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News: Forcing gender roles on kids is harmful, study shows.
Banned
Member Since: 2/12/2012
Posts: 9,586
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Forcing gender roles on kids is harmful, study shows.
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Raising children in societies that adhere to rigid gender roles, with fixed ideas about what should be considered “masculine” and “feminine,” can actually be detrimental to their physical and mental health, according to a study that observed 14-year-olds’ interactions over a three month period.
“Usually we think of gender as natural and biological, but it’s not… We actually construct it in ways that have problematic and largely unacknowledged health risks,” lead researcher Maria do Mar Pereira, the deputy director for the University of Warwick’s Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, explained in an interview with ThinkProgress.
Pereira drew her conclusions after being embedded in a class of teenagers in Lisbon, Portugal. The kids in the study knew they were being observed by Pereira — who participated in all aspects of their everyday lives, including attending classes, eating lunch in the cafeteria, playing on the playground, and joining them on trips to the mall after school — but they didn’t know her specific area of focus. In addition to her one-on-one interviews with each teen, her observations allowed her to track the ways they interacted with their ideas about masculinity and femininity.
Pereira observed both boys and girls regulating their behavior in potentially harmful ways in order to adhere to gender norms. For instance, even girls who enjoyed sports often avoided physical activity at school because they assumed it wouldn’t be a feminine thing to do, they worried they might look unattractive while running, or they were mocked by their male peers for not being good enough. The girls also put themselves on diets because they believed desirable women have to be skinny.
“All of the girls were within very healthy weights, but they were all restricting their intake of food in some way. So what we’re really talking about here is 14-year-old girls, whose bodies are changing and developing, depriving themselves at every meal,” Pereira said. “In the extreme, that can lead to things like eating disorders. But even for the women who don’t reach the extreme, it can be very unhealthy for them.”
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The rest of the article: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014...-health-risks/
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
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Member Since: 5/28/2010
Posts: 29,225
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Quote:
Originally posted by Lethal
Well duh
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/3/2012
Posts: 29,405
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This is the tea.
If your child wants to play with barbies, let the good sis.
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
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:As obvious as it is, there are TOO many parents that just don't understand yet 
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Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 19,477
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The key word here is "forcing" though.
Most boys will naturally gravitate towards trucks and football. And most girls will gravitate towards Barbies, fairies and Disney Princesses. What's harmful is when boys would rather play with Disney Princesses and girls would rather play with trucks, but we force them not to, because of gender roles.
But for the most-part, an overwhelming majority of people slip in to their natural gender roles anyway, regardless of societal pressure.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,912
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isn't this common knowledge?
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Banned
Member Since: 8/26/2011
Posts: 27,690
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Quote:
Originally posted by Save-Me-Oprah
This is the tea.
If your child wants to play with barbies, let the good sis.
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My Dad hated me playing with barbies
my mom loved it
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Member Since: 2/2/2014
Posts: 7,449
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Oh are they just now noticing?
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 12,199
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I agree if a boy wants to play with dolls and wear dresses or whatever, and vice versa for girls, then fine. I don't agree with these tumblr minded parents raising 'genderless' children and letting them decide when they're older. What a guaranteed way to **** up your child.
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 8,690
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rihinvention
Most boys will naturally gravitate towards trucks and football. And most girls will gravitate towards Barbies, fairies and Disney Princesses.
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Because that's what they're taught to like as soon as they're born. 
My 5 year old nephew asked a few days ago why do I like princess films. 
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Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 19,477
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Quote:
Originally posted by ReginaPhalange
I agree if a boy wants to play with dolls and wear dresses or whatever, and vice versa for girls, then fine. I don't agree with these tumblr minded parents raising 'genderless' children and letting them decide when they're older. What a guaranteed way to **** up your child.
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The irony of this post having an Angelina Jolie gif above it
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Member Since: 5/22/2011
Posts: 21,227
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I mean, my dad got me into hockey when I was young not because it was forced but because he just figured I'd like it. I'm sure if I wanted to do something else he wouldn't of cared but I definitely don't think it was harmful on me that he made me play hockey, soccer, participate in sports rather than other activities. 
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
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If only my mom paid attention to science...
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
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Forcing, yes. However I don't see the problem with gender canalisation.
Look up the case of David Reimer. Even after being steered towards "feminine" toys and activities, he rejected them and wanted to be raised as a boy. I don't think gender neutralisation is any healthier than assigning separate gender roles.
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Member Since: 7/18/2010
Posts: 29,717
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I played with both dolls and cars growing up. 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 12,199
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rihinvention
The irony of this post having an Angelina Jolie gif above it |
Is Ange raising her kids genderless? 
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Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 19,477
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Quote:
Originally posted by Maneater
Because that's what they're taught to like as soon as they're born. |
No. They don't I have 5 nephews and I can assure you, they like what they like and my sisters and their husbands let them. There's no pressure. They're not forcing them to like certain things. They're not taught what to like. We're already expecting one of them to be gay because he hates playing rugby and likes playing barbies with his sister. Whereas the other four all choose to play with trucks and superheroes of their own volition. People like what they like. For example, you like Lady Gaga. Is that because society taught you what to like as soon as you were born? No. Because society would most likely teach you the opposite. You gravitated towards her because that's where your natural interests were. You were born that way 
Quote:
Originally posted by Maneater
My 5 year old nephew asked a few days ago why do I like princess films. |
Because you're gay. Your 5 year old nephew most likely won't be. He can already see that it's a bit different for a boy to like princess films, because he can't identify with that. Is it because, as you said, society is teaching him what to like? No. If it were, you yourself wouldn't like princess films. He likes what he like because he too was born that way
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Member Since: 6/23/2010
Posts: 3,429
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Imma let my child try everything and let him figure out what him/her like.
And also tell him/her to feel no shame in liking what they like 
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Member Since: 12/9/2009
Posts: 13,069
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Quote:
Originally posted by Rihinvention
The key word here is "forcing" though.
Most boys will naturally gravitate towards trucks and football. And most girls will gravitate towards Barbies, fairies and Disney Princesses. What's harmful is when boys would rather play with Disney Princesses and girls would rather play with trucks, but we force them not to, because of gender roles.
But for the most-part, an overwhelming majority of people slip in to their natural gender roles anyway, regardless of societal pressure.
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You're simplifying an enormously complex mechanism. The child is born and guess what's at the baby shower? Blue, cis-male clothing, baby toys with "boy colors", "boy baby toys". Societal pressures start before that baby even has a chance to get out of the womb. I don't think you understand just how overarching societal pressures are. They are mostly subliminal and not outward as you'd like to think
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