Cultural Pressure On Sex Differences

This paper suggests that sex differences in the behavior of children exist but are not necessarily intensified under certain cultural conditions. Under conditions of culture change to a sedentary economy, certain elements of male and female differentiated behavior are exploited in the process of increasing sex differentiation. The proponents of primarily environmental determination of sex differences often point to cultural forces such as economic requirements for sexual division of labor and attendant parallel sex role socialization of children and suggest that sex differences in skill, temperament, and behavioral style are results of the different experiences which individuals encounter in performing sex specific tasks. Thus the greater assertiveness, achievement, and self-reliance widely reported for males (both young and adult) has been interpreted as deriving from characteristically masculine experiences (Murdock 1949: 204–206; Barry, et al. 1957). Females are reported to be more nurturant, obedient, sensitive to the needs of others, and some claim that this results from pressure for particular kinds of behaviors in anticipation of eventual motherhood and primary child rearing responsibilities. In many societies girls get direct practical training in nurturant and prosocial1 behaviors because they are expected to take care of younger children, whereas boys typically are not. Ember (1973) provides an ingenious case study of the capacity of child caretaking and other typically feminine tasks to increase the frequency of prosocial and nurturant behaviors in boys. In another study Whiting and Whiting (1971) show how a particular type of work, herding, can also affect other behaviors in non-herding contexts. The implications of studies of this type are that an individual acquires habits of action and interaction which are conditioned by everyday experiences. These habits generalize or extend into other areas of an individual’s life. Therefore, to the extent that girls and boys acquire different habits in the course of sex role socialization, these behaviors are thought to carry over into other areas, contributing to the characteristic and divergent sex role stereotypes reported for most societies. This interpretation of the findings about sex differences leans heavily on social learning theory (see Gewirtz 1969; Mussen 1969; Mischel 1966; Maccoby 1959; Kagan 1964). Another interpretation of sex differences in behavior is that the sexes begin life with different repertoires of response potential and that in reaction to some categories of stimuli, at least, the sexes will respond differently, thereby conditioning differential responses in the people around them. The two types of explanation are not antagonistic, nor mutually exclusive. The latter merely assumes that biologically determined characteristics contribute to subtle differences of potential between the sexes and that