Gender

This week was an interesting one. We covered a lot of sensitive topics that are really important for us to understand. I want to be cautious, kind, and respectful as I write this, so I will do my best.

We discussed the importance of acknowledging differences between the genders and same-sex attraction. I want to mostly talk about gender differences because I think this is more of a hot topic at the moment than same-sex attraction.

Gender is a key part of who we are as people. We learned this week that there are biological differences between females and males. Our brains are actually slightly different, even as infants. One thing I really liked from studying this week was learning that female babies tend to look at faces and are better at facial recognition than males. Male babies typically focus on toys or things you are holding.

There was an experiment done at a college campus with males and females. None of the individuals were aware of what the study was. They blindfolded both genders and guided them through one of the buildings and then stopped and asked for directions to another building without removing the blindfold. The male participants were more aware of where they were and were able to give directions to the other building. The female participants were less able to give directions to the other building. Additionally, they put both genders in a room and then took them out. They were asked to recall the things that were in the room. The women were much more likely to recall more items that were in that room and where they were. Even in relationship to one another! The men were likely to recall less of the items that were in that room. Here we see that men are (typically) better at spatial awareness and women (typically) have better memories.

Now, I don’t want to say that is how it always is and women cannot have good spatial awareness and men cannot have good memories. But based on research that has been conducted, these are things that are typical for each gender. Each person is unique and has different gifts and talents. I don’t want to stop women or men from being good at anything. These have just been the natural things researchers have seen.

One other thing I found super interesting this week was from a study done about gender-neutral parenting. They did studies to know if gender stereotypes and toys kids wanted to play with were based on biological factors or societal factors. They found that even when boys were given typical girl toys, they still played with them as they would play with typical boy toys. They found the same thing with girls. If they gave the girls trucks or cars, they would still lay them down and put a blanket over them as if they were playing with a doll. I thought it was really interesting to actually see research on this. They also put typical boy and girl toys in a big room and had the kids come in and they would play with the typical toys of their own gender. We don’t know if that is because of what they are used to playing with or if they just would prefer to play with those toys. I am guessing that gender and the things kids play with is based on biology and society. I think it’s both how they are raised and simply who they are.

This week has taught me a lot about going out and doing research on things instead of sitting there and having people tell me what is true and what is not true. I think it’s important to seek research from both sides of the opinion and really think critically about things.

I am excited to keep sharing things from my class that are interesting to me!