In 2011, Peggy Orenstein published Cinderella Ate My Daughter to examine how princess culture impacted girlhood. “What Makes Girls Girls?” is a chapter in this book that delves into the implications of sexual difference and whether or not it is rooted in biology. By studying various research projects conducted by professionals, Orenstein discovers that, ultimately, a child’s environment plays a key role in behavior. To pose the question of whether the concept of gender is inherent, Orenstein references several examples that have sparked a considerable amount of discussion about how a child’s gender expression is molded by upbringing.
Analytical Summary “Are We Worried About Storms Identify or Our Own” by Patricia j Williams uses the child’s gender complexity issues of the parent’s decision not to release the gender once born to ask a philosophical question to people who feel that they must know a person’s gender. Patricia j Williams feels that the label of a gender should not be a crucial issue in the world that we live in today. She feels that the world should become less gender oriented in todays world. People talk all the time about how we should not categorize by gender, but as soon as someone attempts to erase gender ideals the world goes into an uproar.
It is well-known in modern culture that children begin developing gender identities from a very young age. As soon as children are able to comprehend media and the actions of those around them, they are bombarded with examples of gender roles. In fact, they are presented with these examples even before they can comprehend them. Parents may begin reading children books right from birth. The gender roles that are often present in these picture books aimed at young children become ingrained in the minds of the children, kickstarting the development of gender identity.
“Your children will become who you are, so be who you want them to be.” In the short story A Girl by Lindsay Hunter, leading by example is one of the vital points the author makes. Hunter demonstrates this by showing how the practice of negligent parenting leads to devastating outcomes. Hunters descriptions of Dee’s inattentive upbringing is implied throughout the story. Because the story is narrated by one of her male classmates, it is told from the first-person point of view.
Throughout the ages, gender has been socially constructed in some way or another. Gender conditioning begins once the parents are aware of the sexual gender of the child. Society has spoken: Pink pacifiers for the girls, blue pacifiers for the boys. The expectations begin. This list of expectations is also very much dependent upon the influence of cultural conditioning and ethnic identity as evident in Sandra Cisnero's Only Daughter.
1. In chapter two Judith Lorber argues how gender is human production and it is created and re-create by people in society who follow “gender doing”. In addition, Lorber explains how gender is taught at birth when a child is given a gender status. Parents use “gender markers” such as a child’s name and clothing to distinguish if they’re a boy or girl.
In this hypersensitive world today, kids who have different gender behaviors are exposed to being bullied and scorned for how they act and dress at a young age that can ultimately alter their lives. This is the reason parents are trying to find ways to support their kids in order to protect them from the harsh people in societies who refuse to accept these changing norms.
I use the example of the story The Paper Bag Princess by Munsch as a children’s story that promotes untraditional gender roles. I had a hard time thinking of stories my parents read to me that broke out of the gendered social script, yet I can’t think of any children’s stories of people who identify as transgender. Gender is molded by society and because society focuses on differences between men and women, we forget to look at the similarities between the
Director Frank Oz’s film, The Stepford Wives, was published on June 4, 2004. In his film, Oz created a remake of the original 1975 film, showcasing a utopian place where women and men are both perfect and cannot embrace change, and includes a new ending to demonstrate gender inequalities progression. James Tiptree Jr.'s short story, The Women Men Don’t See, was published in 1973. In their novel, Tiptree showcased the struggles in genders in which both men's and women’s gender are defined in expectations and desires. Tiptree writes out that gender is a social construct by presenting white dominant males’ points of view to present a society where women are oppressed by white men.
The key aspects surrounding this theory emphasize the genetic and hormonal factors present during the prenatal period which ultimately influence how one is socialized. Parents observe whether their child is a boy or girl and shape certain opportunities and environments to fit this biological essence- it is difficult to separate the two and one must exist for the other to occur. Despite evidence supporting the biological and social interplay, others have argued why children may adopt non-traditional gender identities despite parents socializing against
The documentary “The Pinks and the Blues” and the podcast “Can a Child be Raised Free of Gender Stereotypes” discuss the unconscious gender stereotypes and assumptions that our culture places upon children. Children are enculturated with ideas about who they should be, how they should think and behave, and this enculturation has distinct effects upon the child psychology and way of living in the world. The viewer is left with the question: Is it possible to raise a child without gender stereotypes? “The Pinks and the Blues” states that gendered treatment of children begins within 24 hours of the child’s birth. Descriptors for male infants and female infants were different, with boys being labeled as big, strong, and alert while girls were labeled as being delicate, petite, and inattentive.
This thought has never crossed my mind before because I, myself, took ‘gender’ as a natural phenomenon. Gender is a product of socialization. It is cultural roles and personality characteristics that are labeled appropriate for men and women (lecture). Gender facilitates normative accountability: “structures that are in place to “correct” people’s gender non-conforming behaviours” (Johnson). Normative accountability and gender expectations were big issues children in the film faced.
In “What is Gender?” by Holmes she states that most people like having the certainty of knowing whether their newborn child is going to be a boy or a girl and until then they have a hard time thinking of the baby as a
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.
When the boys change to stereotypes they are more likely to be more prone to substance abuse and suicide, having shorter life expectancy, and also engaging in more physical violence than girls. Zoe Greenberg, a journalist at The New York Times talks about gender in her article ¨When a student says, I'm Not a Boy or a Girl¨. In her article, Greenberg talks about the story of Sofia Martin and uses Pathos by using the story of Sofia Martin to play on the emotions of the audience to explain the situation that has occurred with the her, how ¨at the age of 15, after rehearsing in the shower, Martin made an announcement to the students at Puget Sound Community School where she explained to her school how Martin believes that she in not a male or
