Katha Pollitt’s “Why Boys Don’t
Play with Dolls”
In “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls,” Katha
Pollitt says, “It’s twenty-eight years since the founding of NOW, and boys
still like trucks and girls still like dolls” (522). But further on, she says
that “Instead of looking at kids to ‘prove’ that differences in behavior by sex
are innate, we can look at the ways we raise kids as an index to how unfinished
the feminist revolution really is” (523). This statement appears to reveal that
Pollitt believes that the feminist movement can go further, and that, it is the
parents who teach their children, not a movement alone. I believe that the parent’s
side of this is true. For instance, if a parent teaches his son to be polite to
women, his son will live that out. However, a parent cannot make their son into
a daughter or vice versa; there are inherent differences between boys and
girls: most little boys want to kill the bad guys and play war, but most little
girls want to play house and play with a baby, whether it be a doll or an
animal.
Pollitt states, “Theories of innate differences in behavior are
appealing. They let parents off the hook” (524). While innate differences in
behavior due to gender are accepted by many people, I would not agree that
those beliefs are appealing or let parents off the hook. If anything, those who
believe in gender differences have a harder time teaching their children how to
be little ladies or gentlemen than those that teach their child to conform to
the popular feminist ideals of today. Gender differences are a blessing, not a
curse. History and the Bible have shown men as the warriors, strong leaders, and
fathers and women as mothers and virtuous examples of kindness, diligence and
love.
“The paradox is that the world of rigid and
hierarchical sex roles evoked by determinist theories is already passing away…Biological
determinism may reassure some adults about their present, but it is feminism,
the ideology of flexible and converging sex roles, that it fits our children’s
future” (524).
This
quote seems to be a bash of traditional values. And while I would agree that
gender distinction is the unpopular belief at this time, I do not believe that
it is wrong. The most disturbing aspect of Mrs. Pollett’s essay is her claim
that gender is not really important, and that it does not necessarily mean
anything about you or comprise any part of your identity. While it is true that
both men and women can do well at a corporate job, when women completely
abandon the home, her family suffers. Likewise, when a man completely leaves
work, his family suffers, the man rejects his role as the leader of his home,
as a provider; and resorts to the role of an effeminate. Therefore, I have to
argue that an evolving view of gender is detrimental, not beneficial.
Pollitt concludes that we all give messages
to children, she says that we naturally impose our ideas and opinion upon them;
however, “The question, as always, is what do we want those messages to be?”
(524). Despite the messages that we unconsciously give, I still believe that
little boys will be little boys and littler girls will be little girls. No one
can ever totally erase that. There are innate sexual characteristics that
cannot be ironed out merely by what society or parents teach. God has designed
boys to grow into men and girls into women, these sexes are different in many
respects and both are needed in our society. Women, mothers, wives, and sisters
are needed just as much as men, fathers, husbands, and uncles. Gender roles are
different.
By Ryan Marks taken from:
