Читать книгу Child Psychology - Jean-Pascal Assailly - Страница 66

In France, thanks to the use of ultrasound in genetic screening, according to the ELFE (Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l’Enfance, French longitudinal study since childhood) survey, 9 out of 10 mothers across all sociocultural environments ask to know the sex of their child before birth.

This survey also shows that more than 40% of parents declare a preference, with mothers slightly more likely to prefer a girl and fathers a boy. Knowing the gender in advance will also allow them to overcome any disappointment and become “good parents” who will eventually adapt to the child’s gender.

Knowing a child’s sex is therefore considered important in preparing for parenthood. Even before birth, the fetus is gendered. The mother anticipating playing with dolls with her daughter, or the father playing soccer with his son, are preparations for parents that start well before the birth.

Purchasing baby clothes or decorating the bedroom is the start of preparations for conformity to sexual stereotypes. There is an anticipated socialization of the gender, the parents want to avoid any possible confusion, the masculinity or femininity of the baby must be able to develop from the beginning... and let us not forget that the choice, the purchase or the exchange of the clothes before and after the birth are activities exclusively operated by mothers.

The gendered relationship to clothing is also contemporary: until the beginning of the 20th century, little girls and boys up to the age of six or seven were dressed in a fairly similar way (Rollet and Morel 2000), in dresses. The little differentiated appearance of the small child was not considered problematic as long as the social roles between women and men were clearly defined. Today, at school or in leisure activities, the roles of women and men are a little more permeable. Maintaining very early forms of sexuation through physical appearance is a marker, mobilized very early on, to signify the difference in sex, reminding us of the gender order and preparing us for differentiated educational practices (Clément and Hamelin 2019).