Boys will be boys.

Apparently not any longer, there is increasingly evidence to support the hypotheses that we in England are increasingly seeing the 'femininization of boys' as they grow up. Is this a good or bad thing? The evolutionary biologist Steven Pinker argues in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011) that over time we are becoming increasingly peaceful. He says that this is due to profound "changes in our cultural and material milieu". Last week there was controversy about the issue of the selection of books for young children to read. Generally speaking these decisions are taken by women commissioning editors. They are the 'gatekeepers' of what they read. Boys have distinctively different interests to girls in what they want. The argument is that these innate difference are not being sufficiently recognized. They it is said want more action stories against good bad bad. Stories that are exciting and full of drama. Girls on the other hand want a different diet and have a different appetite for their stories. The question is are these changes happening naturally over evolutionary time or is it cultural determinism? Separating cause and effect  is clearly very difficult as there is a ceaseless interaction between the two. Every action has a reaction as we know from physics. So there is a dilemma that I don't think is being sufficiently addressed by us as a society. Is this what we want, have we knowingly signed up to this revolution because that is what it is?