Gender Socialization
Aaron Patrick
Soc. 120
Prof. Bishop
Oct. 28, 2012
Gender Socialization Socialization can be defined as the lifelong process through which individuals learn attitudes, values and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. This paper is directly focused on how children of a very young age learn about gender through toys and clothing present in our current society. To analyze this process I went to the Mecca of children’s stores “Toys R Us” for some content analysis. The first thing that became very apart to me is the divide between the Boys section and the Girls section. In the boys section Toys R Us has the floor, banners, and other advertising signs all along a Blue-Navy template, while in the girls section all the same things were of a Pink and White template. This was consistent throughout the toy section and the clothing section, with roughly 75% of the boys’ items matching the template, and roughly 88% of girls’ items matching the template. Another general observation that was apparent to me was that the girls section was much larger than the boys section. If I were to put the sizes of the toys & clothing sections into a ratio, it would be 2:1 girls over boys. Overall most of the girl toys were along the lines of dress-up dolls, kitchen sets, and motherly items such as strollers, while majority of the boys toys were action figures, play weapons, and physically oriented toys. An assumption that I have made after a review of the generals is that girls’ toys stress beauty and appearance, while boys’ toys are focused on the development of their physical abilities. After I had completed my research at “Toys R Us” a few patterns had emerge in my mind. The first was of the different sizes of the boys & girls sections. Both the girls’ toys section and the clothing section had been about twice the size of the corresponding boys sections. Why was this? I believe the girls section is much larger to imply to the young minds that it is
Soc. 120
Prof. Bishop
Oct. 28, 2012
Gender Socialization Socialization can be defined as the lifelong process through which individuals learn attitudes, values and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. This paper is directly focused on how children of a very young age learn about gender through toys and clothing present in our current society. To analyze this process I went to the Mecca of children’s stores “Toys R Us” for some content analysis. The first thing that became very apart to me is the divide between the Boys section and the Girls section. In the boys section Toys R Us has the floor, banners, and other advertising signs all along a Blue-Navy template, while in the girls section all the same things were of a Pink and White template. This was consistent throughout the toy section and the clothing section, with roughly 75% of the boys’ items matching the template, and roughly 88% of girls’ items matching the template. Another general observation that was apparent to me was that the girls section was much larger than the boys section. If I were to put the sizes of the toys & clothing sections into a ratio, it would be 2:1 girls over boys. Overall most of the girl toys were along the lines of dress-up dolls, kitchen sets, and motherly items such as strollers, while majority of the boys toys were action figures, play weapons, and physically oriented toys. An assumption that I have made after a review of the generals is that girls’ toys stress beauty and appearance, while boys’ toys are focused on the development of their physical abilities. After I had completed my research at “Toys R Us” a few patterns had emerge in my mind. The first was of the different sizes of the boys & girls sections. Both the girls’ toys section and the clothing section had been about twice the size of the corresponding boys sections. Why was this? I believe the girls section is much larger to imply to the young minds that it is