Alright, it's boys versus girls!!
You all remember those competitions in elementary, middle, and high school. The dodgeball tournaments, the flag football in P.E., trivia in class, and tag at recess. Good times, right?
Well, those were all good and fun. I'm sure as adults we still do the same thing, when we get together for a game of Uno or Settlers of Catan and whatnot. So, what do you remember about how everyone acted during those games? Which of the genders was most competitive? Which individual would be the one smack talking and rubbing it all over your face? And what was your role? Did you run right up to the front lines and chuck that rubber dodgeball at that cute guy/girl on the other side, or were you the one in the back picking up the stray balls and giving it to the brave souls on your team?
I know I was mostly the latter. Only occassionally was I up in the front. But set aside the fact that I'm a girl; there were guys on the other side doing the same thing as me. To be honest, we were the scraggly skinny ones who couldn't aim to save our lives. But those times when I was up in the front, I was adrenaline crazed and ready to pummel those suckers into the ground. It was interesting to see how the roles would reverse sometimes. Not every girl was cowering on the floor, and not every guy was Mr. Macho. I mean, of course you'll sometimes have the jock who just wants revenge every week, and the girl who doesn't want to break a nail is a frequent thing to see. But our gender roles and tendencies play a huge part in who we are and how we act.
Last week in class we talked about gender. ALL about it! Hopefully I don't bore you with my findings, maybe you guys think about this as a usual thing, but I thought it was super cool!
Let's look at girls. Now, be warned, this doesn't reflect all girls everywhere who have lived, are living, and will live. This is just a general summarization :) No stress.
Pigtails. Dress up. Pink and Purple. Dollhouses. Princesses.
Girls tend to be more detail-oriented. They sense when something is wrong or someone is feeling a certain emotion. They can be much more sensitive to relationships. For example, when little girls play, they put the whole family together and make stories out of it. They also tend to be a bit more gentle and emotional than the boys.
Now for boys, their habits and tendencies are pretty different from the girls. They tend to be more action-oriented, with some rough and tumble in there. They're usually jumping off roofs or building rock-fortresses or playing in the mud.
But these "boundaries" between males and females are actually not quite boundaries, but more of roles. I know personally, I'm the type of girl who loves to go shooting with my dad and wrestling with my little brothers, even though I usually lose to them now that they're getting bigger than me...
I have really been learning a lot in class lately about how we sometimes put too much of a list or restriciton on what males and females can and cannot be, and what they can and cannot do. I think sometimes we are too desencitized by our culture or the growing worries of same-sex attraction that mold our thinking. There was something in class that we talked about that REALLY stuck out to me.
We discussed a situation in which a father found out that his 2 year old son was playing with Barbies. At first, as usual with a father figure who finds out that his little boy is playing with his sister's feminine toys, Dad starts to freak out a bit. I know my dad would, and he did sometimes. My younger brother Mason used to throw a huge tantrum when the girls got out the nail polish to paint nails, and my dad would adamantly forbid him to do it, even a blue or black shade. But what is the right move here for dad? Should he burn all the Barbies in the firepit out back for prevention? Should he let his son be himself, following his desires? Or, should he do something different? The answer that we talked about, and that was concluded to be the best method, was that Dad should let his son play Barbies. BUT, before you freak out, here's the catch. Dad needs to PLAY BARBIES WITH HIM. And Dad can be Barbie, while the son can be Ken. The son can play and practice the masculine role.
I had never thought of it this way before. It makes sense, because 1) father and son get some male-bonding time, and 2) the son even gets to be the dominant male, playing the role of the man. It lets the son play Barbies like he wants, because let's be honest, Barbies are pretty cool. You can dress them however you want, move their arms and legs in any way, and even take off their heads!
I thought it was so interesting in class this week, learning the patterns and habits that many males and females have, even from birth. It helped me to recognize those things in my own life, and even to have more patience with children and people who have different tendencies than I might have!
So, whenever the next boys against girls game happens, remember, CRUSH THEM :D
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