"If the phrase 'almost unbelievably malleable' represents human nature as clay, in Mead's later formulation it was more like a bonsai tree, still able to be shaped but not just any which way. Mead knew the pain of having qualities of temperament associated strongly with the opposite sex. But she did not believe that her desire to be a wife and a mother arose only from cultural conditioning, nor did she find it uncongenial to appear or act feminine. That was who she was, how she wanted to present herself. She just wanted to have a vibrant career and room for sexual exploration, too."
Elesha J. Coffman at Aeon discusses Margaret Mead's views on sex and gender.
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