We were asked to ponder about how we might act different if we had been born the other gender. We talked about the differences perhaps that would have been in our families, who we might have affected, and what roles would have changed.  If I had been born a boy instead of a girl I would have been expected to do more outside work.  My dad would have been more strict with me in requiring that I go out and milk the goats, water the garden and plants, work on the cars, and construct things. I, myself would feel I needed to be more brave-with heights, movies, hunting, gutting fish, and taking care of bloody or gruesome things. As a girl I was expected to do dishes, cook, tend the children, and play the piano and do inside labor.

Although the expectations that we get from our environment makes a big difference on how we act, no matter how we are raised, boys and girls will act different. Girls have more estrogen which causes them to act more tender and feminine even if they are raised in an environment to act more like boys.  We identified some of the differences in girls and boys:



Boys:                                                                                         Girls:

Aggressive                                                                              Passive

Competitive                                                                            Cooperative

Spatial Orientation (north-south, east-west)                           Detail-Land Mark Orientation

Task Orientation                                                                     Relationship

There are three specific things that impact the difference, and each impacts the other:  Behavioral Tnedances>Brain>Environment, or how others treat us.