Does gender really matter in families? Think of your families and the roles each gender may play, or maybe how each gender participates in the family. I think it is important to see the differences between each gender, so that we can learn and respect each other's differences and similarities. As you think of some of your family members, think of the attitudes, reactions, or tendencies. How are the men or boys in your family different from the women or girls in your family?
Here are some tendencies that come out more often in boys/men vs girls/women, the boys/men seem to be more physical even as children. I think of my family and my 5 brothers, there was always a wrestling match with dad or a nerf war going on throughout the entire house. Where as my sisters and I would be playing "School" or "Babies", or even playing with play dough/coloring and talking
as we do so. It is more of social interactions than physical interactions as with boys. Something a little bit similar that both genders might have is an aggressive or violent nature. When boys wrestle or fight or even get in arguments it's more aggressive and violent. With women/girls it's more verbally or emotionally aggressive and violent. I can think of many girls I knew growing up who were so violent with the way they spoke to others, it was almost like the words she used would hurt more than any physical pain.
Women/girls are more relationship oriented. They also promote collaboration and teamwork, by encouraging communication and building positive relationships. They focus on communication and asking questions to try and resolve a situation. With men they are focused on the spatial orientation, pay more attention to the way their surroundings are laid out. They have the tendencies to fix an solve problems. I think of the men/boys I know in my life and they always have this need to fix a problem. Whether it be to fix the dishwasher or to fix an argument as soon as possible, they want it solved. There is also a difference in learning, girls learn how to talk faster than boys learn.
One of the things that stuck out to me from learning about genders in the family is the facts about how the brain is different. Women/girls have white matter in their brain than men/boys, White matter is tissue in the brain composed of nerve fibers. The fibers (called axons) connect nerve cells and are covered by myelin (a type of fat). The myelin is what gives white matter its white color. Myelin speeds up the signals between the cells, enabling the brain cells to quickly send and receive messages. For most women, all things connect! As for men, Grey matter is made up of mostly somas and dendrites, where the integration and initiation of local information takes place, in other words information is processed and passed in close proximity to other neurons. It's more of a storage processor. Something that can help you learn more about this with this link to Mark Gungor's video called "A tale of two Brains" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29JPnJSmDs0)
I shared a few examples of how men/boys and women/girls are different. There is a reason that each gender is different, we each have certain roles and things to accomplish here. I believe women were born to nurture and men were born to protect, provide and preside. Now that doesn't mean that the opposite gender can't do the opposite role. But it is in our DNA to be the gender we were born to be, it was given to us for a reason.
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