At a very early age, we were taught to be boys or girls by various gender socialization agents. Because of the emphasis of these socialization agents, we can hardly change the images of boys and girls, or men and women. When a baby is born, parents would dress the baby in blue if it is a boy or in pink if it is a girl. At school, teachers may ask boys to do heavy works and girls to do something easy. However, the most powerful gender socialization agent is the mass media. The images of boys and girls, or men and women, presented by the mass media are distinct, and they have had a great effect on the development of our gender roles.…
Gender socialization, or the “patterns of behavior taught to children and adults in order to help them learn to behave as acceptable females or males,” begins strikingly early in life (Disch 1). While society as a whole is responsible for carrying out such socialization, many researchers believe that the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting, with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, their own beliefs about gender (Witt 1). Because parents have the strongest initial influence and control over the early gender socialization their children undergo, they also have the potential to end the cycle of oppressive gender socialization most children experience from birth onward, and eventually…
Socialization is a big influence on the definition of gender and sexuality. Since we live in a society where every person is part of our daily life some of the general perceptions affects the definition of gender. Different agents of socialization such as Social Media, parents and environment play a key factor on the definition of gender as well. Actually, parents define what is good or what is not, what activities to do or not, or even how to dress and which colors wear for their children either is a girl or a boy, all of this based on the conceptualization of the “roles” of women and men in society.…
Growing up, my parents followed the stereotypical gender roles for my brother and I. From the moment we were born he was put in blue and I was put in pink. He was “a little ladies man” whereas I was “going to make some man real happy one day.” My parent’s didn’t mean any harm, they didn’t know any better because they were raised the same way; however, this type of thinking is what causes inequality between the genders in society. In Judith Lorber’s article The Social Construction of Gender she states, “Once a child’s gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently” (Kirk 65). In simpler terms, since the…
The socialization process for teaching gender roles begins almost right after birth, when infant girls are typically held more gently and treated more carefully than are infant boys, and continues when the child grows, with both mothers and fathers usually playing more roughly with their male children than with their female children. As the child continues to grow and mature, little boys are typically allowed to roam a wider territory without permission than are little girls. Similarly, boys are typically expected to run errands earlier than are girls. Most sons are told that "real boys don't cry" and are encouraged to control their softer emotions, girls are taught not to fight and not to show anger or aggression. In general, girls are taught to engage in expressive, or emotion-oriented, behaviors, while boys are taught to engage in instrumental, or goal-oriented, behaviors. When the disparity between the way they teach and treat their daughters and sons is pointed out to many parents, they often respond that the sexes are naturally different not only biologically but behaviorally as well. So basically gender roles all depend on how and where you were raised. You don’t have to do anything just because people say “ It is the…
As I walked through the toy section of Target, I felt like I saw what I’ve seen ever since I was young enough to shop for toys in this section with my mom. When I was little I would go straight to the pink, Barbie aisle and then venture into the other pink aisles as well. This time, though, I looked through all of the toy aisles (including the boy section) and looked at the toys and dolls and games through a different lens. The color choices for the toys themselves and then the packaging as well are very specific to the gender they are targeting. And each age range appeals to its buyers in different ways. When I looked even closer into the details of the toys, appealing to specific races and social classes were more apparent than I had realized as well.…
Firstly to understand the question the meaning of gender has to be depicted. The word gender may be perceived by some as a way of classing an individuals sex as male or female, however it actually refers to the sex based characteristics. The following passage is taken from the definition of gender from the American Heritage dictionary of the English language (2000). In discussion of the meaning of gender it states that “Traditionally, gender has been used primarily to refer to the grammatical categories of "masculine," "feminine," and "neuter," but in recent years the word has become well established in its use to refer to sex-based categories… using gender to refer to social or cultural categories.” This is the basic description of how the term gender is approached in terms of this question rather than one referring to the actual sex of a person. This is also stated by Macionis and Plummer (2008, p.367) explaining that: “sex refers to the biological distinction between males and females” it is also states that a “gender role refers to learning and performing the socially accepted characteristics for a given sex.” This clearly defines for us that when discussing whether gender can be learnt we are distinctively talking about the pre conceived social characteristics in which each sex should possess.…
When humans are born, they are assigned to the role of a male or a female. Parents expect their kids to be either masculine or feminine based on whether they are a boy or girl. Kids are always stopped in there tracks and told to stop acting like the opposite gender or be more like their own gender. Many times young children are often times pressured to always act like other people of the same gender. Even though kids are assigned their gender at birth, they should be able to be who they want.…
Gender construction starts at birth with assignment to a sex category based on what ourgenitalia look like. Then we get a name corresponding to our gender and then our parents dress us in boys or girls colors, usually pink or blue. People treat us differently, even when we are babies and when we do not talk and show gender signs. They would smile and be nice to a little girl,telling her that she is so pretty and little, while on the other hand, they would be telling a boy that he is a big, strong boy. Even then we face different reactions and different treatment from people in our surrounding. It becomes even more obvious when we start going to school. Teachers do a lot of sex segregation. Boys and girls do not sit together in the classrooms and dinning rooms, and they play different games. Boys who play with girls get called really demeaningnames and vice versa. This happens because we all have our gender roles and responsibilities that we learn and if one does it wrong, he or she will usually not be accepted in society. Schools, parents, and mass media guide young people into gender roles.…
The development of gender awareness is fundamental for our sense of self and is also predominant in any assessment made of another person as from birth on people respond differently to males and females. Gender identity can be seen as one of the earliest social categories that children learn to apply to both themselves and other people. This is suggested in Schaffer’s (1996) definition where gender identity is the correct labeling of self and others as male or female. There are three main theories that have been explored which all suggest multiple ways in which gender awareness is developed: Bandura, Kohlberg and the Gender Scheme Theory. Firstly, Bandura (1977) notes that the idea that social influences clearly plays a very significant role in the development of gender identity. Socialization makes children aware that there are differences between male and female, and that these sex differences matter. These social pressures also suggest there are specific genders stereotypes that they are expected to conform to. Nevertheless, it can also be seen that biological and cultural changes interact with these social factors, thus defining how an individual eventually develops the gender identity of a man or a woman. An alternative theory, expressed by Kohlberg (1966), suggests that children are not the recipients of any physical information from social experiences and therefore they search for specific regulations which will explain the way in which males and females are expected to behave. In addition, gender tends to be the first thing a parent wishes to find about their child. It can be suggested that from then on the child will be treated depending on the fact that they are male or female. This is shown in research attempting to clarify the development of sex roles including: preferences of toys, personal…
Gender is a social contruct because we all grew up with this knowlage passed down from our parents that boys fix thing and protect whereas girls clean, cook, and care. I do notice that in the western society that is starting to die down because there is more awareness and parents are starting to be more open to allowing their children the option of doing what they feel is best. Even tough in a Muslim religion gender is equal, the culture is what effects how boys and girls are raised, and culture is a social construct the same as culture. One similarity between many cultures is how they have a social construct of expectations of how girls are raised and how boys are…
For my ethnography research, I selected 2 different locations to observe gender socialization amongst children at a toy store. The main focus of this ethnography is to see what types of toys appeal to children based on gender. Also, to see if parents are pushing their children on what types of toys they are allowed to choose from.…
At a young age children learn their gender place in society and conform to these ideas. While most people think that sex is the same as gender they are completely different; sex is biological characteristics of the body while, genders are learned through social roles that are given to children because of the sex. Gender role socialization imposed on children are colors, toys and clothing choice. While male children are given action figures, construction toys and sports equipment; like balls. Girls are given cosmetics, plastic cookware and dolls…
Based on observation and personal experience, as early as initiation of pregnancy, most couples organize basic preparations for the coming of their new baby. These preparations include choosing of names whether for a boy or a girl, and going through an ultrasound scan to confirm the baby’s gender. As soon as couples find out their baby's gender, they start analyzing a theme for the baby's room, coordinating a baby shower, and buying clothes and toys among others.…
The establishment of an enforced and naturalized heterosexuality entails and standardizes gender as a binary relation in which the masculine term is distinguished from a feminine term. This differentiation is accomplished primarily through the practices of heterosexual desires and behaviors. From the time we are born, we are taught that ‘boys wear blue and play with trucks’, while ‘girls wear pink and play with dolls’. This theory of gender socialization stands as a testament to the notion that what we perceive as “normal” behavior in our society is largely determined by a culturally defined heterosexual set of norms and values. Consequently, queer individuals have gone through a host of maltreatments, discrimination and have often been regarded…