The Gendering of the Young

[julieisafemme]

Originally Posted by Cyclopea

Not sure what you're saying here julieisafemme... I meant objective observation related to your thoughts posted above (about how Pop can still observe gender class without yet being part of it). I did not mean that two year olds possess adult analytic capacity and abstract thinking, simply that Pop can observe while not yet being a part of.

Ah! I understand. I was kind of speaking more to myself there! When I posted at first I was not really thinking about the child's age. Ruthie brought me back to my own child's toddler days and I started thinking about how would a child view her or himself if their gender was never referred to? I am caught up in trying to imagine this. Children at that age are so concrete and like to label things. Anyway it is a very interesting subject. Sorry to confuse you!