Essay by Katha Pollit "Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls"

This blog entry is a response to the essay Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls by Katha Pollit. In this essay, Pollit examines some of the causes of and problems with gender stereotypes, especially in children. The essay takes a dismissive attitude towards any kind of study or theory which suggests that there are innate differences in behavior between boys and girls. The blame for gender stereotypes and differences is instead placed on the child’s upbringing and the culture in which they grew up.

Pollit claims that theories which hypothesize innate differences are in many ways an excuse which parents can use for taking the easy way out and conforming to social norms. The essay points to the growing number of young people breaking down gender expectations as evidence that differences in behavior between boys and girls is learned.

I think that innate biological mechanisms play a larger role in causing differences between the sexes than Pollit lets on.

I have no doubt that our society encourages and exaggerates gender stereotypes through things like the messages put out by the media and the toys we play with as kids, but boys and girls would probably still act differently if they were brought up in a neutral environment. I don’t think that Pollit should assume that most of our gender differences are based on cultural influences without examining other cultures which have developed independently from ours (she may have done this but it wasn’t mentioned in the essay).

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Without looking deeper at other cultures, it is impossible to know whether or not the gender stereotypes which exist in our culture are actually the result of innate differences. I would guess that those differences actually exist and that there is some truth to many stereotypes that exist today, but they are just exaggerated and taken to the extreme by society. Physically, men are bigger and stronger than women and therefore, better suited for things like hunting and fighting. I don’t think it is that big of a stretch to suggest that mental differences developed in men to give them an advantage at those activities. And the same would probably be true for women.

Women are physically geared towards raising children and I would assume that their brains are tuned to perform well at the types of activities that go along with that. I have heard from many sources that claim that men’s brains are tuned to be better at spatial thinking while girls are tuned to be better at socializing. This would explain a lot of things like how men tend to gravitate towards the sciences while women gravitate towards careers that deal with people (obviously this isn’t always the case but there is definitely a trend). These skills would also be beneficial in the traditional roles played by men and women. Sociability would be more useful to a mother staying close to home to raise a child and spatial skills would be more useful to a man who has to travel and hunt for food. Even though I believe that genetics and biological differences play a large part in creating gender roles, I completely agree that society shouldn’t be actively encouraging them to the extent that it does. A boy shouldn’t be judged for preferring feminine things and a girl shouldn’t be judged for preferring masculine things.