Color Coded Stereotypes

Throughout the history of society, women and men both have faced the constricting roles forced upon them, from a young age; each gender is given specific social and cultural roles to play out throughout their lives. Little girls are given dolls and kitchen toys, little boys are given dinosaurs and power tool toys, if one was to step out of this specified role, social conflict would ensue. Contrast to popular belief, sex is a biological construct, and gender is a social construct specifying the roles men and women are to follow to be accepted into society as “normal”. The effects of gender roles have had on women have proved harmful over the decades. Although the woman’s involvement in society has improved throughout the decades,

     Few toys were aimed equally at both genders. Even board games, while intended for both sexes, usually seemed aimed more towards one gender or another. Both sections had a lot of gender- stereotypical toys. General ideas on girls’ and boys’ behaviors and interests were very prevalent in the toys intended for each gender. After really looking at the toys in both sections it is easy to understand why stereotypical ideas about both genders are so strong since these ideas are introduced at such a young

Yesterday, I was playing Xbox with my friend, Anja. On my left side stood my laptop connected to a small speaker. I put on a song on Spotify, and leant back to look at the TV-screen. We listened to some other songs, until my mother came home and I had to turn it off to ask her something. When I was done talking to her, I sat back in the couch without putting on the music again. After about five minutes, a song howled out of the speaker with no one around the laptop to put it on play. My friend and I looked around like Timon from the Lion King and we were freaked out by the situation. I told Anja about another time something like this happened, when I was home alone in my room to put some make-up on. I put a song on my stereo from my Spotify

This article will immensely add to my paragraph on childhood gender roles. "Children 's Gender Identity Development: The Dynamic Negotiation Process Between Conformity and Authenticity” provides evidence that child are indeed aware of the stereotypes that come with gender, and allow that knowledge to effect their everyday lives.

From a young age, boys and girls are told to act a certain way based on their gender. The norms they are told often contradict each other, with boys being told to be confident and girls compliant. As a UNICEF report from 2008 describes, “Children start facing norms that define ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ from an early age. Boys are told not to cry, not to fear, not to be forgiving and instead to be assertive, and strong. Girls on the other hand are asked not to be demanding, to be forgiving and accommodating and ‘ladylike’.

Gender roles are set in place during childhood. Little boys are discouraged from playing with baby dolls and keeping house. Meanwhile little girls are given these toys as soon as possible. The notion that men are the breadwinners of the family is taught at a very young age.

The same with dolls, kitchen sets, and dress up clothes. We have very successful men who are fashion designers, chefs, and fathers. Gender culture sets limits on what industries think girls or boy will be interested in or want to play with. Thinking of children in only a gender manner and not an individual manner is simple minded. Industries need to gear their toys towards both genders so that children can make the decision on their own if it is something that interests them. I think that having non-stereotyped gender schemes would greatly affect our future by allowing children to just be children and explore and play as they please and believe in themselves to be able to be anything they want to be when they grow up regardless of their gender. I think if will affect the way they see the world and themselves and build up their self-esteem. I would tell someone is buying a toy for a young child to look at the age group and think about the kinds of thing that the child is interested in exploring and go by that instead of trying to fit into the social norms of boy and girl

In modern day America there is an ongoing disagreement between people of all ages about the topic of gender roles in children. According to Barrie Thorne and Zella Luria, the word gender is used to refer to “cultural and social phenomena- divisions of labor, activity, and identity which are associated with but not fully determined by biological sex” (Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds). Whether or not young males should be able to play with stereotypical female toys such as dolls, and should girls be able to play with stereotypical male toys such as cars/trucks is a big issue that many people disagree on. Should it be acceptable in this modern time that children are almost forced to play and behavior the way that society believes is the social norm for that gender? All of these things happen everyday in the lives of children, and these things can be damaging to their personality, identity, and the way the view others.

Gender Roles have been changing significantly over the last several decades. Back in the 1980, I grew up in a household where my father played a very masculine role in our home. He played sports, was self-employed, cut wood to heat the house, built a garden each year and hunted for food. My mother was a typical “June Cleaver”, whom always took care of us kids, cooked all the meals, did laundry, cleaned the dishes, cleaned home, ironed the clothes and did the grocery shopping. However, we never had gender specified toys and my father taught all his children to be both masculine and feminine. We all learned how to do everything that both my mother and he could do and he encouraged us to go even further with our knowledge and skills.

I really enjoyed your post as you gave really good explanations and went straight to the point. I definitely agree with you I believe gender roles are set up by society. We can see this as when we grow up they tell us we can't play with trucks or dress like a superhero because that's for boys. But toys don't say they are made for a specific sex and we can see how society plays a role in this topic. Great post!

After reading the textbook my thinking has not changed and on page 261 explains how when children grow up during the socialization process they are introduced to roles associated with their biological sex. Masculine roles are associated with strength, aggression, and dominance, while feminine roles are mostly associated with passivity, nurturing, and subordination children start learning their roles at birth. Also children learn these traits through playing because parents provide boys with trucks and girls with baby

Gender roles are learned by children through observational learning. Early observations come from the home where parents display gender roles on a regular basis. In a typical household the father engages in masculine activities such as going to work, providing for the family, fixing appliances, and

One wonders, however, how much influence a child's peers have on their understanding of, and adherence to, gender roles. It's certainly important for parents to challenge gender stereotypes, but unless the rest of the world joins in, children are going to be faced with, say, classmates who pull a truck from a girl's hands and yell, "This is a boy's toy!" or science and math teachers who overlook a girl's contributions to the class, or fail to encourage her to participate, due to an ingrained belief that women do not excel in these fields. Perhaps the best anyone can do, as Eliot notes, is to just try to provide kids with as equal a playing ground as possible: ""I don't want to be accused of saying it's all environment and it's all parents,

I agree that society has always and will always stereotype gender. Our media has a lot to do with how each gender is portrayed and even though times have changed, many things still are the same. Women are sexualized through the media and they make it seem like it is ok. Men are seen as the ones who make the money and can have successful careers. We also see it among each other, in our children and in our schools. Children are often set to believe that pink is for girls and blue is for boys, and that is the rule. Also stores have put labels on the toys, girl toys and boy toys. I think it makes it difficult for children to be open about what they like because they almost feel like they are not allowed to do so since it is for the opposite sex.

The article Gender Role Models ... who needs ‘em?! By Stephen Hicks encouraged me to reflect on my childhood gender roles as well as how I portray my gender roles today. After learning about the socialization theory I realize my parents were traditional towards gender roles and have incorporated multiple theories of human growth and development into my gender development. I have also learned how my gender roles have gradually transformed since I was a child. Therefore, this article has brought to my attention several feelings and thoughts about my past and how I was raised as well as how my gender roles have changed as I have developed.