The Daily Separation of Girls and Boys
Gender segregation-the separation of girls and boys in friendships and casual encounters.
When children choose seats, select companions for work or play, or arrange themselves in line, elementary school children frequently cluster into same-sex groups. Gender segregation in elementary and middle schools has been found to acount for more segregation than race. There is more gender segregation when children are freer to construct their own activities. Boys tend to interact in larger and more publicly visible groups. Boys engage in more physical aggressive play and fighting. Their socail relations tend to be overtly hierarchical and competitive. Organized sports are both a central activity and a major metaphor among boys. Girls more often interact in smaller groups. They more often engage in turn-taking activites like jump-rope and doing tricks on the bars. Girls do engage in conflict, although it tends to take more indirect forms than the direct insults and challenges more often found in interactions among boys, and between girls and boys.
Interactions Among Boys
Boys in all-male groups often build towards heightened and intense moments. Dirty words are a focus of rules. Both girls and boys know dirty words, but flaunting of the words and risking punishment for their use was more frequent in boys' than in girls' groups. dirty talk is a staple part of the repertore of the boys' groups. Sports, dirty words, and testing the limits are a part of what boys teach boys how to do.
Rule Transgression: Comparing Girls' and Boys' Groups
Rule breaking by girl groups is smaller scale than rule breaking by boy groups.Teachers avoid disciplining whole groups of boys, partly for fear of seeming unfair.Girls' groups may engage in rule breaking, but the gender gourp's support for repeated public transgression is far less certain.
The Tie To Sexuality in Males
Gender arrangements and subcultures of middle childhood prepare the way for the secual scripts of adolescenced. Fifth and sixth grade boys share pornography7, in the form of soft-core magazines like Playboy and Penthouse, with grteat care to avoid confiscation. Since pornography is typically forbidden for children in boht school and families, this secret sharing occurs in a context of rule-breaking.
Interaction Among Girls
Forth and fifth grade girls more often organize themselves in pairs of best friends linked in shifting coalitions. The pattern is more one of dyads moving into triads, since girls often participate in two or more pairs at one time. Girls often talk about who is friends with or likes whom, they continually negotiate the parameters of friendships. On school playgrounds girls are less likely than boys to organize themselves into team sports. Sometimes girls work out group choreographies, counting and jumping rope in unison, or swinging aroud the bars.
Compared to my life:
I can compare this to how it is in high school, even though this is elementary children being talked about. When we are gie\ven the choise to pick our own groups in class most the time girls go with girls and boys go with boys. Even when we're able to pick seats at the beginnging of the year. The guys sit together and girls sit together. When I'm in gym class and we have a free day were we can play basketball or walk. Most the time the girls walk and the boys play the games. The only thing I can say is that there is a couple of guys that do interact with girls and be apart of girl groups and there is girls that interact more with guy groups in high school. Even though we're not given recess anymore we do still have free periods, and the girls do sit all together same with guys. Girl lunch tables tend to have guys and the main subject. But all in all things never really change from elementary to high school. It's all pretty similar.
