Designing A Non Gender Baby Clothing Line

Sociologist Dalton Conley wrote his book, You May Ask Yourself, addressing how “gender is a social construction” that is so normal for society to think how a man or woman should act towards the public. Society often categorizes roles that females and males are suppose to play in, but not only are they categorized they are also being taught what their gender role is suppose to do. The beginning of gender socialization can start with a child who is not born yet by simply having the parents purchase items that are all pink if its expected to be a girl, but if its expected to be a boy then everything they purchase will be blue. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany ones’ status as male or female” (Conley [2008] 2013:134). So even when a child is growing into their infant years, toys are made specifically for their gender. By examining how social construction places gender in categories it becomes apparent that males and females get differentiated a lot which emphasizes inequality between them.

In today’s society from a young age boys and girls are raised socially different, known as gender socialization. A gender role is a set of behaviors, attitudes and personality characteristics expected and encouraged based on an individual 's sex. Sex is a person’s biological status referred to as female, male or inter-sex. However, gender is related to attitudes, feelings and behaviors that a given culture associates with biologically sexed bodies. Cultures differ about what is appropriate for males and females for example, from the moment boys and girls are born they are dressed differently. In some countries, the color pink is immediately associated with girls, while blue it associated to boys. Parents unconsciously reinforce gender

     Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because girls don’t want that icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? This

Even from birth gender is forced on children, clothes for baby boys are nearly always in lighter shades of blue whilst girls’ clothing is usually

Another strong influence on the gender roles imposed on children comes from the toy companies themselves. Most toy stores and customers are forced to choose between the pink, fluffy, homemaking, crafty toys for girls or the blue, hardware, cars and dinosaur toys for boys.

Gender difference is being taught to our young people from birth as they are labelled pink if it is a girl and blue if it is a boy. There was a case study carried out where they switch the colours, and put the girls in blue and boys in pink, this was to see how differently the children were treated because of what they were wearing. Some people were saying look at him he’s a big boy and this was really a girl but just wearing blue. The boys were getting, isn’t she lovely because they were pink. This is the social norm for people to segregate our children based on gender because of what they are wearing. This is evident by Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department.

People all over the world with different cultures, religions and beliefs teach us that they are two different genders, which are male and female. This fact is the foundation of social structure; some people are discriminated because they do not fit in any of the categories in society’s structure. On that note, social construction of gender, is how the “stereotypes” or the expectations of what each gender has to do, or is expected to do, shapes a child as they grow. For instance, the pink and the blue, how the girl areas in stores are full if pinkish delicate stuff and the boy are full of blue and cars and dinosaurs. In other words, people feel the need to separate these two genders in such drastic ways that if a mother decides to dress her baby boy in pink, people will mistake the boy for a baby girl. Furthermore, some people that do not identify themselves as male or female, are classified as genderqueer. “We may use scientific knowledge to help us make the decision, but only our beliefs about gender—not science—can define our sex. Furthermore, our beliefs about gender affect what kinds of knowledge scientists produce about sex in the first place.” (Ann

Up until the 19th century, it was socially acceptable for little boys to wear skirts, and dresses! During this time, all babies wore white dresses until about the age of six or seven.  White dresses and diapers were worn for due to ease of cleaning and laundering; White was easy to bleach and keep clean. The early 20th century was when boys started wearing pants and girls started wearing dresses; color also started to be impacted by gender. In 1918, a department store printed an ad with a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. This chart stated that boys should be dressed in pink and girls in blue.  Pink was for boys because it was a powerful color.  Blue was designated to girls because it was considered delicate and dainty. It is ridiculous to think that this entire Gender norming issue formed solely because people were just trying to sell more items. The color scheme switch after WW1, because the media showed men dressed in blue army uniforms. This gender difference reached a halt in the 1960's when women dressed themselves and their daughters in more of a unique way to exhibit there negative feelings to being ‘normal’ and ‘accepted’. Society then began dressing their children in yellow—which until this day is still considered a “neutral” color for both boys and girls. In the 1980’s you now have sonograms which reveals the gender of your unborn child. Which then led to pink or blue themed baby showers, nursery decoration, gifts, toys, etc. So— fast forward until today and we are still experiencing issues related to gender stereotyping. Within 100 years, we as a society, have collectively evolved from white clothing on both boys and girls, to having a set color and theme for separate boys and girls toys, clothing, bedding, etc. Walking down the aisles of Walmart in Abilene, today, It is easy to

Even before a child is born, we have already labeled that child as either a boy or a girl. Then as they grow up we subject them to gender socialization, which is the process in which cultures communicate their expectations about gender to the child (Arnett, 135). I grew up in a small town; however, it was not like the stereotypical, very conservative, small town that is often portrayed in movies. My experience in Western culture, which is immensely different than that of other cultures, is that gender socialization was prevalent during childhood, but became more relaxed during adolescents and emerging adulthood.

We are flooded with social conditions that teach us that we live in a world of duality: male and female; man and woman; ying and yang from the moment we are born. I kept my own culture and tradition when I raised my children. Unconsciously, we decorated bedroom pink for girls and blue for boys, we buy pretty dolls for girls and balls for boys; we praise girls for their pretty hair and elegance that while boys are commended for bravery, strong and their confidence. We guide them what activities that we felt comfortable with. Even though, we were more open minded than our parents, we still teach them gender bias and segregated.

From the time we are born, we are treated differently. Many tests have shown that from the time you are a newborn, you are instantly smothered with the “gender appropriate items” that your parents feel are necessary. The most famous experiment is called “Baby X”. Basically they took a baby and told the experimenters that it was either a boy or girl. "We said this is Johnny. Just play with Johnny any way that you'd

Gender stereotypes (Gender roles) happen from an early age, for example with toys and colors introduces to children. When a baby boy is born he is given a blue blanket, when a baby girl is born she

Today when a human baby is born the first question that is asked is '' Is it a boy or a girl?'' In human culture the answer to this question is gigantically significant. This definition of ''femaleness'' or ''maleness'' is the hypothesis of the society which assumes that the child who is born a girl will remain female forever, while a boy will be a male. Gender roles are created by society and vary from society to society as it takes all sorts to make a world. It does not matter where ever you are in the world its just ''society'' which assigns the gender roles without even having enough knowledge about one's gender identity. We living in 21st century but when it comes to gender role orientation we are in total chaos.

The fashion design career, has recently emerged as one of the most popular and competitive among young people. Those who actually succeed in design have a very individualistic personal style and don’t follow trends set by others. Having fashion design as your profession sometimes allows you to meet glamorous people. It can also put you in charge of what is in and out when it comes to clothing through ramp shows and fashion write-ups. Most designers have a great social status, and are accepted by everyone. However, There are many aspects which may or may not help you choose it as your career.

This is called gender socialization, which exaggerates sexual differences physically, experimentally, academically, and psychologically. Most parents are unaware that they play such a large role in creating a male or female child. But they are the first and one of the largest influences on their child. When parents have a female child she is viewed as sweet and gentle. The parents will even hold their daughter closer than they would a son. As they grow older boys are encouraged to explore while girls are kept closer to their parents. They are taught different approaches to many different problems in life. They may not realize it but through their interactions with their children they are encouraging their children to grow into a certain type of person based on their gender. The toys they are introduced to are even gender-based. Toys for males encourage them to develop such abilities of spatial perception, creativity, competition, aggression, and constructiveness. Toys for girls encouraged creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. Children’s rooms and clothing are specific color: girls are pink and boys are blue. Girls often wear dresses and skirts that limit their physical activity. These types of influences at such an early age lay a foundation for the child’s personality. By the time they reach school age they already have a sense of being male or female. In school peers and teachers enforce these differences even further. (Lips, 1979,