Performance Task
GWS 3500-Honors
Psychological Perspectives on Gender
Dr. Joetta Carr
August 8, 2012
Gender-Neutral Parenting?
 Is it advantageous for children academically,
socially, psychologically?
 Is it possible?
 Is it worth the extra effort by parents?
 Can it be harmful to children?
 Is there evidence to support it?
Riley on Marketing
www.http://youtube/
Scenario
 You are a family therapist working with a young
family. The wife and husband are very conflicted
about how to raise their boy & girl, ages 1 and 3.
The husband wants to raise them in traditional
gender roles, but the wife wants to raise them in a
more gender-neutral, non-stereotypical manner,
avoiding gender binaries. These conflicts have
come to a head and the couple is considering
divorce.
Role of Family Therapist
 Your role is to guide the parents in their childrearing
decisions by:
* introducing them to “best practices”
* weighing the evidence for and against
* drawing conclusions based on evidence
* facilitating their communications
* identifying their gender stereotypes
* facilitating their negotiations on this issue
Product
 A Written Report to the Parents reviewing
the pros and cons of gender-neutral
parenting based on available evidence and
making a professional recommendation to
them
Skills Needed by Students
 Information Literacy Evaluation
 Media Literacy Evaluation
 Weighing Evidence
 Drawing Conclusions Based on Evidence
 Detecting Flaws in Logic or Research
 Identifying “Holes” in Research
 Critical Thinking
Unifying Themes and Theories
 Gender Performance & Accomplishment
 Gender Norms and Nonconformity
 Heteronormativity
 Homophobia
 Patterns of Parental Gender Typing
 Hegemonic Masculinity
 Enforcing Gender Boundaries
How process replicates real world
process
 Making decisions about parenting using
evidence-based practices in the best
interests of the child and the culture
Dimensions of Gender-Neutral
Parenting
 Clothing
 Toys and Play
 TV/Videos
 Books
 Peers
 Education
 Sports
 Activities
 Emotionality
 Passivity
 Gender
Awareness
 Parental Verbal &
Nonverbal
Behaviors
Document A
 “NO WAY MY BOYS ARE GOING TO BE LIKE THAT!”
Parents’ Responses to Children’s Gender
Nonconformity by Emily Kane
 Drawing on qualitative interviews with parents of preschool children, the author
addresses parental responses to children’s gender nonconformity. The author’s
analyses indicate that parents welcome what they perceive as gender nonconformity
among their young daughters, while their responses in relation to sons are more
complex. Many parents across racial and class backgrounds accept or encourage
some tendencies they consider atypical for boys. But this acceptance is balanced by
efforts to approximate hegemonic ideals of masculinity. The author considers these
patterns in the context of gender as an interactional accomplishment, demonstrating
that parents are often consciously aware of their own role in accomplishing gender
with and for their sons. Heterosexual fathers are especially likely to be motivated in
that accomplishment work by their own personal endorsement of hegemonic
masculinity, while heterosexual mothers and gay parents are more likely to be
motivated by accountabil ity to others in relation to those ideals.
Exhibit B
 Tomboy Video
Animated short film by Barb Taylor
Document C
 The American Academy of Pediatrics (1999, 143) includes
this advice under the section heading “When Gender
Identity Becomes Confused”
 Some families try hard to treat all their children similarly, regardless
of sex. But this type of childrearing can deny inherent differences
among youngsters. Also, even when gender-neutral childrearing is
attempted, it is very difficult to accomplish. . . . Gender-neutral
childrearing has the advantage of helping parents and youngsters
identify universally desirable human traits and values they would like
to adopt and promote. It also might enhance relationships between
boys and girls (and men and women). However, keep in mind that
boys and girls are sometimes inclined toward different interests and
behaviors. If you ignore biological differences, you can deny children
the opportunities to build on their innate strengths.
Document D
 WILLIAM WANTS A DOLL. CAN HE HAVE ONE?
Feminists, Child Care Advisors, and Gender-Neutral
Child Rearing
 KARIN A. MARTIN University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
 Using an analysis of child care books and parenting Web sites, this
article asks if second-wave femi- nism’s vision of gender-neutral
child rearing has been incorporated into contemporary advice on
child rearing. The data suggest that while feminist understandings
of gender have made significant inroads into popular advice,
especially with regard to the social construction of gender,
something akin to “a stalled revolution” has taken place. Children’s
gender nonconformity is still viewed as problematic because it is
linked implicitly and explicitly to homosexuality.
Document E
Should the World of Toys Be Gender-Free?
By PEGGY ORENSTEIN (New York Times, Dec 29, 2011)
 Hamleys, which is London’s 251-year-old version of F.A.O. Schwarz, recently
dismantled its pink “girls” and blue “boys” sections in favor of a genderneutral store with red-and-white signage. Rather than floors dedicated to
Barbie dolls and action figures, merchandise is now organized by types.
 That free-to-be gesture was offset by Lego, whose Friends collection, aimed
at girls, will hit stores this month with the goal of becoming a holiday musthave by the fall. Set in fictive Heartlake City (and supported by a $40 million
marketing campaign), the line features new, pastel-colored blocks
Document F
It’s A Boy! Couple Reveal the Sex of Their ‘Gender
Neutral” Kid After Five Years (Newspaper article:
The Sun UK, video)
A couple who concealed the sex of their child and raised it as ‘gender
neutral’ for FIVE YEARS have finally revealed - it’s a BOY.
Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44, decided not to reveal baby
Sasha’s gender in the hope it would let its ’real’ personality shine through.
They referred to it as “The Infant” and only allowed their child to play with
’gender-neutral toys’ in their television-free home.
During the first five years of his life, Sasha has alternated between girls’ and
boys’ outfits, leaving friends, playmates and relatives guessing.
Document G
 feminist debates: spring 2011
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 DE 04/11: Gender-Neutral Parenting
Document H
 Louann Brizendine. 2007. The Female Brain. London:
Bantam Press.
“One of my patients gave her 3 ½ year old daughter many
unisex toys, including a bright red fire truck instead of a doll.
She walked into her daughter’s room…to find her cuddling the
truck in a baby blanket, rocking it back and forth saying, “Don’t
worry, little truckie, everything will be all right.”
Document I
 10 Myths About Gender Neutral
Parenting—A Blog by Arwyn Arising. Raising My
Boychick, 2011.
Classroom Application
 Students work on parts of performance tasks over time
 Do I divide class into for and against or have them choose?
 Do they work in groups or individually?
 Shall I orchestrate a formal debate?
 Students do additional research to obtain research
 Task coincides with reading memoir on gender-neutral
parenting experiment