Gender stereotypes

A few weekends ago, Jim and I attended a "Love and Respect" video seminar with quite a few other couples, and we laughed over the speaker's descriptions of the way men and women think differently. Who can disagree that men and women are essentially different? Yet I still read ridiculous arguments about nature versus nurture. How can people honestly believe that children are all born the same, and that their upbringing determines how they turn out?

This makes me think about a scene that vividly sticks out in my vast memory bank. I was expecting Mikey, whom we thought was going to be an Esther. A well-meaning friend was concerned that Christopher, 3, and Timmy, 1 1/2, needed to learn how to treat a new little sister, so she gave them a baby doll to practice on. I was skeptical that role-play would have any effect on them, but being open-minded, I let them keep the dolly.

A short while later, I went to check on the boys, who again seemed altogether too quiet, and my suspicions were confirmed. They had dismantled the poor thing and were standing on chairs playing table hockey, using the arms and legs as sticks and the head as a puck.

No one can convince me that boys and girls are not created differently. None of my girls had to be taught how to treat a doll or baby. They just knew. It was hard-wired into them. On the other hand, my girls never had to be taught about guns, either. They knew instinctively guns are not good things. My boys, however, were born with an innate desire to shoot things.

Even before we owned a TV or shoot-em-up John Wayne videos, Chris used his thumb and forefinger as a weapon to shoot wild animals, airplanes, and bad guys. After I lectured him about not shooting people, he found an instant loophole. Barely two years old, he looked at me, pointed his finger gun, and said, "You a lion. I shook you!"

I rest my case.