5 Gender Stereotypes That Used to Be the Exact Opposite.

[BlueIris]

(Yes, it's from Cracked.com; still interesting.)

http://www.cracked.com/article_19780_5-gender-stereotypes-that-used-to-be-exact-opposite.html?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Science&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=popular

[laconicsax]

1. It's a great article.

For those who don't want to click, here's the list:

1. Men and women have specific gender roles.
2. Gay men are effeminate, lesbians are tomboyish.
3. PMS makes women irrational.
4. Men don't cry.
5. Pink for girls, blue for boys.

And an additional tidbit that isn't in the article, "girl" used to refer to all children. Male children were called "knave girls" and female children called "gay girls." "Boy" was a term reserved for servants and slaves.

[Prophet 451]

2. 1 has a shred of truth to it

Male and female brains are physically different, even from birth. What we don't yet know is why or what that means.

[laconicsax]

3. The point of #1 is that the current gender roles weren't always what they are.

The move from an agrarian to industrial society changed a lot, especially the home/family dynamic.

There's also been some research into what the difference between male and female brains actually means and how it manifests. So far, it looks like those differences don't amount to much and can be overcome or amplified depending on how a child is raised--nurture seems to play a greater role than nature when it comes to the differences between male and female cognitive development.

[Prophet 451]

4. Oh, I know

I suspect I've been reading much the same research as you have. What interests me is what those inherent differences must mean. They have to affect something, otherwise there's no evolutionary reason for them but as you say, the differences can be "canceled out" during the childrearing process. So why are they there in the first place? Did they once play a greater role than they now do? And if so, what? Needs more research, I think.

[laconicsax]

5. It's known that hormone levels in the fetus and womb affect brain development.

That seems to be a plausible mechanism for what causes the structural differences and it's possible that the ability for those differences to be undone by nurture is the result of evolutionary pressures--individuals with exaggerated cognitive differences may not have fared as well.

Of course that's speculation, but not being a scientist in the field, that's the most I can do.

[seabeyond]

10. of course those evolutionary "differences" can be canceled out. we watched

the evolutional absolute that created women as second class for so long, inept, incapable, dependent, totally disappear when we gained a little freedom. how strong is this supposed evolutionary hold on us?

[seabeyond]

9. i have been doing tons of reading and i am finding nothing significant

if you can, let me know. i have read studies that for example, with baby girls we are much more apt to hold, cuddle and stroke/caress. huge part of my mothering with my boys when they were babies. didnt know i was not suppose to do as much. they were BABIES after all, and there is nothing more wonderful than holding, cuddling, caressing a baby. and kissin on them. all the time. but, something to unconscious and significant alone will create different behaviors.

you are going to have to get something for me to read about difference, before i buy it.

[seabeyond]

8. it was a fun read. i hope more click in there. it was more fun having my boys here

reading with me and having a discussion about it. i love smart kids, makes life fun.

[Nikia]

6. Even though my 3 year son does not have any pink clothes, he likes pink

He has picked out a pink bucket at a children's event and declared that pink was his favorite color after picking out a pink cupcake at a birthday party. I have seen an article that says that most toddler boys like pink until they are told they aren't supposed to. He isn't in daycare, preschool, or any regular kid's activity.
He might have some idea of the color stereotypes though because before his last haircut, he asked if he could wear my "pink hair thingy" . My husband said that boys don't usually wear pink hair thingys. He asked if he could wear a blue one.
It is a shame that whole colors are socially off limits to young boys and girls who have no inherent reason to like or dislike colors on a gender basis.

[seabeyond]

7. i gotta tell you, didnt know gender and painted walls in cartoon. gender not an issue

also bought package of sleepers. blue, yellow and pink. yellow washed baby out, blue... meh, but my 3 month old sure looked good in that pink. lol. isnt that amazing assigning a color. wow. lol. (this is a fun article. typing response as i am reading.

crying use to be a sign of manliness.... bah hahaha. i have my boys here while i read this telling them. male tears were actually celebrated as a sign of honesty, integrity and strength.

having boys, ya, i know, tears happen.


pms... having to deal with mess and pain, ya a bad mood. but never went into the moody thing, or with menopause. but, found something, somewhere to create women irrational.


i knew that on athletic girls....

There are many reasons that things shifted, but it basically boils down to the rise of out-of-home labor. Working in factories meant not being in the house all day, and men got most of the factory jobs because ... you know, 19th century. It was then that the "cult of true womanhood" appeared, and the idea of motherhood as a full-time profession became popular and accepted. As the industrial world became more brutal and competitive, a stronger border between the two spheres became the norm, and before you knew it, BOOM: Mad Men happened.

and when talking the history of motherhood, and how moms in the past didnt "stay home" raising kids.... this would be what i say.... not like we can bring the babies to work.



that was a fun article blueiris. thanks. i hope more read it. when i was talking to boys about this, my oldest was telling me that at a period, science became so commercialized in the gilded age it was ridiculously wrong. he had fun with this. he does lots of reading.