aliceBB Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 How can it be innate? Just as other instincts/tendencies are innate, and some of those are gender specific, too. Boys aren't born with an instinct to like guns and the same goes for girls and dolls. It's a conditioning. Prove it! My son will have picked it up through friends at nursery Possibly. Possibly not. It is very hard to prove either side of the nature/nurture question. How do you account for the fact that girls raised in families where they have no sisters, the parents have consciously avoided gender conditioning, and the child does not attend nursery, still show a much more marked tendency to play nurturing games than boys do? I used to think just as you do, but my experience with lots of small children over the years makes me far less sure. Even educational theorists now are of the belief that girls' and boys' brains develop differently and that different teaching styles may be appropriate with girls/boys. I heard of one couple who were determined to avoid gender stereotyping in their two small daughters so they bought them only 'boys' or non-girly toys. This included a set of tools in a box. With no prompting at all, the youngest child took the tools out of the box one by one, gave them names and wrapped them up in little blankets she made from squares of kitchen towel. Don't tell me the instinct to mother is not innate in most girls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ll49 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 How can it be innate? Boys aren't born with an instinct to like guns and the same goes for girls and dolls. It's a conditioning. My son will have piicked it up through friends at nursery. I think aliceBB was pointing out your mix up in definition of conditioning and innate rather than anything else here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliceBB Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I think aliceBB was pointing out your mix up in definition of conditioning and innate rather than anything else here. No, I think Bonzo was asserting that difference in behaviour between the genders are down to nurture rather than nature. I was curious to know what hard evidence he had for that assertion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.