In the ongoing debate of nature versus nurture, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science neuroscientist Lise Eliot contends that how we diverge into gender conventions is mostly a matter of nurturing. Drawing from a forty-six page bibliography, Eliot states that the notion of innate gender differences is derived from narrow, inadequate studies.
In Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps—And What We Can Do About It she refers to an experiment in which the gender of groups of infants was disguised and adults were gauged on how they perceived the babies. Not surprisingly, they treated what they thought were girls differently from the infants they thought were boys. Eliot proposes that as children come to reflect their parents' expectations, they begin to fulfill the gender prophecy set on them not only by their parents, but by society as well.
I've run from one end of the nature versus nurture spectrum to the other, engaging in various discussions regarding, some of them quite heated. My own conclusion is that it is some part nature and mostly nurture. Considering my own upbringing, Barbie dolls, make-up, and boys were all greatly discouraged, and now I find that I tend to interact more comfortably with women who are not as "girly." And it's not as simple as playing with trucks or dolls, nurturing can manifest itself a lot more subtly in the expectations and limitations we may subconsciously form for baby girls versus baby boys - mentally, physically, and emotionally.
As Ursula K LeGuin reminds us in The Left Hand of Darkness, the first question we ask of a newborn is if it is a boy or a girl.
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3 comments:
Liz, is your conclusion then that sexual prefences are largely a matter of nurture? I had always assumed that sexual preferences were hard wired into our brain. I can see how the way parents relate to a baby may have some influence on how the child grows up to view his or her sexuality. I thought, however, that ultimately it was our wiring that made all the difference. Interesting subject - our sexuality dominates so much of our lives.
I think you may have misunderstood me. I am talking about gender conventions, more specifically, how one identifies and expresses his or her own gender...regardless of sex or sexuality or preference (Which has been proved to be innate). Orientation is nature...how we identify and express everything around that might be more a matter of nurture. Gay or straight is not the question, rather how one views and expresses "feminine" versus "masculine" (And the abilities, characteristics, limitations, and privileges thereof).
Got it!
"Thereof?"
Spoken like a potential barrister.
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