Gender Socialization And Gender Roles

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 role expectations are inescapable in our society as we naturally tend to sort humans into categories, the easiest one being gender. Upon first meeting a person, most people automatically classify the other’s gender. With this classification come the inevitable gender role expectations. Even for those who consciously try their hardest not to cloud their perceptions of others based on “traditional” gender role expectations, it is almost impossible not to subconsciously succumb to these expectations that are ingrained in our minds virtually since the day we are born. These expectations often influence how one interacts with another. This is especially important when taking into consideration the effects that gender socialization of children through gendered toys, media, and parental affects child development.

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 Socialization is the process through which children learn about the social expectations, attitudes and behaviors typically associated with boys and girls (Hanish & Fabes, 2014)". Children learn from their parents about how the world works. Children first teacher are there mother and father. If they had learned children who play with the opposite sex toy grow up into a gay man or a lesbian female, then they would believe the same acts could happen to them if they were to play with the opposite sex toy. Children not only learn about gender roles from their parents but they also learn from their peer groups. According to Doctor Laura and Richard also stated: In regard to gender development children’s gendered behavior becomes more similar to those they spend time with (Hanish & Fabes, 2014). Children learn either bad habits or good habits from their peer circle, they would change their self’s in order to be well liked by the others in their groups. Our society should not care about socialization and what's an appropriate toy for children to play

Within the American culture, our youth are taught that the masculine roles of the male has traditionally been associated with their role of being strong and dominant and the feminine role of a female has traditionally been associated with their role of being the follower and the nurturer. Children learn the gender roles beginning at birth through the socialization process. Historically our society has always identified male infants with blue and female infants with pink, however, with the turning of the 20th century more neutral colors are being thrown into the mix. More expecting parents are adventuring away from traditional blue and pink and choosing the neutral colors such as green and yellow. Children learn gender socialization through family members, education, other children and social media. Each reinforces the gender role by displaying and maintaining the normal expectation for each genders behavior. Our youth are taught at an early age of the separate expectations of each gender. Parents often teach the role not knowingly but through association. Boys are associated with trucks, toy guns and superheroes that teach them motor skills and independence, whereas the girls are associated with baby dolls, dress costumes, and toy kitchens which teaches them nurturing and social

Gender roles and socialization are instilled in us at an early age, whether it’s in our household, work, school or society. The way we view ourselves as male or females and the duties we are believed to portray because of what society expect of us and how we are meant to act due to our sex. Gender socialization it is when you engage with the next person and learn how the dynamics as a community and what are their belief systems as well as being open about their cultures as well as their gender.

Gender socialization is defined as the process in which we learning the expected social norms and attitudes associated with being a female or male (Iwamoto, 2016). Gender socialization begins at a very young age and continues to shape our behaviors, attitudes, and personality for the rest of our lives. For example, from birth, the color pink is associated with girls and the color blue with boys. Boys and girls are often dressed and treated differently based solely on their gender. Indubitably, gender socialization has impacted not only how I think about gender, but my actions and behaviors. Reflecting on my life experiences thus far, I have come to realize my cultural background as well as my upbringing has significantly shaped my values and perspectives’ on gender.

Every day we come across advertisements, many of them revolve around gender and gender socialization. Gender socialization is “the process of learning the social expectations and attitudes associated with one’s gender” (Chegg). Our book discusses gender socialization regarding the expectations for masculinity and femininity (Wood 2015). Most companies use these expectations to create their advertisements, but some companies contradict the expectations to create a different vision for gender advertisements.

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.

Throughout the lifespan there are clear indications of what is fitting for males and females. Some indications are obvious while others are coded beneath the surface of a message. The example above gives insight to gender socialization among infants and toddlers. As school aged child and adolescents, our children are geared towards appropriate activities to participate in, such as football for boys and cheerleading for girls. This

Before we learned this chapter, I didn 't know that sex and gender are different to each other, all I know is that gender and sex have the same meaning which referred to male and female. Recently, I just learned the difference between sex and gender, which is sex is like our biological difference which what makes people male and female, while gender is what the society reinforces a person to be based on their expectations and behaviors of being a male and female. In this essay, I will explain how this gender role affects us then and now especially our parents, the society, and media.

The term socialization refers to the “lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture.” [Macionis et al. p 55] The concept of socialization is that our actions are driven/learned by culture. Socialization is also the foundation of personality, which we build by internalizing our surroundings. Through the lifelong process of socialization, society transmits culture from one generation to the next.

Socialisation’ is “a term used to refer to the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies providing the individual with the skills and habits necessary for precipitating within one’s society, thus the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained” (Boundless.com, 2015). The process of socialisation involves an individual such as an adolescent having interactions with various agents of socialisation. Agents of socialisation are groups or institutions that play a crucial role in providing an individual with social and cultural skills in accordance with the social norms and standards of the society one is located in (Brian Furze, 2014). Socialisation contains two concepts, Primary and Secondary socialisation. Primary socialisation is a concept that involves usually a family’s influence over an individual during childhood; this process supports one to attain essential skills necessary to function in society as a child (Brian Furze, 2014). Secondary socialisation is a process that occurs after childhood and involves interactions with agencies other than family such as; schools peer groups, media etc… (Brian Furze, 2014). Gender socialisation is the process of how individuals are socialised into behaviours of the ascribed sex at birth and is the process of socialising into gender roles (Giddens, 1993). Gender Identity involves an individual’s perception of his or hers gender which usually correlates with ascribed status such as

Before one can dissect gender socialization and gender role expectations in children, they must understand what they are. According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF),

Socialization is like a two sided coin. One side holds all the teachings of how to thrive and be successful in modern society. The other side teaches the biases, stereotypes, and prejudice of gender and race. The socialization of children into gender roles is no exception. For instance, on the positive side of socialization, men have the gender role of being a protector and strong. However, on the opposite side of the coin, men are perceived as being promiscuous and callous. Gender roles and expectation have a significant impact on the American society. In fact, these rules and regulations are taught to the children at a young age so they will pass on them throughout their adult lives. Two places that reveal the teachings of gender