Interview with Dr Christia Brown

Yesterday I had my Skype interview with psychology professor Dr Christia Brown who is based in America. Christia is the author of 'Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue: How to Raise Your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes.', a guide for parents to help them not to focus on gender stereotypes when bringing up their children.

One of the main questions I wanted to discuss with Christia was, if the typical traits of masculinity and femininity come from parenting or if we are born with them? I have found that most people who criticise gender neutral parenting say that boys and girls are born inherently different. So I wanted to find out from a psychological perspective if this was true or if children's perception of gender actually comes from the way they are brought up?

From Christia's perspective she has found through her research that children learn about gender from the people around them, so their parents and teachers. In particular the way that parents and teachers use language when referring to gender. She advises parents not to place so much focus on gender differences in the language they use around their children.

I found it interesting discussing with Christia how she has noticed over the past three years an increase in parents bringing up their children gender neutral, which she partly attributes to parents becoming more socially conscious in the decisions they make for their children.

Listen below to hear a preview of my interview with Dr Christia:

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