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Sociological Autobiography Examples

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From the moment of my birth, I was declared a girl and my parents immediately attempted to raise me to be every aspect of my gender, from behavior to beliefs. In sociology, this is known as gender role socialization, which is the process of socializing boys and girls to conform to their assigned genders’ attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, values, and norms. My parents taught me how think and behave like a girl through the way the way they dressed me, how they did my hair, and the toys they allowed me to play with. However, having been raised with a brother, I also picked up on some of his supposed gender roles. I am exactly who I am due to the way I was socialized by my parents and others around me. From the very beginning of my existence, my mom slapped a huge pink bow on my hairless baby head to announce to the world that I was a girl. She mainly dressed me in white, pastel pink, and yellow dresses, with the same pink bow. As I grew a bit older, my hair grew longer. That, for some unknown reason, encouraged my dad to slick my golden curly hair back …show more content…

There are feminine stereotypes, such as having a slim waist and being ladylike, that makes me self conscious of my pudge and burping in public. However, there are those that I partake in because I like to, not because society demands it, like wearing makeup and dresses every now and then. Due to the positive role models I’ve had growing up, I learned that I don’t need to conform to traditional gender roles and I don’t expect others too. Girls and boys should be given equal opportunities and arbitrary activities shouldn’t be assigned to a specific gender. If a boy wants to wear makeup, he should be free to do so without judgement, and if a girl wants to play football, she should be able to do so as well. It’s their life so I don’t have the right dictate what gender they choose to conform to, especially if I haven’t fully conformed to

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671 Words | 3 Pages

Burak defines gender socialization as “the process of interaction through which we learn the gender norms of our culture and acquire a sense of ourselves as feminine, masculine, or even androgynous” (Burack, 1). According to Burack, people of different genders behave differently not due to biological factors, but due to socialization that teaches individuals to behave in a particular way in order to belong to a certain gender. For example, women may tend to be nurturing, not because they are biologically programed to be caretakers, but as a result of society teaching them through toys and media to act as mothers. In this way, gender becomes a performance based on expectations rather than natural behaviors or biology, a phenomenon called “doing

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890 Words | 4 Pages

In “Guys Suffer from Oppressive Gender Roles Too,” author Julie Zeilinger makes it clear that men’s actions, personalities, and identities are contrived based on society’s expectations. These expectations shove boys and men into a character-like attitude, preventing them from truly discovering themselves. With a society that decides to adhere to these gender roles, any sign of being different from the rest of the world tends to generate a negative reaction. Accepting and learning about gender roles is established at a young age, for anyone of that matter. Whether it be during school, through any form of media, or even from our own friends and family, gender roles are expectations that many boys and men tend to feel threatened by.

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730 Words | 3 Pages

Most toddlers are given one of two categories of toys: those for boys and then those for girls. When parents see that their kids are born as boys then they will probably start buying them blocks, race cars, balls, and action figures while for their daughters they will lean towards dolls, baby strollers, crowns, and kitchen sets. At sight, these toys seem harmless and innocent; that is to say what is wrong with a little boy and girl playing with their cars and dolls; however, these toys are the just the beginning of their molding. These kids are slowly being molded into their respective gender role: which are behaviors learned by an individual as appropriate to their gender. For example, gender norms or roles for a girl would be that they’re supposed to be thin, passive, and submissive to males.

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1025 Words | 5 Pages

Gender roles and expectations are challenged and brought to light in the novel Like water For Chocolate by Laurel Esquivel, exploring the way women are perceived in the things they enjoy doing, the deep concentrated feelings women experience, and the societal expectations women face. When answering the question of whether or not stereotypes are being enforced and followed, I was aware that just because a woman is doing something that is seen as a stereotype doesn't mean she is being forced to participate in it, or falling into a gender role. When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be different. I enjoyed a lot of things that boys liked and tried very hard to turn away from feminine things.

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1870 Words | 8 Pages

The Impact of Culture and Gender Roles Heather Richardson-Barker Drexel University Society has clearly defined boundaries between what is considered to be male or female. The development of an individual’s gender role is formed by interactions with those in close proximity. Society constantly tells us how we should look, act and live based on gender, as well as the influence of family, friends and the media have a tremendous impact on how these roles are formed and the expected behavior of each gender role. The term Gender, as defined by the United Nations, includes the psychological, social, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being female or male. It further defines acceptable

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1690 Words | 7 Pages

Gender is something that is brought to the attention of people well before people are even brought into the world. Take for instance, when a woman finds out that she is pregnant and is about to have a child. The first question that that women is asked is “What are you having?” In doing this we are automatically emphasizing the importance of being able to identify whether or not to buy “boy” things or “girl” things. As a society we deem it important for each sex to practice a set of “norms” of how to behave via that sex.

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

In social psychology, we talked a lot about gender roles. At a young age, you are exposed to them regardless if you know it or not.. Starting at a young age, these children learned what they were supposed to be like. Little girls are dressed in pink dresses and bows, while boys are dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt. Baby girls are talked to in calm, soft voices and told how precious and beautiful they look, while baby boys are told how tough and strong they look in louder aggressive voices.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

For example, pink is a color associated with female, while blue is generally the color for boys. This idea is interesting since before the 1940s, pink used to be a male color. Men also used to wear high heels. (find more info on this) Madonna addressed this gender issue in her song, What It Feels Like For A Boy, stating: Girls can wear jeans And cut their hair short Wear shirts and boots

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1023 Words | 5 Pages

When I would ask why, I was told I needed to do something “girly,” like ballet lessons. So, I signed up for ballet lessons which continued until I graduated from high school. I look back at my childhood interests and activities and am amazed at the gender socialization that happened. I clearly believed my mental and physical limitations were a result of my gender. As Langer (2011) so clearly expresses: “it is an undeniable truth that one’s sex at birth – biology – begins a process of socialization resulting in one’s gender – the social role….

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627 Words | 3 Pages

As a child, I was always the kid that would much rather ride bikes with the boys then play with dolls. I remember one girl from my class asked me “ are you a boy or a girl”, when I said that I did not want to play house and that I would rather play cars with the boys. I saw the other girls in my class and I realized I was different from them. They did not like anything I enjoyed doing and vice versa. I grew up never fitting in with the other girls in my school.

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132 Words | 1 Pages

Children and young adults are identifying with gender roles at a young age due to mass media. Children develop within a society that is gender-specific when it comes to social and behavioral norms. These come from the family’s structure, how they play with others and by themselves, and school. Girls were expected to be more passive while boys were to be more aggressive and expressive with masculine behaviors. “Before the age of three, children can differentiate toys typically used by boys or girls and begin to play with children of their own gender in activities identified with that gender.

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1361 Words | 6 Pages

Gender roles, also known as gender stereotypes, are social and cultural norms on how females and males should conduct themselves within a society. Every culture has certain roles both genders are expected to follow. An example of this in traditional American culture is a man becoming a doctor while a female becomes a nurse or men being the hard workers and women being stay at home mothers. Gender development researchers, similar to other developmental researchers, focus on questions of change over time in gender related subjects (Ruble and Martin 1988). Research suggest that children are socialized to understand gender stereotypes at an early age.

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1614 Words | 7 Pages

In our recent history, feminism has become more prevalent in almost every aspect of our lives. One important thing to remember is that each sex has uniquely valuable traits to contribute to society (Maguire, 2014). However, overgeneralizations of these traits have driven a wedge between the different sexes and as a result, discrimination, injustice, and unfair stereotypes plague our society. Key terms discussed throughout each source include, but are not limited to, gender stereotypes, double standards, benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, gender disparities, and female/male injustice. Gender stereotypes encompass the generalizations placed on gender-specific traits.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

Although some people believe that nature affects the gender identity, others argue that, based on the education an individual receives, it is actually nurture. For example, John Moore, a teacher at a female-only school, says, “My findings suggest that, in some senses, the single-sex school is strongly feminist” (Moore, 2005). On the other hand, many societies teach the children gender stereotypes to try and limit them from becoming against what the society feels is appropriate. Gender roles or stereotypes are “a set of qualities, behaviors, and attitudes that are considered appropriate for males and females based on their biological sex” (Whalen & Maurer-Starks, 2008). Most of the time, these stereotypes are taught and explained to the children in the early stages of learning, since as mentioned above, gender identity is most likely detected after the child is two years old.

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1440 Words | 6 Pages

Every culture has different guidelines about what is suitable for males and females and family members may socialize babies in gendered ways without consciously following that path. For example, in a modern society, the colour pink is associated with girls and the colour blue with boys. Even as tiny babies, boys and girls are dressed differently according to what is considered ‘appropriate’ to the respective sexes. Even parents who strive to achieve a less ‘gendered’ parenting style unconsciously reinforce gender roles. A family structure acts as the most important agent of gender socialization for children and adolescents as it serves as the centre of a child’s life.

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