I found the article, "What's the Difference Between Boys and Girls?" to be the most interesting this week; probably because I have a younger brother who is nothing like me. We are 2 and a half years apart and growing up we did have some mutual toys and interests, and then some that were as opposite as could be. We both rode bikes and played outside, but I had pink streamers and a basket (for flowers of course) and he wanted a bike that could, "go fast, fast, like Batman and Robin." Speaking of Batman and Robin, he was obsessed with one super hero after another, whereas I always wanted an American Girl Doll. So there were definitely lots of differences between us that most people link to genetics, but I began to wonder how much is environment (which we've been reading a lot about lately).
According to Deborah Blum, " In a study involving almost 300 children, researchers found that if little boys asked for a soldier equipped with battle cannons for their birthday, they got it some 70 percent of the time. It they asked for a Barbie doll, or any of her plastic peers, the success rate was 40 percent or less." I know that my brother asked for a Barbie doll for his 3rd birthday and didn't get one, later we found my Ken doll decapitated with a ransom note by my door, so that may have been for the best. But it does prove the authors point that we seem to raise boys versus girls, instead of raising individual children. yes physically and biologically children have differences, but they are also more similar then we tend to think.
I really enjoyed reading your blog this week, made me laugh because I also had a brother that asked for a Barbie (like both his sisters had), my mom got him a G.I. Joe doll instead. Whenever we would play Barbie’s, he would always have to join in, only he would use his G.I. Joe doll instead of Ken cause he was told that Barbie’s were for girls by my mom. When we would have our playtime, he would be very aggressive and act like he was some kind of “War” hero coming home from work, advising our dolls to make him dinner and other typical things boys were taught from environmental impacts, including TV shows he would watch.
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