Girls are Spirit, Boys are Flesh

Just as children are subject to age-based projections and constructs, they are also subject to gender-based ones. Even in this age of gender equality, post-feminism, and ever-shifting ping-pong of eduction focus between boys and girls over the years, girls are still flowers and boys are still slugs. These gender representations don't mirror any biological fact or necessity for either gender, particularly at the pre-developed childhood stage of life. And yet they persist.

Physically, pre-pubertal boys and girls are similar in their bodily structure. Secondary sex characteristics develop later along predetermined hormonal pathways, but in any case, these facts alone do not automatically dictate that girls and boys be ascribed the social characteristics they absorb. Sex-typing a child is not a bad thing, the masculine and feminine traits are expressed along a continuum for either male and female children, in their natural temperaments, so long as the actual sex of the child has little baring on the role they assume. Male and female are biological assignments, "boyishness" and "girlishness" are not. Here's a little overview of some general constructs normally ascribed to kids of either sex:

Girls and boys inhabit the free spirit lifestyle, it's just that adults have posited the girl to the heavens and the boy to the earth. The girl inhabits air and water, her mental focus is inward (on the body such as it's exterior) but her physical focus is outward (on the play world such as it's interior mechanisms and friendships). A creature of great intelligence and willpower, but full of inhibitions, she's expected to be more male than male. On the other hand, the boy inhabits fire and dirt, his mental focus is outward (on the play world such as it's exterior spaces and opportunities), but his physical focus is inward (on the body such as it's internal functions). A creature of great willpower and boldness, but lacking intelligence, he's expected to be more male than female.

Surely, adults have fashioned a pretty fanciful set of ideas surrounding the archetype of the modern child. Unfortunately, it's no different than the old ones. In the modern world, female is the new male, and male the old male. We teach our children that new male is the standard because we believe the old male is tough enough to withstand what the new male can't (supposedly). So in effect, the old sexism has replaced itself under the guise of "girl power" without its male equivalent, the pedestal has changed and girls are still sitting on it. By saying "boys are stupid," we coddle girls and demean boys.

But regardless of what complicated cosmology is in place at a specific time to support the ever-changing positions of boys and girls relative to each other, male and female will always be nothing more than biological alternatives. Adults only view gender equality truly applicable to themselves, and at least are provided escape. The truth of the matter is, even if they work to manually enforce equality among the younger set, the kids will always be held captive to the adult's internal sex prejudices.