Friday, February 28, 2014

A Common Misconception on Gender Identity


We live in an ever-changing climate towards gender. Gender roles and identity are beginning to be reexamined, but they are not being accepted by the majority. 

Why is this?
People are scared and they don’t know the facts.

“If I let him play with dolls and my high heels, will this affect his masculinity? Will this make him gay?”  Lise Eliot, the author of Pink Brain, Blue Brain looks at this question from the viewpoint of a typical mother and simply responds, “No.” Her book examines many studies and experiments, which gives evidence that even if one desires control over their children’s sexual orientation, they can’t control it. There appears to be something greater than parenting and social pressure that determines sexual orientation. There is an innate and biological aspect, which some refuse to acknowledge but is very relevant and real. In the past surgeons have made large efforts to change a child’s sex. It has been seen repeatedly that if a child is born as a boy, for example, once they grow up, regardless of the surgeries and hormones given to them, they will still show sexual attraction to women. This demonstrates a sort of hard-wired component beyond the contributions from nurture alone. In another study, a boy named Kyle who showed feminine behaviors was examined. Every time Kyle showed feminine behavior, he was punished while every time he displayed masculine behavior he was rewarded. Even though he suppressed his feminine behaviors and was pushed to play stereotypical male roles, he still turned out to be homosexual. The only effect that forced gender identity had on him was a life long battle with depression and suicidal thoughts.

There is nothing wrong with gender identity; as humans, we like to categorize things. What is wrong is our judgment and our society's sense of anxiety in terms of gender breaking our conservative barriers.  In an article by Peggy Orenstein in The New York Times, the issue of toys and gender is examined. Should the world of toys be gender-free? Although this article doesn’t directly state the scare parents have of sexual orientation, it introduces the idea of gender neutrality and the idea of gender-stereotyped toys. Preschooler’s brains are extremely malleable and very open to influence in terms of the roles that play into their sex; therefore, environment does play into what children choose to play with. Orenstein states “stereotypical gendered play patterns may have more negative long-term impact on kids potential than parents imagine.” She also goes on to say that promoting cross-sex friendship and play may be more beneficial to children of both sexes. Although gender neutrality is a step in the right direction, I don’t find it completely necessary. The world will probably never be a gender-neutral place in which bathrooms and clothing sections are equally oriented for both sexes. This isn’t a very realistic view, however, the way we view others and the acceptance that we have for others can realistically change with time.

The point is that there should be more freedom for children and fewer scares for parents. It shouldn’t matter what children play with. If a girl wants to play with Lego’s and a boy wants to play in a plastic- toy kitchen, then they should be able to. Kids should be able to express themselves in the way that they choose and parents should know that pushing children to play with the correct “gender appropriate” toy will not influence their child’s sexual orientation. Options allow children to learn, grow, and thrive in a multitude of ways. You learn different things form so called girl and boy toys. A girl could probably benefit from building with blocks aiding her spatial reasoning while a boy could probably benefit from playing with dolls and role-playing which may aid in his creative thought processes. It sells to market to gender, and this wont stop anytime in the near future. We can approach situations, however, with a different mindset and allow children to make their own innocent choices.

Works Cited
Elliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain. N.p.: Macmillan Australia, 2010. Print.
Orenstein, Peggy. "Should the World of Toys Be Gender-Free?" The New York Times.
The New York Times, 29 Dec. 2011. Web. Feb. 2014.


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