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Psychoanalysts have usually equated gender differences with genital differences. They have been slow to examine the developmental and object-relational aspects of gender; they have not paid sufficient attention to the cultural structures of female and male, femininity and masculinity. Gender relations, being dimorphic, have proceeded along lines that have been prescribed and enforced by the culture. Society both influences and reflects our attitudes and norms. So what do nursery rhymes, fairy tales, folk songs, toys, and the media have to say about growing up female in America? They are important determinants to the little girl of what her adult attitude toward her self should be.
Well before they can read and write, children hear stories and songs through which they are exposed to the sexual roles favored by the culture. Female toddlers already know many children's songs and counting or clapping games. In these verses, the girl learns traditional and conservative attitudes toward women, just as her mother and grandmother did. The rhymes are handed down without our pausing to think about their values and what their significance will be in determining the girl's future. Thus, the little girl learns that it is proper to be good, passive, and clean; to stay at home in her rightful role as a woman with household chores; and even to avoid the dangerous outside world (Oaks, 1980).
Little girls learn early that females are inadequate and never do anything right-at least, not in Mother Goose. Little Betty Blue loses her shoe and Little Bo Peep loses her sheep. The Queen of Hearts has her tarts stolen and Old Mother Hubbard can't feed her dog. So these poorly functioning females become frustrated, ill-tempered, and antisocial.
Males in nursery rhymes don't have these emotional problems; they are active and creative. Like Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue loses his sheep when he falls asleep but he retrieves them by blowing his horn. In addition to devouring pie and leading Jill up the h