Girls and Boys –Intro

 

Are we different? What is the difference?

In the playground, the quintessence of what makes girls and boys is clear: girls adore doll and boys play the soccer ball. Yes, we are different. And that is the difference. And that girls sew, boys goes gaga over trucks; that girls like pink, boys like tennis; and that, that, that…But then why.

We do not think this is the unsolvable chicken and egg issue.

Girls and boys are obviously different. Sex differences are clear the second we were formed in the womb; parents anticipate with joy from the first prenatal ultrasound. But are boys really more aggressive and girls really more empathetic –or do we just see what we expect in them? Are those gaps inborn or shaped by environment –that is, by us?

If we look into the brain, as if there is a neurological disparity between genders, it could explain important behavioural differences. But surprisingly, researchers have found little large-scale differences between boys and girls in brain structure and function (Eliot). It’s true that  boys have larger brains (and heads) than girls –unless some would wish to claim that girls have larger brains. Physical differences aside, neither of the findings could explain why boys are better in maths and physics and girls in reading and writing.

One fact about our brain is that it exhibits plasticity, that experience itself changes brain structure and functions. One simple example would be the act of walking depends on the experience in early life, without which the brain fails to wire up properly and thus renders one difficult in mobility in later years.

Then, does growing up as a boy or as a girl also wire the brain in a particular way? Researchers have discovered that the different ways parents raise boys and girls leave its stamp on their developing brains (Eliot). Most sex differences start out small but are amplified as children’s pink- or blue-tinted brains meet our gender-infused culture, including all the classroom activities, home dramas and playground capers. With that understanding, we shall be able to bridge the gaps between you and me –in school achievement, empathy, aggressiveness and conscientiousness.