1.How do our sexual stereotypes influence us? They influence ...
2.According to a recent study, who are more likely to pick instruments like drums or the saxophone? ...
3.What did the researchers find about the sexual stereotypes? ... was far easier to break away from them.
Almost from the beginning, our sexual stereotypes have become so entrenched
that they influence nearly everything we do, from the sports we play to the
instruments we study to the careers we finally pick. A recent study
reaffirmed that young boys are far more likely to pick instruments
generally considered "male," like drums, the trumpet or the saxophone, and
girls will pick "feminine" instruments", like the violin, clarinet or
flute. Betty Repacholi of the University of Washington and her former
student, Samantha Pickering of the University of Sydney, reported their
findings in the current issue of the journal Sex Roles. The researchers,
who studied more than 600 kindergarten and fourth-grade Australian children
over the past couple of years, found that it't far easier for a little girl
to break away from the stereotypes and pick a masculine instrument than it
is for a little boy to pick up the violin. Some boys do, of course, and
many of the true masters of that instrument are men, perhaps indicating
that gender is far less important as the inner muse takes over on the road
to excellence. But in those early years, it can be really tough for a
little guy to pick up his violin case instead of a football and head out to
school. That's not what boys are supposed to do. In other words, it might
not sting as much for a girl to be called a tomboy as it does for a boy to
be called a sissy. So girls, the researchers suggest, make the break more
easily than boys, at least in the short term.