Gender differences Bill 5/26
It has long been observed that boys and girls are different even at very young age. We have noticed that boys like to play toy guns and robots, while girls like to play dolls and collect colorful flowers. ‘What makes them so different?’ We wonder. One way is to assume boys and girls have different innate cognitive system that serves as a map to guide their way of development, and children’s upbringing only plays a minor role. Another alternative is to assume that human are born equal, with no fundamental differences. It is through nurture that makes boys behave like boys, and so are girls. In other words, it is because we treat boys and girls differently, so they behave differently. Which hypothesis is correct?
From 1960s to early 1980s, to say males and females have innate differences is not politically correct. During that period, social movements about woman’s rights are flourishing. Any idea which states that man and women are born unequal could be seen as some kind of discrimination. Under such phenomenon, psychologists at that time strongly supported gender differences are influenced mostly by nurture. They found modeling and imitating are very important in shaping children’s sexual identity. And, of course, most people believed the scholars’ explanation. They believe gender differences results from education.
However, as the technology improves, scientists began to discover that something is wrong. They did a blood testing on infants and found that the amount of sexual hormone is vastly different even when the infants are still in the womb, showing that male and female infants are different from the beginning of their life. What are these differences? What does sexual hormone do? Further evidences show that it can change the way our brains develop. And brain development plays a crucial role of our behavior. It makes boys more active and more aggressive, while girls are calmer. Similar studies points to the fact that boys like to play toy guns and girls like dolls are not because of parents’ intentional teaching, or any kind of expectation. The truth is, children choose to play what they like by nature, even if their parents don’t like them to do so.
The above example shows how vastly our opinion will change, as scientists know more and more about the key to our question. One kind of explanation may once be criticized, but later proved to be correct. If we insist our opinion and keep searching evidences to support it, one day people will finally agree with us!
so so..