Both times it was actually the same baby, both times wearing a yellow onesie.
Baby Mary was more frequently offered the doll to play with, while Baby Johnny was offered the ball. Katz in the 1970s showed how differently children were treated by adults, depending on whether they assumed that the child was male or female. This is not new: the so-called Baby-X experiments from psychologist Phyllis A. Gender bias - the unconscious attribution of preferences, qualities and abilities based on gender - begins in the nursery. Gender expert Aline Oloff even sees a connection between these stereotypical attributions in early childhood with later career choices: "If you look at children's toys alone, they’re offered different concepts for their future development depending on whether they are girls or boys." Whether clothing, toys or products - the two-part narrative of the pink glittering princess versus the adventurous hero is omnipresent in the advertising world. The influence of gendered marketing is so strong that it is becoming increasingly difficult for children to discover their own inclinations and interests. Puting children into a box and closing it The food giant Maggi is not the only one marketing food like soup according to gender.
"But if children are constantly classified as boys or girls and their environment sets out clear expectations of the child, this can impair individual development," says the developmental psychologist. Maybe she prefers to play with cars rather than dolls. In other words, even if the child's name is Lisa and she likes clothes and pretty hairstyles, she can still have other preferences and characteristics that aren't considered typically "girly.". "But what is important," says the expert, "is that we don't stop at this first, automatic classification, but rather follow an open thinking process." In many ways, it makes sense to divide the world into categories. Read more: Gene editing of babies could be ethical, experts say This helps us understand our environment and make predictions. "Classifying things into categories, for example 'animate/inanimate', 'animal/human being', 'boy/girl', develops very early on in infancy," she explains. She researches developmental psychology and knows a lot about categorization. Nevertheless, to many people the distinction between "boys and girls" is so important that they feel compelled to showcase it from the very beginning with gendered colors, clothes and accessories. Height, shoe size or hip size: until puberty, most children develop in the same way. She says: "I asked, but they are serious… #pinklightbluetrap #deliveryroom #midwifetraining." One commenter jokes: "Sorry Mrs Miller: your son has accidentally become a daughter - we confused the scissors when cutting the umbilical cord." The below tweet was posted by a German midwife in training. How will we know, they ask, what to buy for the child? Read more: Who's the daddy: Does it really matter where your DNA comes from?Īmong our friends, however, this perspective is hard to understand. Whether penis or vulva, sex is only one of many characteristics that will make up our child. Genitals can’t tell us whether our child will be wild and adventurous, good and loving, and certainly not whether it prefers pink or blue. Will it have blue eyes from its father and my brown curls? Will it inherit dad’s bright character or my brooding nature? But the question of the sex of our future child is - quite deliberately - not one we ask ourselves.
Of course we're curious about our future baby.