American Gender Identity
In the United States of America, genders are organized into two categories, male and female. According to Oxford Dictionary, gender is defined as, “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).” The “sex” of a person includes the physical characteristics, like genitals or sex chromosomes. Gender expectations and norms have been taught since birth; the family, the media, peers, and religion are examples of where these beliefs are learned. Another way gender norms are taught is through separated colors, toys, and clothes for male and female. There are specific gender roles for males and females. Men are seen as dominant and in charge,
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Elizabeth Sweet argues that during the 1920s to the 1960s toys were more gender neutral than today. Sweet also argues that specific gender roles portrayed in toys effects how children see themselves, and toys should be based on age. Dr. Elizabeth Sweet is a sociologist and gives lectures at California State University in Sacramento. In 2012 and 2014, she wrote articles about the connection between gender and children's toys for The New Yorker and The Atlantic. She also went to the White House and gave a lecture about this topic and gave two TED …show more content…
Sweet argue that it affects a child’s creative process and mindsets towards gender. Lori Day, a psychologist, explains that girls and boys stop playing with each other during childhood, an that leaves a lasting impression that they are different when they are very similar (Hains par. 8). This debate about sex-specific toys shows the core issues about gender inequality in American society. These gender roles teach children what jobs and careers are appropriate for their gender. Boys learn that their jobs include hands-on work, while girls learn that child-care or nursing is for them. This reflects the number of women in occupations like mechanics and engineering. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up 26.7 percent of the jobs in motor vehicles industry. This also affects how many men are nurses. According to Bureau Health Professions, men make up 9.1 percent of registered nurses. Gender stereotypes that are learned when kids are younger affect their future occupation. This article disrupts gender roles by explaining how sex-specific toys affect children’s individuality and view on themselves and
The authors use toys as an example for gender specifying children as male or females. They did a study to see what kind of toys that toddlers had at home. They found that girls had more toys for parties, wedding, cooking, and motherhood. And boys had toys that helped them with automotive skills and building skills. They express how parents do this to show children what they want them to do when they get older. Parents buy children toys to set their gender types early so kids know what gender type they have at an early age.
Craig’s worries about his son’s actions being more feminine as a result of playing with feminine toys is not uncommon. Many parents may become worried if they start seeing their child being more interested in playing with toys designed for the opposite gender. A hypothesis can be drawn up by stating that if boys with typically female toys, then there would be an increase of femininity traits of passiveness.
This article was rather interesting to me, especially after reading the previous article about pink brain blue brain. The conditioning of young children does seem to dictate gender roles within society. I hadn’t realized just how often these roles appear throughout the media. I never had given commercials or even books a second thought when seeing boys play with gooey science kits and girls play with easy bake ovens. I have previously studied the princess phenomenon, which is also at times referred to as a “Cinderella complex”. Girls continue to watch the same films that generations of young children have and continue to still watch today. This type of conditioning does pose a negative threat as boys are expected to act “manly” while women
Girls and boys both grow up being socialized on what is normal and unusual for their gender. Toys are a prominent factor in this socialization, because they are typically presented for one gender and are unacceptable for the other. To assess how toys play a role in gender socialization, I made a trip to Toys “R” Us in College Station and was surprised by how the store was organized.
Sex and gender are often used interchangeably in American culture, yet they have distinctly different meanings. Sex is based on a person’s biological traits, such as chromosomes and genitals, while gender is used to outline what cultural roles a person will perform. American society uses a binary system of male or female for sex and gender. Both sex and gender are integral in shaping a person’s identity. The gender and sex binary system can be detrimental to individuals who do not conform to it.
This article details the different ways that gender is socialized through children’s toys and how drastically this mechanism has changed throughout time. This doesn’t stop at toys but goes as far as sexualized Halloween and dress up costumes. Girl’s costumes more often portray sexualized appearances while boy’s costumes often resemble “masculine” characters. These toys and costumes can influence what direction a child’s life will take with regards to college major, occupation and societal roles. It doesn’t stop there; children are even being drawn away from talents and interests and towards stereotyped gender related activities. These different mechanism of gender socialization didn’t exist until recently, though. In the 1970’s, only 2% of
Growing up, many Americans ' childhood consisted of playing tag outside, having cooties, and experimenting with as many toys as possible. Hundreds of thousands of toys flood kid stores such as Toys R ' Us, Baby Depot, and KB toys. With imagination, kids are able to become doctors, presidents, and princesses during the contents of one day. Television shows such as Barney or Blues Clues encourage having such imagination, thus inspiring kids to want to become one of the many options stores can transform them into. Walking into a regular toy store, people generally do not dissect the sexism that lays within the aisles, however, when walking in specifically to compare and contrast boys and girls toys
The world is occupied by different races, species, ethnicities, religions, cultures and genders; as societies developed through time, accepting everyone’s presence has not been an easy task. The United States is lucky enough to have a mixture of different people, who possess different qualities that allows the country to be known as one of the most diverse when compared to others. However, having a numerous amount of people that share different beliefs and are overall different has its own set of drawbacks and problems. As known around the world, with different cultures and norms, we as humans do not agree or practice the same ethics which have started many battles and wars. Problems do not only arise between different countries but can also be seen within societies. A problem that is still visible in many societies around the globe is that certain people are treated differently; this holds true in the United States. For example, in a macro
Gender norms today have become a big part of our society as they are present in our every day life from advertisements, clothes, to the way we are supposed to act, and even in toys. In order to appeal to a certain customer, advertisements use many gender norms that apply to customers. One of the most impactful gender norms that I find to be is in the kid’s toys because I believe that it’s teaching these kids about how to act. Kids ranging from very early ages know what types of toys they should play with and what toys they aren’t supposed to play with. For example, little boys would play with cars and action figures while on the other hand girls would play with dolls and a tea party set. Many of the toys for girls have been shaped to show them that are supposed to be more friendly and kind. These toys have made it so that there are certain way’s little girls should act and also what things they should like.
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.
Many people confuse the definition of gender and sex. “Gender, on the other hand, refers to the meanings, values, and characteristics that people ascribe to different sexes. Sex is a biological concept, determined on the basis of individual 's primary sex characteristics.” (Blackstone) Society gives social cues on the appropriate behavior for each sex. For example, women are to exert more feminine traits such as being dependent, emotional, passive, innocent, nurturing, and/or self-critical. On the contrary, men should be more
Many people can agree that the toys they played with shaped their childhood. A child should be allowed to play with toys of their choosing; however this is not always the case due to traditional gender stereotypes. There is a clear separation that girls should play with dolls and other domestic-like toys while boys should play with action figures and toys that are more educational or physical. This was not always the case. Before the 1990s toys were primarily gender neutral. But in the 1990s, toys became increasingly gender divided due to marketers seeing an opportunity to sell products to two different audiences, which would increase sales. Consequently, gender toys have lead to many negative effects including girls and boys believing
As time has progressed and colonization has evolved, gender in the United States has been constructed in a manner that is unknown in other countries. Our society has made different stereotypes for certain sexes. It is socially impossible to not make a collation between sex and gender in the United States. Women are viewed the same in the professional world and in the home life perspective. All roles played by women are considered to be inadequate or insignificant compared to men. Gender characteristics, such as masculinity and femininity, has become a cultural construct. Gender is a social construct that was designed to confine people to a certain title and cultural agenda.
Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.
For generations, cultural norms have significantly influenced male and female gender roles. Gender roles emphasizes that social and cultural influences are the main energy force for differentiating between gender roles and the root of division of labor based on sex. Furthermore, contingent to our social environmental conditions, we adapt to our cultural characteristics, learn accepted behaviors, and pass those characteristics from generation to generation. The following section looks to guide the reader through the biological and communal impacts of gender roles and discusses how it relates to America culture.