Are they different...?

[Stapelberg]

I'm asking for opinions.../I'm almost scared to ask!)

I recently posted something about my son being a boisterous bundle of energy and fun opposed to some little girls I know who are much more sedate and calm! This was an observation made by watching 4 girls and 2 boys, and they were clearly all behaving very differently.
I received an enormous amount of horrible comments about how sexist I am, how I'm gender stereotyping and how I am basically an excuse for a mother and mankind in general. It was awful and I felt really attacked..
Now I ask... For myself really, do you find that boys and girls are 'wired' differently? Do you think their gender play a role in how they behave in general or is it really a nature or nurture thing? I totally accept that personality plays a huge role but I do wonder what other people think about this...?
Please be kind because I had enough of emotional bartering to last me a lifetime...

Any opinions on this...?

Yep. Wired totally differently.

You’re right.

I think I remember that thread, have to say my initial thought was that it was very sexist.

A child's sex will make a slight difference to their personality as people treat baby boys and girls differently. There was a study done on this (the name is escaping me) where a baby was first presented as a baby girl and the adults who were told to interact with the baby were very gentle and chose certain toys to give the baby; then when the baby was presented as a boy to another group the baby was encouraged to be more active and noisy and given a different type of toy. Somebody who knows more about it may be able to offer a better explanation.

Anyway my point is, sadly gender stereotypes can affect children from almost the moment they are born and that's very sad. In my experience of children they are all different because people are different and XX or XY chromosomes will not mean that a child is inherently more quiet and sedate or noisy and active.

Is this a rerun of the previous thread that suggested girls were all "sugar & spice" & boys were all "frogs & snails" etc?
Yawn

Mostly yes, however my dd (6) is getting more and more boisterous/rough and tumble as the days go on. She's still very stereotypically 'girly' in the way she plays with toys and wants to dress which isn't influenced by me, her older sister hates dresses/anything sparkly etc so she has to request it as the hand me downs aren't available in the style she likes.

Its mainly nurture. Treat them differently and they will develop and behave differently. Clothes, toys, expectations, words used etc. Can't help but feel so many kids are being let down by being pigeon holed before they can even decide what they want/like themselves.

I think it's mainly nurture.

@WilheldivaHater This is similar to what you described:

It's nurture. Their personality, your personality, activities you expose them to, toys you expose them to, how you parent all have a massive effect.

I go to a class with DS every week. Every week there are a couple of girls in beautiful immaculate white or pale pink dresses and their mum/nan is always getting them to play with the small toys or look at books instead of going on the bouncy castle or on the softplay equipment. There are other girls in leggings & t-shirts flinging themselves off blocks and down slides. Where's the difference? Parenting and how we allow children to explore and the limits we place on them.