{
    "href": "/post/2011/12/14/evidence-that-gender-roles-are-not-socially-constructed/",
    "relId": "2011/12/14/evidence-that-gender-roles-are-not-socially-constructed",
    "title": "Evidence That Gender Roles Are Not \"Socially Constructed\" ?",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/science/",
            "relId": "science",
            "title": "Science",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        }
    ],
    "created": "2011-12-14 16:43:06 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2011-12-14 16:43:06 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>Jonas and Wyatt Maines were born identical twins, but from the start each had a distinct personality.</p>\n<p>Jonas was all boy. He loved Spiderman, action figures, pirates, and swords.</p>\n<p>Wyatt favored pink tutus and beads. At 4, he insisted on a Barbie birthday cake and had a thing for mermaids. On Halloween, Jonas was Buzz Lightyear. Wyatt wanted to be a princess; his mother compromised on a prince costume.</p>\n<p>Once, when Wyatt appeared in a sequin shirt and his mother\u00e2\u0080\u0099s heels, his father said: \u00e2\u0080\u009cYou don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t want to wear that.\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u009cYes, I do,\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Wyatt replied.</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u009cDad, you might as well face it,\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Wayne recalls Jonas saying. \u00e2\u0080\u009cYou have a son and a daughter.\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099</p>\n<p>...</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u009cEven when we did all the boy events to see if she would \u00e2\u0080\u0098conform,\u00e2\u0080\u0099 she would just put her shirt on her head as hair, strap on some heels and join in,\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Kelly says. \u00e2\u0080\u009cIt wasn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t really a matter of encouraging her to be a boy or a girl. That came about naturally.\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099</p>\n<p>Kelly and Wayne didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t look at it as a choice their child was making.</p>\n<p>\u00e2\u0080\u009cShe really is a girl,\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099 Kelly says, \u00e2\u0080\u009ca girl born with a birth defect. That\u00e2\u0080\u0099s how she looks at it.\u00e2\u0080\u0099\u00e2\u0080\u0099</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Seems like this person, who was physically a boy and treated as a boy and pushed into conforming as a boy, felt like a girl the whole time. Seems hard to argue that's a social construction (nurture) and not an innate characteristic (nature).  Via <em><a href=\"http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/12/11/led_by_the_child_who_simply_knew/?page=full\">Led by the child who simply knew - The Boston Globe</a></em>.</p>\n"
}