Gender and Stereotypes
I appear to be quite fascinated by gender differences and stereotypes. Why? Well, it is a topic I find myself repeating. The first time I blogged about gender was way back in 2009 when I was trying to figure out how come boys become boys. Then I pointed out the differences between my husband's reading shelf and mine in 2012 and most recently when I talked about the boys' and girls' soccer team names in 2013.More Gender Stereotypes
Well, I recently visited my son's class to help with a writing assignment - the assignment was to write a "how-to" report: procedural writing.It is always enjoyable to see how they think, and the things that are top-of-mind for them. Here are some of the topics the kids chose -
Topic | Gender |
How to braid your hair | Girl |
How to do the highschool cheer | Girl |
How to do the crow (a yoga) pose | Girl |
How to lace your ice-skates | Girl |
How to tie your laces | Girl, but for some reason I expected a boy |
How to install Minecraft | Boy |
How to be a (soccer) goalie | Boy |
How to ride a bicycle | Boy |
How to find the square root of 100 | Boy |
How to read a chapter book | Boy, girl |
While I'd like to think that I do not act on stereotypes, and there were also a number of topics that could have been done by either a boy or a girl (e.g. how to whistle, wash your hands, etc.), it was amusing to see the stereotypes borne out.
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