A study published this Thursday in the scientific journal Sex Roles shows that very young children already combine power and masculinity, especially boys.
"In the interactions between male and female figures, children tend to associate the dominant individual with the male," Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst, of the Institute of Cognitive Sciences Marc Jeannerod, co-author, told AFP. the study involving more than 900 children aged 3 to 6. On a piece of paper, two children are drawn. One in a posture of domination, the other representing subordination. Neither of the two characters offers the slightest clue to their gender, and yet, "from the age of four, a large majority of children consider the dominant character to be a boy," the researchers reported in a CNRS press release.
No difference between Lebanon and Norway
Whether boys or girls, whether they live in Lebanon, France or Norway. "We were surprised not to have any difference between the countries, in particular between Lebanon and Norway", considered to be less unequal on this question, admits Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst. In another experiment, the researchers asked the children to choose in the skin of which of the two children they would see themselves well.
Result: if the boys designated the dominant, the girls, when they imagined facing a boy, identified themselves indifferently with one or the other of the characters. "Little girls are less inclined to consider that the dominant gender is that of boys," notes the CNRS researcher.
Aggressive power associated with the masculine
Continuing their research, the researchers then made the choice to confront the children with very gendered characters: a girl puppet and a boy puppet, with identical voices. The two figures first play together in front of the children and then disappear from their field of vision while continuing to chat.
One quickly imposes its choices on the other. "Boys tended to say that it was the boy puppet who decided while the girls did not assign the posture of power to the boy puppet any more than to the girl puppet," summarizes the CNRS researcher. "On a global level, there is a tendency to associate masculinity and power but with variations according to the gender of the participants in certain experiences", he summarizes.
Why this variation? "Perhaps this somewhat aggressive, coercive form of power is more associated with something masculine," says Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst.
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