Why are guys and girls handwriting so distinctly and recognizably different?
In: Biology
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I think girls are praised more for neater handwriting because women historically have had careers where handwriting is imperative to the job. Nurses, secretaries, call centers, etc.
Some people have theories about differences in neurology and motor skills between boy brains and girl brains, but these are supported by very flimsy science. The simplest and most likely explanation is just that boys and girls are taught in different ways and held to different expectations. If boys get made fun of by their friends for having “girl writing”, or vice versa, then these stereotypes easily turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.
This is just my own opinion, I haven’t done a study on it or anything. But when we all learn to write most boys are happy when they get to it just being legible. The girls I knew on the other hand kept on perfecting their writing and many of them created their own font. I even knew a girl that her handwriting was indistinguishable from type written words.
Are they? I think you need to justify the premise of your question (that there *is* a difference) before you ask why such a difference might exist. I’ve never noticed a difference, and I’m a teacher who grades students’ handwritten work regularly. I make my students write their names on the back of their assignments rather than the front, so I don’t know which assignments belong to which student until I’m finished, and I’ve never been able to reliably guess, from the handwriting alone, whether it comes from a male or female student.
Grade 1 teacher here. I would hope in 2020 that boys and girls have equal standards placed on them with their writing neatness, as it’s not the 1950’s. Girls can be good at Math and boys can be neat. Most boys care less about creating nice neat writing though, and many girls seem to get more enjoyment from making neat nice writing. I think it’s got less to do with abilities and expectations on the kids and more to do with what each child innately enjoys doing. This, when split over a class (or a population) creates many more women with neat handwriting and many more men who are excellent at playing pull my finger.
What do you mean? My handwriting is way better than my wive’s. I think you’re stereotyping a bit there.
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