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Both Joy and Tommy are growing up in the culture of the United States. They are learning what it means to be a girl and a boy in this culture. Their sex at birth, female and male, is now becoming a gender -- a way of thinking, speaking, and acting that is considered feminine or masculine. Each culture has its own way of defining gender, and very early in life gender becomes a basic part of a person's identity. According to Deborah Tannen, a professor at Georgetown University, gender differences are even reflected in the ways that men and women use language. Tannen and others who study communication believe that these differences begin early in life.
喬伊和湯米都在美國文化中成長。他們一直在學習自己作為女孩和男孩在這種文化中意味著什么。他們與生俱來的生理性別——女性和男性一逐漸轉變為社會性別，即女性或男性所獨有的思維、言談和行事方式。每種文化都有界定社會性別的獨特模式。在生命的初始，社會性別已經成為一個人的身份標識。據喬治敦大學教授德博拉·坦嫩研究，這種社會性別差異甚至體現在男性和女性使用語言的方式上。在坦嫩以及其他人際交流研究專家看來，這種差異在生命早期就已經出現了。
For example, in the United States and Canada, boys and girls usually play in same-sex groups. Boys might play in large groups in which every boy knows his place. Some are leaders; others are followers. Boys compete with one another for leadership. Many boys like to get attention by boasting, or talking about how well they can do things. The games that they play often have complicated rules, and each boy tries hard to win.
例如，在美國和加拿大，男孩和女孩通常在同性別群體中玩耍。男孩可能會參與人數較多的群體，每個人都清楚自己的位置，其中一些是領導者，一些是追隨者。他們為了爭奪領導者的地位會相互競爭。為了引起別人的關注，許多男孩喜歡吹噓或炫耀自己如何能干。他們參與的比賽，其規則通常十分復雜，每個孩子都會全力以赴以贏得比賽。
Girls, in contrast, usually play in smaller groups. Sometimes they play with only one or two "best friends." Most girls want other girls to like them, and this is more important to them than winning. Girls may be interested in playing fairly and taking turns. For example, when girls jump rope together, two girls hold the rope while others jump. Then the rope-holders take their turn jumping.
與此相反，女孩們通常在小群體中玩耍。有時她們只會跟一兩個“最好的朋友”一起玩。大多數女孩都想得到其他女孩的欣賞，這一點比贏得比賽更為重要。女孩可能喜歡公平比賽和輪流玩耍。例如，女孩們一起跳繩時，先有兩人負責搖繩，其他女孩跳，一輪結束后搖繩的女孩再跳。
