The topic of gender and family life is so fascinating! It’s a conversation full of controversy and questions. First we are going to dive into the different roles between men and women. I think the most important lesson to understand when talking about the difference between men and women is that difference is good! Men and women shouldn’t be the same and there’s a reason why they were created differently. When diving into the difference between men and women/boys and girls, studies focus primarily on children. We see that when it comes to play, girls typically chose the dolls, preferred the color pink, and loved being involved in games where they could talk to one another. The boys would typically choose the toy cars, or guns when engaging in play. Recently, toy markets tried to make girls toys appeal to boys and boys to girls however, the toys did not sell well. When it comes to gender differences, a popular question is the nature/nurture debate and for this we focus mostly on differences in young children. Many people claim that the culture is what affects gender differences, however many of these differences show up early in life before culture can even have an impact on a child. An example of this is how girls usually sit up earlier than boys and boys begin to crawl. Even taking a look at newborns we see that newborn boys will typically startle whereas newborn girls will suck. Studies done have shown that even infants prefer toys by their gender much longer before gender identity is demonstrated.
Study after study has shown that men and women have different brains. Of course there will be differences in newborns if our brains are different! This is evidenced because men and women use different parts of the brain when thinking about the same thing. Women are known to be better as noticing detail whereas men look at the picture as a whole. We can even turn to evolution for proving the differences between brains. Since the beginning of time, women have been biologically better at nurturing.
My favorite part of this week’s research had to do with understanding same-sex attraction. I was completely blown away at the amount of potential contributing factors that go into same-sex attraction! Many people wonder what causes the feeling of same-sex attraction. There is no proven evidence that it is genetic, as many people like to claim. Potential contributing factors of same-sex attraction include a wounded gender identity, rejection from others from an earlier age, feelings of inferiority, bullying, father hunger, mother confusion, inappropriate touch and last but not limited to pornography. The one potential factor I was really drawn to was feelings of inferiority. In a documentary, multiple men/teenage boys were interviewed on what they thought caused their same-sex attraction. Most of the men responded that they had an older brother who would tease them. It’s fascinating to me that something as simple as sibling rivalry can cause such deep emotional feelings. It really goes to show how a person's perception is everything. The main consensus of the reason for the same-sex attraction of the people being interviewed was coming from a loss of connection from men. It shows how crucial it is for a young boy to have a male role model in their life.
Many people wonder if sexual orientation can be changed. The research shows that homosexuals are “not born that way” therefore those feelings can be reversed. Through therapy and working through the emotional issues related to the attractions, the men in the interview lost those feelings and began to have feelings for the opposite sex.
From this week, I want the readers to understand the importance of differences between genders! Difference is good and healthy. Also understand how important it is for people to not only know that they belong but feel it inside. We need to be more accepting and loving of others.
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