According to Merium Webster, gender is "the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically

In the article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender,” the author, Aaron Devor, is trying to convince his audience that gender shapes how we behave and relate to one another. He does this by using an educational approach, describing gender stereotypes, and making cultural references. These rhetorical devices serve his larger goal of getting readers to reflect on how their childhoods formed their genders. “Maleness and femaleness seem “natural,” not the product of socialization.” (Devor 527) Throughout his article, he makes us wonder whether or not gender is recognized through socializing.

As stated in the textbook, gender socialization is the outcome of countless interactions, starting with those between parents and children. At the youngest ages, of course, parents have the dominant influence over this process. But as children age, their socialization continues under a variety of influences, including their own personalities and their interactions with siblings, peers, schools, and the wider culture. In adult life, socialization more often occurs in the other institutional arenas (page 167-168).

​​Gender is defined as whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Unlike sex, gender is something that we learn from the day we are born. “Young children begin to acquire gender role stereotypes at about the same time they develop gender identity and by the age of 3 or 4 most children” (Amanda Youmans). Peers, community, media, religion and our upbringing all play a role in the understanding of our culture and what is considered acceptable for males and females. When the sex of a child is revealed, they are automatically placed into a gender specific role with certain expectations. There are things in this world such as colors, toys, media depiction and taught behaviors that play into these gender roles.

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

In the article written by Patricia J. Williams titled, “Are We Worried about Storm’s Identity – or Our Own”; she writes about a baby named Storm who is known to not have a gender identity the outside family and onlookers can call Storm. This has caused uproar in all social media outlets. William writes about how the world does not want to label the baby as an “It” because “It” is normally used to identify an inanimate objects. She writes about how awkward this could make an individual who approaches the baby, however she mentions is it only because it is what we are naturally accustom to doing by calling a baby a him or her and not always by the baby’s name. Though society has their concerns on the reasons they need to know the sex of the baby

Gender is defined as the state of being male or female. In most instances, this state is determined based on the biology of an individual’s genitalia. Those born

The article “Are We Worried about Storm’s Identity or Our Own?” was written by Patricia J. Williams. This author wrote an article about her son, who goes to daycare and has a friend named Jessie. She's a young lady that stands at the entryway of the childcare every day, and grabs the other little kid’s lunchboxes and takes them to the refrigerator. Williams, points out that “My son started to mimic Jessie, and help her collect the lunch boxes from the other kids” She then remembers a day when the teacher was watching them do this as it was a routine, and describes the both of them in certain ways that are very heavily gender-based, but by it meaning no harm at all “Your son is such a sturdy little security guard! And Jessie, she’s our mini-hostess with the moistest!” This comment gets Williams thinking about a 5-month-old child named Storm. The reason storm is so important to this article, is because the child’s parents did not give out storm’s gender after birth.

Once a child is born, he or she learns to view the world based on the behaviors of others. The child’s primary caregivers, usually the parents, and others present in the child’s environment, such as siblings, peers, teachers, and even the media, contribute to the development of the child’s perception of himself, those around him, and society overall. This concept is called socialization. “The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization” and it is through socialization that we “learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders” (Crespi, 2004). This concept of gender socialization leads to the inescapable

Environmentally, a child’s experiences impact gender identity. Depending on family values or morals, a child could be confused by their gender. When a baby is born, there is much control on colors (if boy or girl) and ideas of the parents on how they would want to raise their daughter or son. For an example, a father would treat his son in a rough or unemotional way, while a girl would be protected and nurtured. Known as traditional roles, a boy doesn’t cry or play with dolls, but he can roll

Infants born by Birthmothers are given a new name and handed by the Nurturers to its new family unit which occurs during the annual ceremony of Ones (24). Each family will receive a child in which sex they do not already posses within the unit. Further in the text Jonas states that solitary child within the family unit receiving the new infant "[Beam] with pride to receive a little brother or sister"(24). Looking at these passages through a close reading analysis, with specific emphasis on word meaning, the audience is informed that this society perceives gender and sex as the same thing. This is simply incorrect. The terms male and female describe the "biological attributes in humans" and gender is the "socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities" of an individual ( Canada Government ). These two definitions are different in meaning but are used interchangeably within the context. This society assumes the gender of a child based on sex in order to maintain its systematic approach to raising children. This transphobic society reinforces the traditional construction of gender by associating individuals with the sex given at birth therefore creating a cis-normative environment.

Kathy Witterick (38) and David Stocker (39) are the parents of Jazz (5), Kio (2), and Storm; who is being raised genderless. Storm’s gender has not been disclosed to anyone other than their family. The family receives a lot of questions about the child’s gender but they just brush it off. This all started when Jazz, born a boy, decided he liked girlish items. Many have said they are leading their children’s lives to a life full of bullying and ridicule. Witterick and Stocker believe they are giving their children the freedom of being who they want to be.

When someone is pregnant, people will usually ask for the sex of the unborn child thus proving that people are socially categorized from the beginning of life and is something that is continued throughout life. One is expected to behave the way their assigned gender is supposed to behave. Gender socialization is when people are expected to act a certain way based on their “gender”. Through the following agents: family, schools, peers, and media, gender socialization is emphasized and made very real in the world today.

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first

Let me give you a scenario; It’s 3:00am. Rushing down the halls of a hospital you are on your way to support a person who is doing one of the most beautiful and complex things in life. Giving birth. You are the doctor in the room. Cutting the umbilical cord you hand the mother her child. She smiles up at you with tear rimmed eyes and you wrap the child up in a blanket and hold out to her a beautiful baby _____. Boy or girl? It doesn’t really matter which you say so long as you say one or the other, right? Within a few moments after birth and a quick scan between the legs of the child will enable you to develop a gender label for the child that they will carry for the rest of their life relevant to their sex.

The term ‘gender’ was coined by John Money in 1955: “Gender is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself/herself as having the status of a boy or man, girl or woman, respectively” (Coleman and Money, 1991, 13). In