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Gender Socialization Of Children Essay

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The American society expects different attitudes and behaviors from boys and girls through culture tradition. As the children grow up, parents, media, and education all effect how they perceive their own gender rather than having it based on biological gender. Gender socialism first starts when parents are wanting to know what is the gender of their first child. This is the beginning of a social categorization process that will continue throughout the child’s life. At this part of the child’s life, she or he will be affected most by their gender definition. One way that parents effect gender socialization of children is of what they are buying for them. Boys and girls are bought clothes differently in order to fir their appropriate respective sexes and roles. For example, the shirts parents select for their children are often unconsciously intended to socialize them into the appropriate gender roles. Girls often receive a pink or similar color type of T-shirt or dress. Boys on the other hand are given a blue or yet again a similar type of color. This applies everywhere we see in America, whenever it’s in …show more content…

But then we must identify and indicate how much each toy does it associate with either boys, girls, or both. From my experience, color stands out clearly in the beginning. The color pink is associated with girls and the color blue with boys. When walking in to the isles, I noticed that all toys that were associated with boys were generally related to fighting or aggression like wrestling, soldiers, guns, etc. While on the other hand, the toys most associated with girls were related to appearance, for example Barbie dolls, ballerina costumes, makeup, jewelry, etc. The brand names posted on the packages clearly posted what gender specified toy is it. This is usually affected by the media. Media as we know it shows how or what a girl or boy is supposed to do to fulfill their

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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.

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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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Girls and boys toys have created a huge impact in america with the colors, and types of things they use to aim a specific item towards a single gender. In stores such as target the aisles are separated by so called boy colors and girl colors. Also toys are named different things just for an appeal to genders such as dolls and action figures, when they are really all the same thing. This affects our world because it shows that boys and girls have to get or buy certain things aimed

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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.

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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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The phrase gender role is concept of society that defines what behavior society expect form men and women and how they are suppose to act in society . While evolving, what kind of passive and active toys are allowed to play with? What kind of clothes and colors to wear? Unaware route of molding a person to fit in with society 's norms and values is called sociologists as "socialization." Many think that gender stereotyping in form of clothes, toys or books or along with other aspects, teach a children rising up to fit into conventional gender roles.

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As gender stereotypes in toys impact a child’s interest, this also influences their career choices. Through playing with toys, kids develop interests (Steinmatz). When kids are only offered half of the toys available, they don’t get the chance to gain interest in the toys declared for the opposite sex. Gender stereotypes limit the variety of toys that kids will form interests and skills upon (Clayton). The skills and interests kids develop during childhood shape what academic and career choices they make as adults (“Toys”).

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Humans are typically classified by one of the two genders which is male or female. A baby’s gender is determined at the time he or she is conceived however it doesn’t become clear until 16 to 20 weeks into the pregnancy. After the sex of the baby has been defined, this is when gender socialization begins. Although one may not realize it simply buying blue items for male babies and pink items for female babies is just where it starts. Males and Females act differently due to the different social roles they learn throughout their time growing up, however by gender socializing children, we are doing more harm than good for them as the get older.

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Humans are typically classified by one of the two genders which is male or female. A baby’s gender is determined at the time he or she is conceived however it doesn’t become clear until 16 to 20 weeks into the pregnancy. After the sex of the baby has been defined, this is when gender socialization begins. Although one may not realize it simply buying blue items for male babies and pink items for female babies is just where it starts. Males and Females act differently due to the different social roles they learn throughout their time growing up, however by gender socializing children, we are doing more harm than good for them as the get older.

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If stores market toys for a specific gender they will prevent children from having this. 6th grader at Plainview Old Bethpage middle school Carly Barca says that “when kids see a toy they want but it’s labeled for just a girl or for just a boy it can make them feel down because if they want a toy and it’s labeled for a specific gender it can make them think that they cannot do what they want and they have to follow the “tradition” of what is considered for boys or for girls”. When toys are marketed for a specific gender they suggest what children should like to do and who they should aspire to be before they’ve had an opportunity to figure that out on their own. Children’s view of the world can be shaped based on what they do and what they play

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Understanding gender and sexuality as socially constructed categories is important because it helps people understand a certain group. Gender and sexuality is expressed in many categories and people must be careful not to mix people in the wrong category. Simply because one expresses their sexuality different from another person does not mean they should be bashed or treated differently. Sometimes it does not matter what you identify as, who you identify with, people will always judge you, so its best people just do what they want. Putting gender in a category helps others not stereotype them as something they are not.

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For example, girls should play with dolls, while boys are forbidden to play with dolls, unless they are male action figures. Or it is ok for boys to become mechanics, but it is not suited for girls. Children gradually learn the do’s and don’ts of being a female or a male. It is constantly reinforced on a daily basis through the media,

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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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