Good Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls? Essay Example

It is assumed that human behavior is controlled exclusively by an individual’s genes or some element of physiology, which is termed as Biological Determinism; however, the society that we live in does not see human life from biological point of view, as humans have created an environment in which everything is termed as either masculine, or feminine. Since ages, men and women are tied to the sex roles, and these roles have not changed to much extent. In the article Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls, the author; Katha Pollitt, argues about the shortcomings of the feminist movement, the male-dominated society, and theories concerning sex roles.
National Organization for Women (NOW), was founded in 1978 and many women have benefitted from this organization, as it has done many reforms for all women who were a part of the organization. Even after this organization was founded, America still finds itself in a position where sex roles play a vital part in the society. Sex roles are found in every aspect of life, and people desire to whatever is possible by them and follow the idea which are mandatory. However, in the present generation, these sex roles may not be fixed as compared to the sex roles couple of decades back.
Research studies have found that there are reasoning differences between male and female, where men do not bother to care as much as the women do, and women remember many instances of their life. Kids, when born are not aware of their gender, and it is the complete responsibility of the parents to educate them about the society and its expectations. It is illogical to prove the differences of gender by birth, as the parents must question themselves about the feminist revolution. There are multiple theories that claim the differences in gender are natural; which may be appealing sometimes because these theories support the parent’s knowledge about gender differences. Girls still play with dolls and boys with trucks because parents believe it to be the inborn differences that are biological.
Many women love to speak about their sons being in sports and they are proud of this fact. It may be because their husbands are also sports lovers and these women are sport-resistant who believe that sports are only for men. As for boys, the mothers desire that sons be involved in sport games rather girls stuff, such as baking or reading. Such feminists explain the gender differences to their kids when they grow up, rather than educating them in the initial days of childhood. Most of the theories of natural behavior explain that women must take care of the house and kids, and men are supposed to work and take care of the finance. These theories are so much infused since generations in men and women that they are passed on to the generations; therefore, we still see a girl with a doll, and a boy with a truck.
The truth, however, is that these determinist theories are becoming obsolete as the sex roles are changing. In the present generation there are examples of a women earning, and a man changing diapers. Kids, lesser than three years old may still believe that a doctor is a male, and the nurse is a female. This understanding would be different in a six year old, who can judge between the male doctor and a female nurse. There are several examples in the 21st century where the sex roles are modified, for example, a boy attending a cooking class, and playing skateboard, and a girl collecting stuffed animals and also being a topper in science.
The values, education, gender differences and similarities must be provided by the parents because kids are humble and polite, and are molded as per the messages fed into their system. It is challenging for the feminists to provide the right messages to the kids about what it means to be a boy or a girl. Since decades men are believed to be fighters due of their physique; and women are known to take care of the family. Biologically, men may be stronger than women, but sex roles have been passing on for generations from parents and adults to children, but today, sex roles are centered on society’s influences.