World Cup Debate - Round Robin: Gender neutrality in elementary and preschools

So, why gender neutrality? It's key to understand that gender is not a binary condition. The World Health Organization provides solid definitions of both: "'Sex' refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. 'Gender' refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women."[1] And this is key. Those words, "socially constructed" show how thoroughly gender roles are defined for us by society at large. Rather than being able to decide our gender based upon our own roles, behaviors and activities, we have it defined for us by the restrictions placed on us by our societies. This is true of both men and women, each of whom is taught to embody the masculine and feminine gender categories respectively. Part of the problem here is that the WHO is actually describing the definition of gender roles rather than gender identity. As Dr. Christine Milrod, a sex therapist, researcher and life coach, explains: "Gender identity " the feeling of knowing if we are male or female is in the brain, independent of what others say. This is borne out in the thousands of transgendered children worldwide who are reared according to their biological sex and assumed gender identity, but despite any type of environmental cues, socialization, culture, etc. emphatically state that they are the opposite gender. Gender role, on the other hand, is largely a cultural construct, with biological input. So children form an opinion of gender roles based on the culture and society around them, whereas gender identity will be experienced internally without being affected by any external cues."[2] This applies on a large number of levels. Teachers are effectively altering a number of behaviors of boys and girls based solely on how we treat them. This has been shown to alter language skills, and outgoing and emotional behaviors.[3] In a society that is supposed to value freedom and equality, we are doing our children a disservice by placing them in a system that pressures them to adhere to societal norms that are viewed as most acceptable rather than allowing them to define their identity themselves. It is one thing to provide a learning experience, it is quite another to imprint the stereotypes we've lived with in the children of this generation. And yet we do this every day. We act on our biases unconsciously in many ways, and they affect much of our lives, whether we're talking about hiring practices and incomes,[4] performance in educational pursuits.[5] physicality,[6] social behavior.[7] This behavior forces expectations on each sex, ignoring gender identity and discriminating unfairly. This leads to parents subconsciously making it more difficult for girls to become physically active, more difficult for boys to become less social.[8] Teachers influence a child's toy preference, math performance, verbal ability, willingness to engage in risk-taking, physical aggression, and emotional expression.[9] This is because teachers' expectations shape student outcomes. This is known as the Pygmalion Effect, and has been corroborated in multiple studies.[10] Young girls are especially vulnerable to the effects on their ability to learn math.[11] The stereotype that girls can't do math as well as boys "is acquired early and influences emerging math self-concepts prior to ages at which there are actual differences in math achievement."[12] The actual psychological differences between boys and girls are not held up in the data.[13] Who is affected by this? Any student would be, since they will be subject to biases that seek to define their gender identities for them. For some, the identity they're given is the one they would choose in any case, but the mere act of letting them find that out for themselves can be hugely beneficial. For others, they will be able to discover their gender identities in their own time without external direction, at least in the school setting, where much of their time is spent in their formative years. Nearly every student has their learning directed by their gender stereotypes. This leads to substantial differences in the path each sex takes through life. Especially when we look at science and math-related careers, early life education and the influences of authority figures play a large role in how men and women regard the fields.[14] Current practices effectively exclude more members of the male or female sex from certain jobs, and even affect pay structures.[4] It's institutionalized discrimination, and should in no way be accepted. But there are students who are more deeply affected. We could look to the genderless population, which is composed of children who have incomplete biological characteristics that normally define girls and boys. These children are forced, in order to avoid condescension and derision, to choose a false identity in order to fit in.[15] We could look to those with gender identity disorder (GID), who are at odds with the sex they were assigned at birth and its associated gender roles.[16] Anyone identifying as genderqueer, which encompasses a wide variety of gender identities, similarly has identity issues in the current system.[17] These people are under pressure to conform in status quo, and the psychological trauma suffered from living their lives lying to others and often themselves doesn't disappear after childhood.[18] As a result of this system, many remain closeted about their gender identity, partially because of the guilt and shame experienced during early childhood as a result of gender stereotypes.[19][20] Children are pushed to hide their gender-based behaviors, which actually diminish as they age as a result.[21][22] That pressure is removed in a gender neutral system, and the psychological issues are thus ameliorated. With that, I'll leave it to Con to establish his case. 1. http://www.who.int... 2. http://www.mommyish.com... 3. http://www.nytimes.com... 4. http://www.pnas.org... 5. http://www.news.wisc.edu... 6. http://steinhardt.nyu.edu... 7. http://link.springer.com... 8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 9. http://www.wskc.org... 10. http://www.ccsenet.org... 11. http://www.pnas.org... 12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 13. http://www.careerpioneernetwork.org... 14. http://www.pnas.org... 15. www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/05/24/genderless-from-birth/ 16. http://en.wikipedia.org... 17. http://en.wikipedia.org... 18. Burke, P. (1996). Gender shock: Exploding the myths of male and female. New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday. Vol.1, Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, pp. 163-174. 19. Bornstein, K. (1994). Gender outlaw: On men, women, and the rest of us. New York and London: Routledge. 20. Docter, R. (1988). Transvestites and Transsexuals: Towards a Theory of Gender Behavior. New York: Plenum Press. 21. http://focus.psychiatryonline.org... 22. http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com... 23. http://download.springer.com... (Hopefully all those links work. If not, I'll find and repost them in the comments.)