i came across some research recently which concludes despite social pressure
boys and girls still prefer gender typical toys i boys prefer boys toys and girls prefer
girls toys 50 years of research on children's toy preferences the study says
shows that kids generally prefer toys orientated toward their own gender
a recent meta-analysis overviewed 75 studies on children's gender-related toy preferences
the results found that gender-related toy preferences may be considered
a well-established finding it's a controversial topic some people argue that these preferences
stem from social pressure while others say they're at least partly rooted in biology
gender roles have become more fluid have children's preferences towards gender typed toys
become more fluid too the study asks the short answer seems to be no for decades studies have
shown that boys and girls generally prefer playing with toys typically associated with
their biological sex toy trucks for boys and dolls for girls to give a rough example
these results have remained remarkably stable over the past 50 years according to a 2020
meta analysis of research on gender differences in toy preferences published in the academic
journal archives of sexual behavior and titled the magnitude of children's gender toy interests
has remained remarkably stable over 50 years of research the analysis examined 75 previous studies
113 effect sizes and a range of toy preference measurements and one of the statements in the
study has it no matter what society wants it's worth noting that there seems to be some
biological drivers behind children's preferences for gender typical toys the authors of the report
jack t m davis and melissa hines found quote a broad consistency of results across a large body
of research on children's gender-related toy preferences children showed large and
reliable preferences for toys that were related to their own gender thus according
to our review gender-related toy preferences may be considered a well-established finding
but no matter what society wants it's worth noting that there seem to be some biological
drivers behind children's preferences as the report suggests for example studies have shown
and i'll link to this um underneath in the description that babies tend to prefer toys
orientated to their own gender a finding because it's babies that suggest their preference is
innate because they're in the pre-socialization stage of development supporting their argument
are other studies showing that baby monkeys also display gender typical toy preferences
so it's easy to see how social pressures might affect kids toy preferences as they grow up
so the question of why kids prefer the toys that they do likely boils down to
a familiar answer the report concludes a mix of environmental and biological factors
and the report concludes as well it would be an ex it would be extreme to conclude zero influence
of biology on gender differences and toy choices and the research community is still divided on how
important biology and social factors are davis told this article and i'll link to it below as
i say now in many ways this is uh perhaps another remarkable confirmation of what the
quran says there's a verse surah chapter 3 verse 36 which states the male is not like the female
the male is not like the female this suggests that there are real meaningful differences between
the sexes right from the beginning from birth or from our life in the womb and i think science is
kind of catching up with this uh perhaps common sense observation about giving it some scientific
empirical basis and i was also reminded of a book i read years ago remembering god reflections on
islam by the british writer guy eaton sometimes called the grandfather of british islam and
i just wanted to read to you some amazing words of his is one of my favorite writers
about the gender differences and gender roles both in islam and in modernity and our modern
western context he throws much insightful light i think on this and he says on page 87
when westerners while paying lip service to the spiritual aspects of islam denounce the islamic
social system and specifically the sexual discrimination which seems to them inherent
in it they are acting true to form the imperial tradition did not expire in the 1950s it changed
its focus and the triumphant civilization still thrives on the conviction of his own superiority
notions of right and wrong are in a state of flux but at any given moment western values are not
open to question how true that is the fact that these values were different a few years ago
is irrelevant progress validates the current fashion in morals and in political correctness
as we would say now wokeness islam does indeed discriminate between male and female he writes
put simply perhaps too simply contemporary western culture tries to minimize the differences between
the sexes whereas islam maximizes them and glories in them an awareness of differences
is an aspect of intelligence an aspect of being human that was amazingly insightful
and then a little longer uh further on the chapter he says on page 93
in general however the woman the muslim woman's sphere of operation is the home in which she is
the dominant figure it is for man to go out into the storm fighting in defense of his family and
his people standing firm against the overweening power of those who hold power in their hands
earning money to maintain his household in a certain sense when he returns home he is
returning from war to peace the distinction of functions is abhorrent to modern sensibilities it
seems inherently unfair it would seem less so if the balance between work and home had not been so
gravely disturbed most people in the west today identify themselves by the work they do
their home is their dormitory the job is what matters and at a certain level professionalism
in inverted commerce is a source of pride this is an ugly word it implies the subordination of
every other aspect of life to the activity by which people earn their livelihood
in europe and america today young professionals have neither time or energy left over for their
personal lives let alone for their spiritual lives and this is a slow death of the soul
it might be better to reserve the term professional for the profession of prostitution
one of the advantages of the prayers which the muslim is commanded to perform five times each
day is that they interrupt his work and draw him back from the lesser to the greater activity the
job and all the anxieties associated with it are put in their place subornate to the act of
remembering god and giving him his jew in islam home and family are firmly situated at the center
of life in this world and of society as such a man's work in competition with his fellows
cannot take precedence over the private realm the realm in which woman is queen
only when this order of priorities is reversed can her role be seen as less significant
and less useful than that of her husband she represents stability and very often
the practical realism which restrains the male tendency to ignore facts in in favor of theories
in this context i cherish a remark attributed to the widow of karl marx how good it would
have been if carl had made some capital instead of writing so much about it
but generalizations always have to be qualified
as elsewhere there are muslim marriages in which the husband is not merely dominant but tyrannical
there are others in which the wife is clearly in charge and her husband is putty in her hands
the dominant muslim woman particularly among the arabs and the sudanese is an awe-inspiring
figure a queen whose dignity is unassailable she does not seek liberation she has no need to do so
but what about equality this word has been a slogan ever since the french revolution
and means whatever this or that ideologue wants it to mean in practice if not in principle it
has become associated with sameness since it implies comparison of like with like
are a tiger and a lion equal the question has no meaning since every human being is unique
the egalitarian is obliged to advocate social engineering in favor of some current theory
often a disruptive process because custom and habit are the basis of a stable society
the one thing that all of us have in common is the potential potential to approach close to god
but each in his or her own way it has been said that there are as many paths
as there are human souls although these paths run in parallel on the highways
provided by the traditional revealed religions and lead to the same destination
arguments as to whether men or women are equal in islam lead nowhere men are superior
in one context women in another perhaps one should conclude simply that both are superior
the quran says that men have a degree above women that is the sky
from which the fertilizing rain falls has a degree above the earth but they complement each other
in islam as in other traditions the first fracture in the unity which transcends all multiplicity
is the separation of sky and earth in this life man as distinguished from woman has three
functions in addition to that of fertilization he leads the ritual prayer a priestly function
he fights when it is necessary to defend the home and he labors to earn his family's daily
bread the third function is variable the prophet's first wife and principal support
in the early years of his mission was a successful and prosperous businesswoman
the quran says i do not suffer to be lost the work of any worker among you male or female but
the first two functions are invariable and the man who fails to fulfill them has no degree at
all william blake's saying if only the men would do their duty the woman would be such wonders has
an islamic ring to it and rumi the poet and mystic wrote if one could become a man by virtue of beard
and testicles every young buck has enough hair and beard i hope that was of interest till next time