The gender stereotypes we associate with worn traditions and out of date policies are not a thing of the past. The roles of male and female are just as pronounced now as they were 100 years ago, and in some ways even more so. Although there are now equal voting rights and supposed equal opportunity, females and males are still placed in different categories for separate strengths and weaknesses simply based on their gender rather than their ability. In her book Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine explains the significance of modern technology and research in pushing the legitimacy of the genetic differences between genders instead of proving them wrong. She lays out facts where science went wrong, and insists that the vast majority of the gender stereotypes are purely a creation of the environment. While Fine can be overly dismissive of many scientific discoveries, her points arguing the prevailing notions of gender uncover the truly sexist society we live in. Although some physical differences of gender are based on genetics, the “mind” cannot be categorized from birth only by innate differences in sex. Such baseless judgment appears as if we are fighting another civil rights battle where “separate but equal is inherently unequal,” even while our society should be far past that.
When I was young, I rejected all the pink flowery dresses and baby dolls my grandmother showered me with. I was what society calls a tomboy, but in my mind I was just a kid. Parents expect children to exhibit gender roles from an early age, and many only encourage behavior that is typical for their child’s sex. A girl plays with dolls because “it’s only natural”, while if a boy played with the same toy, it would be taken away and the child would learn to avoid it. These children are also, like me, only exposed to the toys that associated with our gender. The gender schema theory explains this phenomenon by saying that children learn the concept of male and female from their cultures, and change their behavior to fit those roles. The result is a positive feedback cycle of boys and girls that are exposed to a set of behaviors specific to their gender, who grow up to be adults who act same way. Fine says, “Gender associations are automatically activated and we perceive them through the filter of cultural beliefs and norms. This is sexism gone underground – unconscious and unintended”. In the question of the nature and nurture in raising a child, Fine argues that nurture overtakes nature, and we grow up to become what society expects.
Even if our genes make our bodies different, and our environment tells us who we should be, there is something striking about the fact that we instantly judge someone for the gender we are. There is so much more to being an individual than just being a female, and no person has the right to deny or exclude someone from a position only on the basis of sex, as many people are. We are a product of both nature and nurture, but we are also each our own person. We are stuck in a battle between our conscious politically correct selves and our unconscious sexist ones, yet still trying to find a concrete biological answer to hold on to. I wonder how we can still assume brain type by gender when so many times successful female scientists, or empathetic stay at home fathers have proved us wrong. Unfortunately, unless society can forget centuries of predispositions and stereotypes that have shaped our culture, it will be impossible to raise children who do not adhere to at least some social gender characteristics, and people will always think of you in the context of your gender.
Fine, Cordelia. Delusions of Gender: How our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010
