The other week, there was a University of London’s Institute of Education report which complained that "Macho instruments such as the trombone, drums and electric guitar are the province of boys, while girls stick to the gentler tones of the flute, harp and violin. Now education experts are asking why. They blame gender stereotyping by both teachers and parents, peer pressure and the fear of bullying and the size and shape of instruments."
The articles had the usual one-eyed side to them and The Times led with "Why don't little girls play the tuba?" (link)
The clear issue is whether there is gender stereotyping or is that simply boys and girls, whilst they should have equal opportunities to play what they like, are just different.
The majority of boys want to make a noise and have physical input (drums, guitars) and girls want mellower instruments.
The researchers suggested setting up single-sex ensembles to bridge the divide.
The culture of political correctness has so infested British society that academics try to make up claims of sexism and victim-hood when no such thing exists.
There is no gender stereotyping or sexism in that boys prefer guitars and girls prefer the violin. It is because they are different.
If this research is taken on board by the world of music, all you will have are boys and girls being forced to play instruments they don't want to play. This type of authoritarian political correctness should be opposed and laughed out of court.
The vapid attempt to find victimhood oozing from every pore is something the vast majority of people find offensive.
The only appropriate test is whether a child has been denied an opportunity to play an instrument because of gender.
Boys like instruments they can bang; girls don't like heavy instruments. The solution? Genetically design a single sex where everyone has the same tastes and physical characteristics. Nothing short of that would make these people happy.
Denial of opportunity because of sex should never be tolerated. But these efforts have strayed into the land of the absurd, and suggest what's really going on is that some people can't stand the fact that little girls aren't little boys. Instead of celebrating the choices girls (and boys) make, they assume that if girls' choices are different than boys' choices, the girls' choices are inferior, and they can ONLY be accounted for by sexism.
Well, I don't think choosing to play the violen or the flute is inferior to playing the trombone or the drums. To assume otherwise is the most misogynistic kind of thinking imaginable.
Posted by: Barry Madison | Tuesday, 22 April 2008 at 17:31