The Gender Blur

Vlink 1

Mark Vlink

Professor Allegrezza

English W131

23 September 2003

“The Gender Blur” Summary
As a young boy growing up my hobbies included sports, vicious snowball fights, blowing up frogs with bottle rockets, and other violent forms of entertainment. My cousin Kelly however, unlike any other girl I knew at the time, preferred having tea parties with imaginary friends grooming her Barbie’s and the occasional jump rope session. Until sexual attraction came in around seventh grade I had no intention of talking to let alone hang out with the opposite sex. Why do males generally engage in more aggressive activities than females? Is it our biological makeup or is it the culture that surrounds us? Or does the culture just amplify our simple biology? Blum’s 1988 essay “The Gender Blur” helps explain our gender roles and why males and females behavior differs.
Childhood behavior is one way to observe the difference in aggressive tendencies from male to female....