Gender Roles

Gender Roles

                Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. I remember hearing this quite often as a child. Growing up we had a large game closet and there was one game that really piqued my interest, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. At the time I questioned if it was true? Did we really come from different planets? I imagined the two planets aligned with conveyor belts that produced men and women.  It may seem silly, despite the principals I was taught, I really questioned the origin of men and women.

                I think that today’s society plays a major role in shaping the human mind. This is especially true when it comes to gender roles.  When I was a child I use to enjoy jump-roping.  I was terrible. Even so, I loved to jump rope during recess. One of the silly songs that we jumped to was, “Boys go to Jupiter to get stupider, and girls go to Mars to get more candy bars.” Some may be chuckling in the memory of the song, or the words that children would sing at the top of their little lungs. Though in reality, social influences, factor a major role in the way of thinking.  (I have attached a video. Watch and see the thinking patterns of children). http://www.sciencedirect.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S1074742715000362?via%3Dihub

               

                Jon Stossel, creator of, Men, Women, and the Sex Difference shares, the sex-typical tendencies for both male and female. He conducts a series of studies in the film. One that stood out to me was the interactions amongst children. A group of children were all put into an “arena” in this case we will call it a “social arena”, or playground. Both genders were present. It was interesting to see the social interactions between the children.  The boys engaged in competitive play, sword fighting, and playing war. They seem to display more spatial orientation. The girls were more focused on social orientation, they seemed to be more fixated on the expressive manner. Playing dress up, and putting on makeup. They would be more cooperative and passive, they found the boys to be more of an annoyance.  It was interesting to observe and then define terms in my Family Relations classroom. I have seen these types of social orientations in my own children, even the youth that I have the privilege of teaching.

                What really got my wheels turning, was the study portion on brain matter. I discovered that male’s brains were constructed of gray matter. Men compartmentalize, and are very task oriented. It was like a light bulb went off. For so long I have been trying to understand the way of my husband’s thinking. I mean I don’t think I will ever fully understand, but it really shed some light on the way he puts things into action. I thought family systems were a contributing factor, in which he was taught many wonderful things.  There were still some mysteries that I was trying to uncover. Then I had this wonderful lesson, and it really made sense. The way that I understand it was the “box theory”, each little box or compartment must be achieved, one at a time. It was described to me as, one task will be completed, then put back into its box, and then the next task can be achieved. Thus, my husband was compartmentalizing each task at hand. 

                I’m not this way, in fact I am completely opposite. I tend to have a zillion thing running through my head, thinking about not only my children, my extended family, my friends (yes, in all states that I have lived in), my Texas family, and the list goes on and on. I learned that females are constructed with white matter. They are wired with lots of connective tissue. Women are indeed social creatures, not saying men aren’t. Just that women have the ability to establish so many inner and outer connections. This truly allowed me to understand the beauty of the way that I was created. It allowed my chaotic brain to feel more normal. It provided understanding and knowledge that God is in the very details of our lives.

                God created Men and Women differently for a reason. He provided spiritual gifts for each gender. In hope, that the difference in each gender will help, “fill in the gap that each of our families need.” (Miller, 2017). The beauty of both genders is that each gender needs each other to complete the other, or allow the other to be whole.