Gender and the Family

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 FAMILY RELATIONS 

OCTOBER 16, 2021

04
Gender and the Family

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Jocelynn Linton


This week in Family Relations, we covered a topic that is quite a difficult topic in today’s world. It was Gender in Families. Since the very beginning of time, there has been a universally understood definition of gender. Male, and Female, boy and girl. It was understood that there were only two genders. Now days, these definitions have been blurred and in many cases even erased. The gender norms that have existed in our society for so long are now under attack. What truly differentiates a male and female, well…besides the obvious, there are many differences between males and females, not only physically, but psychologically and mentally as well. We refer to these differences as gender-typical behaviors. Women tend to be more emotional and rely heavily on verbal communication, whereas men tend to be more physical and less rational. When women are angry, they often use words and emotions as a means of retribution. Men are typically more physical. With that, women are more social. Most of the games and activities that girls tend to be partial to revolve around a very social origin. Tea parties, dolls, barbies. Men are also social, but there have been many studies that have shown that they’re much less social than women. A large part of what attributes to some of these differences, is known as White and Grey Matter. Women have more white matter, while men have more gray. “In general, men have approximately 6.5 times the amount of gray matter related to general intelligence than women, and women have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence than men. ... The gray matter driving male intellectual performance is distributed throughout more of the brain (sciencedaily).” 

So what is gray and white matter? According to MY-MS.org, “The gray matter is the areas where the actual "processing" is done whereas the white matter provides the communication between different gray matter areas and between the gray matter and the rest of the body. The neurons in the gray matter consist of neuronal cell bodies and their dendrites (my-ms.org).”

In class, we had the opportunity to watch a video by motivational speaker, Mark Gungor that quite plainly discussed the differences between a man and a woman's brain. He said that in a woman’s mind, everything is connected. There’s all these little receptors that connect every little detail and thing together. Everything is mapped out and one thing reminds them of another, and then another, and so on and so forth. Whereas with men, everything in their heads are separated into different boxes. These boxes are very specific categories that they must stay within at all times. He even went as far as to say that men have an empty box within their heads.

These gender differences are very apparent in children. Most of the time, females tend to gravitate towards more motherly/maternal toys and movies, etc. such as dolls, babies and the like categories. On the other hand, males tend to lean more towards more masculine things such as toy guns and war games. Not to say that a girl can not like those things, or vice versa. Growing up, while I enjoyed playing with my dolls and barbies, I took any chance I got to play with my brothers toys. However, I often played with them differently than he did.

 Why are these gender norms so important in a family setting? Contrary to what is being pushed in today’s media, gender gives people their identity, and you are born with a specific gender for a reason. Your given gender grants you freedom, it’s not a restriction or a punishment. The family, A proclamation to the world clearly states, “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” This shows that not only is gender essential for this life, but it was also imperative in our lives before our mortal lives, and will continue into the eternities. Children require the stability that comes from having a set knowledge and reformation of their gender identity and role.

Sources: Intelligence in men and women is a gray and white matter. (2005, January 22). Science Daily. 

     Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/05

The Cerebellum. (n.d.). my-ms.org. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://my-ms.org/ 
     anatomy_brain_part3.htm

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