DNA Quote of the Day: Boys and the Cowboy Gene

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted July 6, 2007 in DNA Quotes and Excerpts

Tony Woodlief, author of the Raising Wild Boys Into Men pamphlet, in the Wall Street Journal:

Not only do I believe that trying to take the wildness out of boys is a doomed social experiment, but I’m certain that genetic scientists will eventually discover that males carry the Cowboy Gene. That’s my name for whatever is responsible for all the wrestling in my house, and the dunking during bath time, and my 5-year-old’s insistence on wearing his silver six-shooters to Wal-Mart in order to protect our grocery cart. I only pray that when the Cowboy Gene is discovered, some well-meaning utopian doesn’t try to transform it into a Tea Party Gene.

My son’s got both the Cowboy and Tea Party Genes but I do believe the cowboy side wins out a lot of the time. It’s always a party at our house!

Tags: genetics, genes, dna, sons, boys, quotes

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5 Comments

Comment by laura

2007-07-06 14:59:53

interesting!!!

my father FINALLY embraced his inner cowboy at the age of 50. Bought himself a horse, and shares in a ranch, took lessons on cutting and how to rope steer.

Happiest (and calmest) he has ever been in his entire life.

I am a believer in the cowboy gene.

What makes it weirder is my dad’s name is Gene.

So he actually is the cowboy gene.

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Comment by Hsien

2007-07-07 18:20:38

How cute! So nice to hear that we can achieve fulfillment at any age. What are the chances you might have inherited the cowgirl gene?

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Comment by laura

2007-07-07 18:45:06

not much of a chance of that i am afraid. the only things I inherited from my father is a love of coffee, and the ability to make a great martini.

while I can ride a horse, I prefer other activities…although camping is something I do love…I suppose that is somewhat cowgirlish.

I don’t even like cowboy movies….unless they involve a samurai.

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Comment by Kim

2007-07-09 13:10:15

Hmmm, maybe tomboy girls are heterozygous for the cowboy gene!

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Comment by Hsien

2007-07-09 22:01:48

Kim, LOL I won’t carry the analogy any further or I’ll get myself into some real hot water!

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