Violence is an Upbringing

Violence is an Upbringing

As I was reading the article written by Carol Gilligan about them men and women that were asked to view pictures and write on them, a thought came to my mind as to why the men wrote out violent stories for each image. Since the reasoning behind it was not really discussed, I would like to point out that first, from an early age men are exposed to everything violent, starting with the toys they play with. All of the little toy guns, boxing gloves, and punching bags that were so innocent at that age might have had an impact on their minds. Girls were not brought up with these kinds of toys, so the women describing these images rarely related them to violence. Instead it was things like care giving and love stories. This, I think, is because as a young girl we play with baby dolls, having to play the roll of a mother by feeding them and taking care of them becoming a care giver. Another aspect would be video games and television. A perfect example of a violent video game is Call of Duty. My little brother has been playing that game for years, and my parents have repeatedly taken it away because of his obsession with buying guns and acting out in violent ways. However, as a little girl, the only game I remember playing was Sims, where you were taught to build a house, a family, make sure there was food, and so on. Therefore, when asked to write on these images, the men naturally told stories of violence because that is what is familiar, while the women wrote stories of love and safety which is what they are comfortable with.