Fourth Post: Video

Hello Hello, my last post was supposed to be up Friday but as I was typing it I realized I was almost late for my new job and instantly stopped. Sorry about that one! But while I was at my new job, working the daycare at a gym I had two brothers come in. One was ten and the other seven, based on their dress I could clearly notice their interest in skate boarding. So right as we started talking skate boarding was mentioned, and the older brother asked if I skateboarded and before I could even answer his younger brother said girls don't skate board! To my surprise his brother answered with of course they can! I was happy to see his realization about gender stereotypes at such a young age. This was not the only time he reprimanded his brother, the older one kept making comments on how the younger one just wanted to copy him, and that he didn't really like skate boarding, or try it for more than 10 seconds. This started me on thinking about how families act as another social agent. As a seven year old he probably doesn't actually know much about skateboarding but with the constant exposure to his brothers (a little more advanced but probably still underdeveloped) passion for it, he knew he must love it too. If he didn't have that older brother would he still love skateboarding? Did their parents teach them that was a fun thing for boys to do or by nature were they attracted to it? Nature vs. nurture is a huge debate in the world of psychology. Many people agree that a little bit of both form our individual identities. But what if the child being raised is exposed to an abnormal type of parenting, one that is sure nurturing but does not inflict stereotypes that in today's society may or may not be confused with nature. This was the reality for Sasha Laxton. His parents chose to conceal his gender from the public up until he turned five last year. His Mother Beck Laxton reported that she wanted to avoid stereotyping and feels that gender roles may skew a childs potential. Embedded above is an interview with the parents of Sasha. 

While I believe in their intent to let the child discover his or herself, I feel as though the parents did not completely take the right approach and that Sasha may have been over exposed to a traditional female role leading to him behaving in a much more feminine manner, still resulting in conformity just with opposing means to the norm for a male. It may have been difficult for the parents not to inflict a personal biased on him, being that Beck was a feminist and disprove of toys with camo or skulls. It will be interesting to see if Sasha's "nature" of being a male contradicts his "nurture"  as he grows up.