In 1950, Erik Erikson put forth a series of observations concerning gender differences in children's play constructions. In 1964, he elaborated those observations into a paper devoted to the topic: “The Inner and Outer Space: Reflections on Womanhood.” In 1974, he was invited by a former student to take a retrospective look at his earlier reflections and to comment on the immediate public response they had generated. A published dialogue ensued: “Once More the Inner Space.” In the meantime, Erikson's central point had become part of popular culture: girls tended to build and were attracted to enclosed spaces while boys built and were attracted to tall tower-like structures.

Though sociologists and feminists criticized certain of Erikson's conclusions regarding the origins of the gender differences he reported, there were, to my knowledge, no attempts systematically