Mars and Venus in the classroom

Abstract

Thinking about gender is often polarized so that teaching about gender becomes a debate between extreme nature views and extreme nurture views. While teaching interactionism is the obvious solution, it is too vague to take hold in students' minds in the absence of concrete examples. Further, as with any ongoing scientific enterprise, it is difficult to teach what we know now while maintaining an awareness that there is also much we do not yet know. To aid in thinking about teaching gender, this article discusses four myths about gender. Two myths are nature myths: that male and female brains are different for biological reasons and that gender differences have genetic bases. Two myths are nurture myths: that boys and girls are treated very differently and that there is much cross-cultural variability in sex differences.