WEEKLY WHINE

Interaction: The fuzzy gender line

Myers: Good evening, and welcome once again to Interaction, where you make the questions, our guests make the answers, and I make the jokes. This week we'll be discussing gender roles and what makes males and females so different. Why don't men watch daytime soaps? Why don't women watch sport? Why doesn't anybody watch UPN? And how much of all this is genetic as opposed to the way we bring our children up? To help illuminate these subjects, we'll begin right off with our Interaction IQ, the Initial Question. Today it's from Mark in Tulsa, OK, USA. He wants to know if children decide on their own whether to play with GI Joe action figures or Barbie dolls, or whether they just play with whatever adults get them. Well, with us first in New York, NY, USA is the culture historian and author of What, Me Ask for Directions?, Mr Barry Teckington.

Teckington: We've always forced our children into roles they don't want. Let them play with whatever they choose.

Myers: In Sundsvall, Sweden, coach of the Sundsvall Lions women's ice hockey team, Mr Jan Östroff.

Östroff: I don't know. I work with grown women.

Myers: Joining us from Daejeon, Korea Republic is the editor of the Asian Journal of Sexual Oppositions, Ms Jin Kei Oh.

Jin: No, most studies have shown that girls choose the dolls on their own, and boys choose the action figures. Although when I was growing up in a small town outside Seogwipo, my family had nothing. We couldn't afford dolls or action figures. All I had to play with was a brick. Oh sure, my parents will tell you that I loved that brick, that I dressed it up with a little hat and a little scarf and a little pair of glasses. But that's not what I wanted.

Myers: And with me here in Warwickshire is the chair of the gender studies department at Portland State University in Portland, ME, USA, Ms Sarah Smicek.

Smicek: Well, it is true that kids will usually go with the toys in accordance with their own gender roles. But there can be exceptions, and there has always been debate about that, since most such studies have involved children in groups. And so we just don't know yet whether peer pressure has a role to play there as well.

Myers: And I'm Debbie Myers. I played with My Little Tony, the Mafia action figures. Well, let's talk a bit more about differences in boys and girls. Barry, do kids actually behave differently at young ages, and how do their gender roles affect their upbringing?

Teckington: It isn't just that boys play with one kind of toy and girls play with another. It's not nearly that simple. In general, yes, more boys play with GI Joe and more girls play with Barbie. But there are also a lot of boys who play with the Barbie dolls. Of course, quite a few of them have the Barbies fighting one another. Indeed, a popular activity is taking off Ken's head or rotating it 360 degrees. And keep in mind, many girls do this as well.

Myers: And from the ways these children play, can any conclusions be drawn about the way they'll behave as adults?

Teckington: Sure. For example, Debbie, would you consider yourself a sports fan?

Myers: Yes, absolutely.

Teckington: Did you play with Legos as a child?

Myers: A little bit. Not much.

Teckington: Really?

Myers: Yes.

Teckington: You're sure you didn't maybe play with Legos at least, say, twelve times a year between the ages of five and twelve?

Myers: No, I don't think so.

Teckington: [crestfallen] Oh.

Myers: Jan, do your players have any common traits that would have led to them taking up ice hockey?

Östroff: Yes, they do.

Myers: What would that be?

Östroff: They all like hockey.

Myers: And how did they become hockey aficionadas?

Östroff: Most of them kept playing until they ended up on our team.

Myers: Did they have siblings or parents who played hockey?

Östroff: Some did. Others didn't.

Myers: And what about those who didn't? How did they get into ice hockey?

Östroff: By accident.

Myers: What sort of accident?

Östroff: Well, one of our players actually did begin playing hockey by an actual accident.

Myers: Who was that?

Östroff: Tara.

Myers: What happened to her?

Östroff: Her moped crashed.

Myers: How did that relate to hockey?

Östroff: Well, Lena was there.

Myers: And who's Lena?

Östroff: Lena is one of our backup goaltenders.

Myers: How was Lena involved in the accident?

Östroff: She was a witness.

Myers: And how did that prompt Tara to take up hockey?

Östroff: Tara landed on Lena.

Myers: Landed on her?

Östroff: Yes.

Myers: So... did they spend time in hospital together?

Östroff: No.

Myers: Why not?

Östroff: Lena was wearing her goaltender's equipment.

Myers: Why?

Östroff: She was walking to the rink for a training session.

Myers: All right, well, I think that took much longer than it needed. Let's move on to our viewer questions. Remember, you have several ways to contact us here at Interaction, including telephone, telegraph, snail mail, E-mail, facsimile, smoke signals, semaphore, and spelling it out in bugs. Let's go now to the telephone lines for a question from Doug in Snake River, Qld, Australia. Doug, are you there?

Doug in Snake River: Yeah. Hi.

Myers: Hello Doug. What is your question?

Doug in Snake River: Well, as a male, I've often fantasised about seeing girls naked.

Myers: Um... congratulations.

Doug in Snake River: Thank you. Anyway, what I want to know is, do girls fantasise about seeing guys naked?

Myers: No. Next question.

Smicek: Wait, hang on.

Myers: Yes?

Smicek: He sounded kind of cute.

Myers: You thought he sounded cute?

Smicek: Yeah. Didn't you?

Myers: God, no. He sounded like a randy teenager with hormones raging.

Smicek: Don't you like randy teenagers with hormones raging?

Myers: No. I got my fill of that in school, thank you.

Teckington: [sniggering] Yeah, I bet you got your fill.

Smicek: Heh. Yeah, I got my fill too.

Myers: Yes. Anyway...

Östroff: I don't get it.

Myers: Well, good. Let's move on to our next question. Yamila in Portland, ME, USA, are you there?

Yamila in Portland: [connection breaking in and out] Ye... ...ve a quest... ...sor Smicek.

Myers: Okay Yamila. We can't hear you very well, but it sounded like you've got a question for Sarah.

Smicek: Hi Yamila. How's the fishing?

Yamila in Portland: It's n... ...th all th... we've collected tho... ...fot but not...

Myers: Do you know Yamila?

Smicek: Yes. She's one of my students.

Myers: Good. Well, Yamila, what is your question?

Yamila in Portland: Is testosterone r... ...ed to na... ...ty?

Myers: Well, you know the rules around here. If we can't understand your question, we reserve the right to make one up. And the question we're going to give you, Yamila, is this: Is testosterone really needed for navigation ability? Sarah?

Smicek: No.

Myers: Can you navigate?

Smicek: No, but I can row a boat.

Myers: Um... good for you.

Smicek: Canoe?

Myers: What?

Smicek: Canoe?

Myers: Stop that.

Östroff: I don't get it.

Myers: Good. Kei, is testosterone needed for navigation ability?

Jin: No. It's purely a myth that men can navigate better than women. Studies have demonstrated conclusively that there is little if any difference in navigational ability between men and women.

Teckington: Well, that's simply not true. There was a recent study that was able to link navigation ability with testosterone levels.

Jin: There were loads of problems with that study. They didn't identify environmental factors or any other external influences.

Teckington: I saw that study. It was a good one.

Jin: No it wasn't.

Teckington: Yes it was. And if you'd played with something other than your brick, you'd know that.

Jin: Don't say that about Mr Brickley!

Smicek: "Mr Brickley"?

Jin: Shut up! You don't understand Mr Brickley! Don't you patronise him!

Östroff: I don't get that, either.

Jin: [to something in her hands] Don't listen to them, Mr Brickley. They don't know you like I do.

Myers: Well, I think that'll have to be it for this week's edition of Interaction. Thanks to Ms Sarah Smicek, Ms Jin Kei Oh, Mr Jan Östroff, and Mr Barry Teckington for being here tonight. Next week we'll be discussing the revolution in Kyrgyzstan, and we'll have resistance leaders from two opposition parties, a volunteer police officer from Bishkek, and a parliamentary clerk who needs a new job. Until then, good night.

Jin: Of course, Mr Brickley. Of course you can have a new bowtie.

Teckington: [sniggering] Sounds like she hasn't gotten her fill of Mr Brickley yet.