I grew up as the perfect tom-boy type, I liked to play in the dirt, and got excited whenever I caught worms. My parents never held me from doing those actives that seemed so odd for a girl. After reading about the geographies of fear I felt enlightened and aware of the distinct differences in gender, when it comes to fear, as too the avoidance issues for women and the aggressive issues of men. There are many theories we can study and reflect upon.
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/socialization.html
For me, what it comes down to is the enforcement of gender construction, and the limits we place upon children, that is the best way to change social constructs of gender. We as humans haven't been a developed society for very long in contrast to how old the planet is. If children are not guided to be gender appropriate, then they can feel and be any gender they want. This is where things become tricky, it is the biological (physical) aspect that we can not change... well we can now, there has been development of hormone treatments for years, that allow you to actually change your body. But if gender wasn't constructed in the first place maybe self image wouldn't be so tightly related to gender. In all reality challenging gender construction, starts with the very basic level of acceptance of people on a human level.
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