Sociology

To say that there are significant differences in the psychology of boys and that of girls seems to be a rather platitudinous thing to say. One would think anyone that remembers their childhood and had the opportunity to grow up with members of the opposite sex or had had the opportunity to observe both boys and girls in their studies or at play would vouch for the fact that there is a great difference in the way they behaved.

However among intellectuals and researchers and in the halls of academia, this is a hotly contested issue. In the feminist movement, it is common to characterize femininity and masculinity as a social construct of sorts. Feminist intellectuals such as Judith Butler argue that sex itself, not only the societal idea of manhood or womanhood, but actual physical maleness and femaleness are also social constructs (Butler, 1993)

Some feminists have argued that women only have a feminine temperament because from the time of their birth they were socially conditioned to adopt a feminine personality. Men only have a masculine personality because they were brought up to be men.

It is thought that things like giving girls dolls to play with and giving boy toy guns to play with are the sort of things that were entirely responsible for girlhood and boyhood. As Wendy Kaminer writes
On one side, essentialisma belief in natural, immutable sex differencesis anathema to postmodernists, for whom sexuality itself, along with gender, is a social construct..  (Kaminer, 1993)

Some studies, which are more science based and less ideological, have determined that there are definite innate differences in the way boys and girls act, that are quite separate from social conditioning. Several researchers have reported seeing behavioral differences even in newborn girls and boys, though other researchers have looked towards environmental factors such as male circumcision and the different parental attitudes towards male and female newborns to be the cause of these differences (Vingerhoets  Cornelius, 2001).

Author Dr. William S. Pollacks work Real Boys Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood. addresses these and other issues that differentiate the behavior of boys and girls.

Dr. Pollack is an assistant clinical professor of psychology in the department of psychology at the Harvard Medical School. He is also the director of the Centers for Men and Young Men at McLean Hospital (Pollack, 1998).

Dr. Pollack strongly believes in the presence of innate biological differences in the psychology of boys and the psychology of girls, at the same time he recognizes the great role the social construction of masculinity and maleness plays in the lives of boys.

Pollack is greatly concerned about the poor performance of boys as compared to girls in the country. He notes that boys lag greatly behind girls in the field of education (Pollack, 1998). He also reveals surprising statistics that show that boys are in general, in a poorer state of health than girls (Pollack, 1998). The statistics on male as compared to female underage crime and violence noted in the book are not likely to surprise many people. Nor is the fact that not only are most of the minors that commit violent crime boys but boys are also a lot more likely than girls to die by their own hands  (Pollack, 1998).

Pollack believes that the boys of our country are deeply troubled emotionally
On the surface, many boys may appear tough, confident, and cheerful, but underneath many of them are sad, lonely, and confused (Pollack, 1998).

Pollack believes that the social construction of masculinity is the main cause for this emotional disorder in boys. He believes that a major source of emotional disturbance in boys is the socially constructed idea that to be a real man one has to suppress expression of emotions, especially such emotions as fear or sadness.

Pollack cites studies that show that male infants are more emotionally expressive than female infants to argue against the prevalent myths of boyhood (Pollack, 1998). According to Pollack, the suppression of emotions in young boys creates in them a reserve of negative emotions that are then released in the form of violent acts (Pollack, 1998).

In the field of learning Pollack shows that boys and girls have a different innate style of learning. Girls are also better at verbalization than boys. Current methods of instruction and examination greatly favor the learning patterns of girls rather than those of boys, which goes a long way towards explaining the poor academic performance of boys as compared to girls.

One of the most destructive myths about boyhood that Dr. Pollack has shed light upon is the idea that violence is innate to boyhood and manhood. Dr. Pollack finds that in many cases, instead of discouraging boys from engaging in violent acts, parents and guardians often encourage or ignore violent behavior in boys out of the belief that violence is essential to their identity as boys. This acceptance leads to the idea in male children that recourse to violence is the proper and manly response to the challenges of life and that a non-confrontational and non violent response to a threatening situation is a sign of femininity or homosexuality and that to preserve ones masculinity it is essential to act in a violent manner.

Real Boys is a treasure trove of insights for anyone working in counseling of boys and young men. It can be hoped that by encouraging troubled young men to express themselves in non-violent ways and divorcing the idea of violence as an essential characteristic of masculinity, counselor can reduce the rate of violent crime, homicide and suicide and help young men perform better in schools.