Nature Vs. Nurture
Growing up, I was the baby of the family and the only girl. By the time my mom was pregnant with me, she wanted a girl so bad that my dad joked that if I came out a boy, they would just name me Frances and put me in ballet.
When they found out I was a girl my mom was ecstatic. She couldn’t wait to dress me up, throw me tea parties, play with my hair, and all of those other fun activities that little girls are supposed to love.
However, not only did I have the influence of two older brothers, but I was also the only little girl on my block. Rather than wearing ribbons and bows, I was in tennis shoes and ponytails.
My knees were always skinned, my hair was always a mess, and you wouldn’t catch me dead in a dress. I was a master at video games, I would have picked a toy car over Barbie any day, and I was even a Ninja Turtle for Halloween.
This all changed, however, the day my mom signed me up for ballet.
Before Ballet I had tried softball, swim team and even basketball, but none of the three could keep my attention. Sure I was engaged when it was by turn to play, but I hated having the share the spotlight with the rest of the team.
Dance, on the other hand, allowed me to perform.
After my first recital, I fell in love with the stage, quit all other sports, and never looked back.
This is where I learned to be more feminine. Rather than running around outside, dance taught me discipline, manners and poise.
In my personal opinion, the majority of gender norms are learned behaviors.
However, according to PBS Parents, research has proven otherwise:
“Recent research about the brain has in fact found subtle but significant differences between male and female brains. Among the findings:
Male brains are six to ten percent bigger, on average, than female brains.
Female brains have more synapses (connections) than male brains.
Females have a bigger connecting area (the corpus callosum) between the two hemispheres of the brain. They tend to use both sides of the brain for a particular task more frequently than do males.
Gender-specific wiring can be found in about 80 percent of children’s brains. Interestingly, the remaining 20 percent have wiring that is more typical of the opposite gender — a finding that has nothing to do with sexual orientation, but which may affect a child’s interests and abilities.”
The then go on to explain that even as early as the womb, female brains have more neurons in certain areas, which causes higher levels of estrogen and enhances different areas of the brain.
Although every person is different, I think it is safe to say both nature and nurture play a role in shaping one’s gender.
Whoa, that video was really interesting. A. Those kiddos are precious. B. It is crazy how they already have such set views on male and female roles in society. The female doll likes to clean the house and takes care of the babies, and the male doll goes to work. Every time. I guess we do learn from the norms our culture has established – although we are becoming a culture where women are more accepted in the work force and men are applauded for having more ‘home’ responsibilities. I wonder if the researchers conducted this same interview with children in a few years, would the answers be the same?
Also, I grew up with two older brothers, and was the only girl in the neighborhood. My mom so wanted to dress me up and teach me to be a ‘lady’ but all I wanted to do was wear my brothers’ shorts and follow them around and get dirty. I did everything my brothers did. I was the girl who had a bb gun at age 4, running around shooting spiders and milk cartons. I was the girl who didn’t understand why I couldn’t play shirts and skins with the boys (I just wanted to be on my brother’s team; everyone knows all the crummy players are shirts, and I was good). So, I understand completely where you’re coming from.
| Posted 1 year, 10 months ago