Differences

While reading Deborah Blum's article 'What's the difference between boys and girls?’ I honestly didn't learn anything new. The article emphasizes that girls and boys are different on very basic levels. I believe I am not wrong when I say, "really?” The article states "Human males are likely to produce seven to 10 times more testosterone, for example, than females." This, to me, is a pretty well known fact. I feel it focuses only on very easily interpreted ideas and research. The fact that boys produce more testosterone than girls is great, in ‘typical’ or average child. What about the children that have extenuating physical characteristics that prohibit the production of testosterone or increase the production of estrogen? What about the children that have perfectly normal levels of both and don’t fit into these categories correctly? I feel this article is general to say the least, so instead I will talk about my daughter and some of her tendencies. My rant will be general as well, but then again I am not the one writing articles for the general public.
My daughter cracks me up because she goes through these phases where she hops from wanting to be a boy to wanting to be a girl. She will be in her room one day playing with Barbie’s and making them have discussions to solve a problem (probably due to a boy-I’m not looking forward to ten years from now). The next thing I know, she has put on black pants, a black shirt, and comes flipping into the kitchen to ‘beat me up’ because she is a ninja. When she was two years old she would go through week long phases of wanting me to call her a name that she deemed ‘boyish’, but she would play all of the same games, none being gender specific, all of the time. She is five now and has a very clear understanding of who she is and it has nothing to do with whether her toys or blue, pink, or explosive. I know it is my responsibility to give her every opportunity to experience both sides of gender and let her decide where she wants be. Our culture emphasizes so heavily what boys should do and what girls should do. Sometimes, I just want to yell, “Just let them play!”.  

Reflection Week 2

I would have to say that nature vs. nurture is one of the most intriguing topics to me. I wonder all of the time how much of myself is due to my genes or my environment. Would I be the same no matter where or how I grew up? Could I have been the same person had I had slightly different genes, but the same experiences? As the article and the chapter readings have taught us, there is no way to be absolutely sure where our traits come from. I do feel with a good understanding of what someone has been through and knowing their family history, you can have a pretty good idea (on a general level) of what about them is due to genetics and what is due to their environment. A positive note that I like to focus on is that no matter what your genes say, your environment can counter act a lot of that. It comes back to the idea that you may not be able to pick your parents, but you get to pick your friends!