Gender confusion

No, not that kind, I mean actually determining who is male and who is female.

We have this game called "Guess Who," where you have a field of faces and have to determine which person your opponent has by asking questions like, "Does your person have blond hair?" etc... The faces are a bit cartoon-ish, and some are more androgynous than others. I think they're trying hard not to stereotype, but it leaves Emmett checking the names to determine gender for a few of them. And one of the sweet-faced men has a beard. That usually clues Emmett in.

I only mention it because in another drawing, Emmett was having trouble identifying this one person as female. She's old and drawn with a fairly "severe" face - he was surprised when I told him she was female.

While I can see what in the drawings is causing the confusion, it's interesting because I of course have no trouble identifying the drawings as male or female. It must be something we learn.

Comments

Julie said…
I always wondered myself how kids know the difference. Damek's never seemed to have any confusion (as of yet), but Kyan does. Also at this time Kyan refers to everyone as "he" or whether it's a boy or a girl always asks "what's his name?" I guess in this instance he's not really having gender confusion, but just hasn't added the proper words to his vocabulary. Although I sometimes cringe if we're at the store and he asks me "what's his name" in earshot of the woman he's asking about:)

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Thanks, Emmett.