I was particularly keen to read about ethnic identity conflicts; about coping mechanisms that adolescents must develop to deal with prejudice. These coping mechanisms also come into play when it comes to whether or not an adolescent has so-called 'feminine' or 'masculine' traits - a distinction that isn't persecuted to a great extent until middle and high school.
Speaking first to ethnic identity, this is the first offense from which a child will have to defend. At three years old, a child already knows that they are different, at least in skin color, from others. Real distinctions - where racism seems to crop up - don't really happen until junior high or high school, when every difference from the 'mainstream' is perceived as a weakness. Around adolescence, boys and girls are starting to think about their place in society, as well as their belief systems.
I've personally seen fights crop up over seemingly trivial issues. As a college student, if another student were to challenge my position on a political party or belief in a deity, I'd reply as an adult - with even temper, and give a well-thought out answer. As adolescents are just beginning to think about their belief systems critically, they tend to still use 'playground justice'("You're wrong, so I'm going to hit you") when questioned on their beliefs on any subject, especially their parents' politics, God, and gender roles.
Male students exist that prefer the soft and 'cuddly' toys over firetrucks, and female students can be tomboys. The book says that young children tend to be more rigid in their gender-role concepts, but that is and isn't true. Male students in early primary school (K-3ish) can 'get away' with playing with teddy bears and other stuffed animals, even though they'll later be associated with just girls. Reinforced gender roles will still stop a boy from playing with overtly 'feminine' toys like dolls (though we could get into a G.I. Joe doll discussion here), and keep girls from playing with construction toys.
Moving away from that point, the book's idea that "...many child psychologists suggest that parents, teachers, and others should encourage children to develop androgynous gender-role conceptions," was pretty shocking. I can only see this making sense if you had a school setting of K-12 that you could completely control, and reinforced this attitude across the board. If you can't, well, even having that attitude for K-8 won't change how barbaric high school can be (I say this as a former 'barbarian' - no worries, all better now), and to teach a child that being androgynous will serve them best in life sounds... wrong. It sounds as if you'll be setting up that child for poor treatment throughout their high school 'career.'
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I appreciate you bringing up this quote from the book,"...many child psychologists suggest that parents, teachers, and others should encourage children to develop androgynous gender-role conceptions". I agree that high school is barbaric--students are learning to negotiate and interact with themselves, others and the their environment. I also think that androgyny would be less acceptable in high school than other socially acceptable expressions of gender identity. However, we differ in our interpretations of the book. I believe that the book is encouraging "androgynous gender-role conceptions", conceptions being the key word. Either parents, teachers and other adults in society can continue to perpetuate Western society's unhealthy binary perception of gender, or we can empower our next generation to question these conventions. Gender is a social construct. It is perpetuated through our speech, media and actions. Any kid who grows up in the United States will be exposed to the gender roles expected of him or her, regardless of how adults try to influence that child's perceptions of gender. I think the message is that we not attach gender to certain toys, activities, colors, aspects of appearance, etc. and instead encourage healthy, positive expressions of creativity and play. By encouraging "androgynous gender role conceptions" we are empowering our children to accept themselves regardless of what messages they receive from media, culture and bullies. I think that this is more what the book is advocating, rather than teaching "a child that being androgynous will serve them best in life".
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading the section on gender in our book, I have to add that my comments regarding the constructed nature of gender are based on my opinion and not the book. The book is very politically correct and doesn't really address that topic.
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised to see how much about self esteem and self concept actually develop from such an early age. I never really saw a difference between self concept and self esteem, but after reading the book I see a very distinct difference. How a student sees themselves and how they actually act in social settings is a small part of the differences between these two. I was thinking that there could also be a difference in self esteem in different social and academic contexts. A student may know they are smart in school and succeed with little effort and then that same student could be placed in a social setting with friends etc, and be much less confident or successful at making friends. Either way both are very important in a developing child’s personality.
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