Good Boy, Good Girl

I've been studying gender and its impact on children, recently. A lot of the material I've sifted through I knew and understood, like the concept that gender is taught and that from culture to culture roles of gender and gendered behaviour vary. The idea that took me some time to get my head around is how certain behaviour is supported by one gender but not the other, within same gendered groups, and practicing the acceptable behaviours then reinforces the stereotype of the gendered behaviour. Kind of mind blowing, huh? Basically, it means that if we were in groups of girls (or people who identified with the female gender) as children and adolescents then we were allowed to 'try on' the behaviours that were deemed 'okay' for girls to display or practice - the demure one, the bitchy one, the geeky one, the screechy one, the nagging one, the strong one, the tomboy, you get the picture. The same goes for boys (and people who identified with the male gender). There is a fairly wide range of behaviours that is acceptable within same-gendered groups, depending on what social class you were or what activities or hobbies you pursued. At the end of the day, though, you were subject to the scrutiny of your same-gendered peers deciding whether or not you had the acceptable, or an acceptable level of 'girl' or 'boy' behaviour. See, I love this stuff. The theories of how humans behave in packs have fascinated me; at times I've been the outcast of the pack and other times I've been a ringleader and each position comes with its own politics. Either way, behaviour (and deviant behaviour) determines your place in the pack and the reaction of others to you. TBC.