Describe Gender Roles

While growing up, I was subjected to many things that have influenced me and shaped me into the person I am today. From my parents divorce to being bullied in middle school, but one event I did not realize influenced me as much as it did was my choice of toys. From the day we are born we are forced into gender roles. Girls are swaddled in pink blankets while boys are swaddled in blue. From here on out, it only gets worse. To clarify, the article I read, “Boys and Girls, Constrained by Toys and Costumes” was an article, in summary, about the confinement children receive from gender based toys. From toys being certain colors for boys and girls to toys portraying certain occupations towards a gender. These toys place barriers around
children and confine them to certain toys “assigned” to their gender. This gender barrier is present in many ways that were covered in this article. To further explain, the article stated that toys are colored a certain way for the gender they pertain to. According to Miller (2016), “Boys’ toys and costumes tend to be associated with action or destruction: objects that move, characters that save the day and animals that prey”
(pg 1). If you go to the boys’ section of a toy store you will mainly see primary colors littering the walls. Blues, reds and yellows. You will see action figures, guns, knives, and cars. The costumes for boys are “manly” costumes such as police officer, cowboy, firefighter. When was the last time you saw a boy costume that was a disney princess or a cat? While there are changes being made that still does not solve the at large issue. On the other hand, if you wander over to the girls section of a toy store, it is like an explosion of pink, glitter and frills has taken over the aisles. There are Barbies, cleaning sets, kitchen sets, aprons, baby dolls and in the costume section you will find princesses, nurses, teachers. As stated by Miller (2016) in the article, “Girls’ toys and costumes are more passive: objects to be looked at, characters that are rescued and animals that are docile or pretty” (pg 1). The toys place the children in roles that are traditional and change their mindset as they grow to what their role is in society actually is. For girls, it is a caretaker, stay-at-home mom, or cook. For boys, their predetermined roles are manly and “relate to action and building” (Miller), such as a police officer or a firefighter. Sometimes even a doctor or construction worker. While changes are being made, there are still many stores that have not changed at all. From this article, I have learned that labeling children with their “assumed gender” has many detrimental effects.
For example, a child who is told that he can only play with manly toys that promote action and violence may grow up to not have good relationships with women because he does not know how to show his softer side. Boys are often told not to show emotion because “boys don’t cry,” or so they say. Another example of gender labelings effect on children is how a girl who is told she can not get dirty or do anything that is too hard , forms ideas on what she should be as she grows. She may become dependent on someone else to care for her and lose her independence. Gender labeling is very damaging to children and their perspectives of themselves and the world around
them. One of the main sociological concepts that I found while reading this article is Cultural Shock.
The simplest definition of cultural shock is the disorientation that people feel when they come in contact with a different culture. Our society today has a perspective now that is relatively new and is changing everyday. We use to generalize the public as boy and girl with their specific roles. Now, we understand that there are many variations. When the changes started to occur, gender neutral toy stores for example, the general public felt cultural shock because their world was changing. This change has caused our society to be more open to those who are different from our
society. In conclusion, gender labeling affects children in harmful ways, such as ruining self confidence and causing them to hide who they truly are. I believe we should change toys to have a mixture of colors and instead of having a boys’ and girls’ toy sections. There should be children's’ toys sections. This would help children to be able to freely play with the toys they wish to without judgement.