Maybe if we didn’t divide people by sex and assign gender norms from birth we would learn how to interact before puberty without sexual objectification.
Part of the problem with teenagers - particularly young teenagers - is that they’re very self-obsessed and mood driven. Like, it’s easy to say “just raise your kids better” when you’re not deal with the bubbling caldron of hormones kettled inside a head that literally physically hasn’t fully developed the faculties to process the emotions.
That’s not to defend gender norms. But it’s certainly easier to go with the “Lord of the Flies” flow than it is to bend the tidal force that is clichish, selfish, horny, and often violent teenage base tendencies.
It would make navigating teenage years a lot easier if we started than with a gender/sex diverse social group
It’s helpful when teenagers have a group they can empathize with at an early age. But that doesn’t work at a summer camp full of people who haven’t met before.
Kids routinely can and do self-segregate along age and appearance and behavior. It takes a lot of human labor to undo the natural impulses of young kids.
And that means hiring more people, which costs more money, which cuts into the profit of the camp owners.
We definitely make it hard on parents. I’m making no conjecture on such a societal difference would impact parental workloads. That’s another conversation worth having though.
That said, i think it should be pretty easy not to tease or shame children for being friends with the other sex. And gender neutral clothing costs the same as gendered clothing so 🤷
Parents biases/behaviors impact their children for sure!
Again, I’m talking about how the teenage years can benefit from a different approach in earlier childhood than traditional norms. Teens are learning to be adults, they need autonomy and space to explore themselves. I only commented that they have the capacity to understand consent.
E.g. a 6yo doesn’t benefit from being dressed in pink or robin egg blue, and children pick up on this stuff even if unconsciously because the rest of society reacts to it.
Part of the problem with teenagers - particularly young teenagers - is that they’re very self-obsessed and mood driven. Like, it’s easy to say “just raise your kids better” when you’re not deal with the bubbling caldron of hormones kettled inside a head that literally physically hasn’t fully developed the faculties to process the emotions.
That’s not to defend gender norms. But it’s certainly easier to go with the “Lord of the Flies” flow than it is to bend the tidal force that is clichish, selfish, horny, and often violent teenage base tendencies.
It’s helpful when teenagers have a group they can empathize with at an early age. But that doesn’t work at a summer camp full of people who haven’t met before.
Kids routinely can and do self-segregate along age and appearance and behavior. It takes a lot of human labor to undo the natural impulses of young kids.
And that means hiring more people, which costs more money, which cuts into the profit of the camp owners.
We definitely make it hard on parents. I’m making no conjecture on such a societal difference would impact parental workloads. That’s another conversation worth having though.
That said, i think it should be pretty easy not to tease or shame children for being friends with the other sex. And gender neutral clothing costs the same as gendered clothing so 🤷
I think a lot of parents of young girls are terrified that their kids will be attacked by young boys. So they cloister them deliberately.
A lot of parents of young boys are terrified that they’ll turn out gay. So they pressure them to be toxically masculine.
They’re significantly cheaper, by and large. But by the time you’re dealing with teenagers, they’re largely dressing themselves.
Try to explain to a 15 year old that he shouldn’t be emulating hyper-masculine/feminine media personalities.
Parents biases/behaviors impact their children for sure!
Again, I’m talking about how the teenage years can benefit from a different approach in earlier childhood than traditional norms. Teens are learning to be adults, they need autonomy and space to explore themselves. I only commented that they have the capacity to understand consent.
E.g. a 6yo doesn’t benefit from being dressed in pink or robin egg blue, and children pick up on this stuff even if unconsciously because the rest of society reacts to it.