Comments on: Scientists are “normal” people, some children discover

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:46:02 +0000

I wonder.
In other contexts, how often do boys draw women/girls?
How often do girls draw them?
Could it be that boys draw boys because that’s what they draw — because they draw what they know and associate themselves with?
Could it be that boys draw boys because, frankly, the only time they draw girls it’s sexy girls– what with the whole puberty thing going on? And they feel awkward drawing women, who, by the way, have breasts, for an assignment that a teacher will see?

I do find the shift in what girls draw interesting, but I’m not sure we can draw the conclusion about boys unless we also see that they draw women in other roles that are otherwise gender neutral (Obviously, they’ll draw women as mothers, but how does it work for, say, accountants or doctors or lawyers or engineers or police officers or realtors?)

By: Links of interest: July 2, 2010 « A Modern Hypatia

Links of interest: July 2, 2010 « A Modern Hypatia — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:09:04 +0000

[...] fascinating post from Geek Feminist titled “Scientists are ‘normal’ people, some children discover“which has some really intriguing data about how taking children to meet scientists (at least [...]

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:41:16 +0000

“Boys know they can grow up to be scientists. Girls donâ€™t, even when they see that some girls do.”

That was my reaction to the stats. I was kind of surprised by the “clearly these 10 year olds are screaming misogynists” interpretation.

If kids associate their own gender as the unless-stated-otherwise “default” (which is presumably the target of equality, unless you want them to start imagining some Platonic-ideal androgyne) then they will draw their own gender for (a) jobs they associate with their own gender and (b) jobs they *don’t* associate with a gender, and they will draw the opposite sex for (c) jobs they associate with the opposite sex. Girls will likely draw female nurses both before and after they meet male nurses, boys will draw female nurses until they meet an awesome male nurse who totally plays football and he’s got this tattoo of a dragon…. after which *some* of them will draw male nurses.

By: Geek_Girl

Geek_Girl — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:30:12 +0000

What a great site! I found this referred by Restructure and am looking forward to exploring the various articles in detail…Keep up the good work!

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:04:59 +0000

According to Lise Eliot in Pink Brain, Blue Brain, the statement that women have a larger corpus callosum is usually based on de Lacoste-Utamsing and Holloway (1982), which was based on a grand total of 13 brains (relying on Eliot's summary here, not the source). Bishop and Wahlsten (1997) is a meta-analysis of 49 studies published since 1980, showing no difference in size of the corpus callosum, regardless of whether the size difference between male and female brains overall (mean male brains weigh between 8 and 11 percent more) is controlled for. I haven't finished Pink Brain, Blue Brain yet, and I am not competent ultimately to judge her command of the literature, but it seems to be a reasonable guide to the real, verified sex differences between human brains early in life. (She, whose research career is founded on plasticity, believes that it is extremely difficult to determine anything about innate sex differences from adult brains, which have had decades of influence from society and physical environment.) de Lacoste-Utamsing, C., Holloway, R. L. (1982) "Sexual dimorphism in the human corpus callosum." Science, 216, 1431â€“1432. Bishop KM, Wahlsten D (1997). "Sex differences in the human corpus callosum: myth or reality?". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 21 (5): 581â€“601.

By: Linky things June 25th through June 29th » Alyse.org

Linky things June 25th through June 29th » Alyse.org — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:32:33 +0000

[...] 25th – Scientists are “normal” people, some children discover | Geek Feminism Blog [...]

By: David Sklar

David Sklar — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:10:34 +0000

Actually, women have a larger corpus collosum (sp?–the connector between the two halves of the brain), which is believed to play a role in empathy and may therefore be relevant to cross-gender identification as well.

I’m not saying that cultural roles aren’t an issue here, just that they aren’t the only issue.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:42:05 +0000

Of course it’s a cultural thing. You see the exact same thing happen with all privileged groups, not just men. The brains of white people are not different to the brains of people of color. The brains of able-bodied people, cisgender people, heterosexual people, etc. are not different to those of disabled people, transgender people, and queer people, respectively.

By: Margaret DeLacy

Margaret DeLacy — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:52:50 +0000

What I would like to see would be a project that took students to a different kind of workplace that did not have strong gender stereotypes associated with it–say the Post Office–and see what sort of “before” and “after” pictures the boys and girls drew and what they felt they learned from their visit. Perhaps they will learn that mail sorters are also ordinary people who have families and outside interests.

By: FEMInistLAB « Fortschritt wird gemacht

FEMInistLAB « Fortschritt wird gemacht — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:56:48 +0000

[...] fÃ¼hrt der Besuch einer Schulklasse zu solch schÃ¶nen Ergebnissen (via geek feminism) (oder inzwischen eingedeutscht) * Among girls (14 in total), 36% portrayed a female scientist in [...]