The real difference between boys and girls

Yes. The answer is that in Western society, women's breasts are seen as sexual objects, even if they're little girls without breasts yet. In other societies (some in Africa, etc.), women do go out without tops on because breasts are just about feeding babies.

Not sure how you could word this for her. But basically, it's about tradition, and the tradition in our society is that it's "proper" to wear a top if you're female. Of course, there are some women who think that's unfair, and are trying to change the laws against it.

You might also tell her that there are societies where it's improper for men to go topless, either, I think. (Some muslim societies? I think that's right).

A good chance to talk about culture, tradition, and how human beings define themselves by what they wear.

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Men used to wear tops as well. It was in 1937 when topless was accepted for men. More details at:

http://niwde.blogspot.com/2007/03/history-of-mens-swimwear.html

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I've been asked the same question and had no really satisfactory answer.

Jason, I didn't know it was as late as 1937 but I have old pictures of my family at the beach. The men all had tops and the women were covered past their knees.

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Personally I think the continuing requirement to always cover little girls' breasts, even long before they should be seen as sexual objects, is that there are unfortunately too many perverts who would look at a little girl as a sex object. Not that you would tell your daughter that!

A possible answer to that question for a 7-year-old would be that shirtlessness is accepted for men and not women due to the fact that women develop large breasts which are considered private parts; and boys' and girls' clothing rules are roughly based on those for men and women.

I have seen people who let their girls go without shirts, but it is pretty rare and draws a lot of looks. Might as well stick with the status quo on this one.

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I remember being allowed to go shirtless on occasion, but I was eventually sat down for some kind of chat...about how boys can do that, but girls can't. I didn't understand it at all at the time. I wasn't the type to buck authority but nor did I think it was fair or logical.

I still don't.

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In my opinion - Girls can bear children. Boys can`t.

Any other traits you can come up with may not always apply. Anything visible is sometimes optional, even having a penis - hey, my son was born without one! Personality traits are also not a good description.

The only definite difference I would mention is that women have the ability to carry a child, and men do not. Whether they actually do carry a child is a different story, and I know there are fertility issues... But that isn`t exactly something a child should be worrying about.

Girls can have babies in their tummies, but boys can`t.

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