at her often and offer her dolls to play with. She was seen as ‘sweet’, having a ‘soft cry’. The reaction of a second group of mothers to a child of the same age called Adam was noticeably different. The baby was more likely to be offered a train or other ‘male toys’ to play with. Beth and Adam were the same child, dressed in different clothes.
The toys, picture books and TV programmes experienced by young children all tend to emphasise differences between male and female attributes. Toy shops and mail-order catalogues usually organizes their product by gender. Even toys that seem gender-neutral terms o gender are not so in practice; toy kittens and rabbits are recommended for girls, while lions and tigers are seen as more appropriate for boys.
(more on gender socialization because I love reading about it)
In 1972, Lenore Weitzman and her colleagues carried out and analysis of gender roles in some of the most widely used books for preschool children and found clear differences in gender roles. Males played a much larger part in the stories and pictures than females, outnumbering females by a ratio of 11 to 1. Including animals with gender identities, the ratio was 95 to 1.
The activities of males and females also differed. The males engaged in adventurous pursuits and outdoor activities demanding independence and strength. Where girls did appear, they were portrayed as passive and confined to mostly indoor activities. Girls cooked and cleaned for the males, or awited their return. Much the same was true of the adult men and women represented in the storybooks. Women who were not wives and mothers were imaginary creatures like witches or faurly godmothers. There was not a single woman in all the books studied who held an occupation outside the home. By contrast, the men were depicted as fighters, policemen, judges and so forth.
There are now some storybooks available with strong, independent girls as the main characters, but few depict boys in non-traditional roles. A mother of a five-year-old boy told of her son’s reaction when she reversed the sexes of the characters in a story she read to him. [basically, the kid got confused and upset].
