06.24.11
Nail Polish Boys & Trucker Girls: Gender Exploration in Children
An interview with Stephanie Brill
http://www.themotherco.com/2011/06/nail-polish-boys-trucker-girls-gender-exploration-in-children-2/ (http://www.themotherco.com/2011/06/nail-polish-boys-trucker-girls-gender-exploration-in-children-2/)
{This is Part 2 of our 2-Part Series on Children and Gender}
The fact that the first question out of peoples' mouths at a child's birth or during pregnancy is "Is it a boy or a girl?" just lays bare the depth to which our society is structured by gender. I remember musing when I first had my son that there was really no way to determine what was nature vs. nurture in terms of gender identity, since from day one even his onesies were influencing him! The cowboy onesies, the truck onesies, the spaceship onesies — not one flowery pink onesie in the bunch. So yes, no doubt, boys and girls are naturally different – but our ideas about what it means to be a boy or a girl are inextricably shaped from birth. But what about kids who really veer from these constructed gender "norms"? The boys who love nail polish or the girls who only want to play with trucks? What's happening for these children and how can parents figure out how to help them flourish within the gendered expectations of our world? We turned to gender expert Stephanie Brill, renowned author and expert in child development and gender variance, to address these questions about gender identity in children. — Sam Kurtzman-Counter, TMC Exec VP