[ExI] opinion

[SR Ballard]

> And I argue that it makes little difference how they are raised.  Unisex toys get played with differently by boys and girls, and so on.  You can't take the boy out of the boy. 
> 
> bill w

Of course there are biological differences between the sexes, but also within the sexes as well. And bias and socialization in children begins extremely early.

For example the bias of mothers one the inclines their children can handle
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11063631/
Mothers think boys are more capable, and girls less capable, but in fact at this point there is no difference. A series of these small deviations could (possibly) have a large effect after many years. But, honestly, I’m not sure.

There are other pop “experiments” which show similar things as well.
https://youtu.be/nWu44AqF0iI
Obviously not scientifically rigorous, but you get my point.

Then of course, some people don’t fit neatly into the male/female dichotomy, and I think for them, how they are raised may have a large role in their development. For someone like myself, if I had been raised in a more ‘girly’ way I might be a more feminine/girly person, rather than associating myself more with men. I don’t deny my biological gender, and I don’t consider myself trans, but I often am very happy to fit into a ‘male’ role when available. 

In the earlier example, when the girls were touching without permission, I have similar stories of things boys did to me throughout school. I was never particularly bothered by it, and truth be told, enjoyed it usually. 

I think it depends, really. The socialization between men and women is usually extremely different, so it is difficult to know how much is innate and how much is socialization. There is definitely some social component, but is it 1/5 of what we see, or is it 4/5? I’m not sure. 

In regards to the boy with the botched circumcision, he ‘somehow’ always knew he was a boy... well, his parents knew. Humans can pick up on very subtle things, especially over a long period of time. His parents reaction to his behavior was probably colored by this as well. We can’t know for sure. 

One thing that interests me, but is basically forbidden discourse nowadays in feminist circles, are research into the ‘gendering’ of brains and their structures. For example that those who are attracted to men have a certain brain region which can show this, or those attracted to women, regardless of biological sex. To me this is interesting, as more “gendered” structures may be found in the future, which might help us understand “unusual” circumstances. 

SR Ballard
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