Gender Socialization : Gender And Gender

Gender roles are categories that characterize what it means to be feminine and masculine in society, on how people think about gender as they relate to one another (Adams et al., 2013). For example, women are expected to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive, this shows how men and women are to behave in society. However, these sayings were taught to individuals based on norms, or standards created by a society which is called Gender Socialization (p. 318). Growing up as a child, we were taught as girls to play with dollhouses, pretend kitchen sets, cleaning supplies and play dress up. Whereas boys are taught to play with cars, sports equipment’s, action figures, and weapons. However, if a boy was playing with dollhouses, or playing dress up, he would be considered gay, or not masculine and looked down upon by society, and families. The same goes for girls who play with boy toys, or dresses as a tomboy, this is what we are taught to play with at a young age. Our families tell us how to behave, our schools tell us what

A gender stereotype is a generalized view or perception about characteristics that are or should be possessed by, or the roles that are or should be performed by women and men. A gender stereotype is harmful and can lessen women when it limits their capacity to develop their personal abilities, chase their professional careers and make choices about their lives and life plans. The obvious biological form of men and women arise the challenge of the hidden language metaphors in science. While women have begun to earn acceptance in the workforce in the past decades, men have not yet seen societal acceptance in politics, let alone as caregivers and homemakers. Gender roles exist exclusively because society as a whole chooses to accept them, but they are supported by the media.

Gender socialization takes place in our everyday lives whether we subconsciously know it or not. Gender socialization is the socially learned expectations and behaviors associated with members of each gender. For example, If I were to say it takes my friend at least 45 minutes to do their hair before school everyday, you would assume I am speaking about a friend who is a female as opposed to a friend who is male. This is because of the idea of gender socialization.

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.

Throughout women’s life, they are faced with many stereotypes and situations which dictate how they act and how people see them. A problem with this is that, by thinking that women follow certain stereotypes, society starts to believe that women will only act a certain way, and they don expect them to do masculine things such as being a police officer or

What does it mean to express ourselves as women? Gender shapes our interpretation of what it is to be at home within ourselves. As James Baldwin eloquently reminded us, “The world’s definitions are one thing, and the lives one actually lives is quite another” (Baldwin, ). How can we be sure of the complex nature of our gender identities and gender expression, be genuine, when we have been socialized into looking at the world through the lens of a binary gender system since we were born? It seems to me that the definition and expression of womanhood are constantly evolving, and that is good news.

Socialisation is the process by which we learn the norms and values of the culture and society around us. The feminist theory’s views these agents to benefit patriarchy and assign hidden gender roles in favour of men; although there are many different branches of feminism (radical, liberal, Marxist and difference) their explanations as to why differ, but all agree that women are exploited to teach the norms and values that precipitate patriarchy and lead to female oppression. They believe this is done through agents such as, the family this is our primary socialisation, which is the first type we have, and then secondary socialisation which includes things such as the media, schools, work place and religion.

West and Zimmerman’s theory of “Doing Gender” defines sex and gender as two separate entities within this binary society. Sex refers to the biological characteristics that are typically attributed to males and females. Gender is the status of the individual performing the activities that are commonly associated with masculinity and femininity. These traits are rigid in dictating the individual’s consistent performance of them. A gendered individual must execute the appropriate acts that are linked to masculinity or femininity respectively. It is a learned behavior that is taught at an early age through observation of society. Therefore, it is society that decides whether an action is attributed to masculinity or femininity. Gender is a socially constructed idea of thought that people unconsciously follow. The acts that constitute a particular gender can change based on the views of society within a generation. Certain activities and forms of appearance have shifted between males and females. As society evolves throughout history, the interactions between individuals and their gendered actions have changed. West and Zimmerman state, “When we view gender as an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct, our attention shifts from matters internal to the individual and focuses on interactional and, ultimately, institutional arenas” (West and Zimmerman, 1987, page 126). Thus the performance of gender has developed passed the individual and is engrained within the

For individuals, this means learning and adapting form those around you. For example, our parents teach us how to walk and talk, we socialize with peers and share similar personalities and mannerisms, and as adults we tend to socialize with those of similar interests, careers, and social status. As individuals, over time we tend to develop the same habits, gestures, and beliefs as our peers and forms a perceived “normal” view of how men and women are to act (Rothenberg & Munshi, 2016). Through these interactions, we will eventually fit into a gender category and be bound by the expectations associated with that

How Gender Roles and Societal Expectations Shape Personal Lives” “Boys will be boys”. “If a girl flirts she should follow through”. “A woman belongs in the kitchen”; We all have heard these phrases in some form or another on our TVs, on campus, behind a pulpit, be it indirectly or directly. Somewhere along the line, these messages become a mentality, and in turn the mentality becomes a mandate: do what is expected of you. “Boys”, “Girl”, and “Lust” are all examples of how gender roles and societal expectations shape how we think, act, and see others.

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

The social expectations and stereotypes associated to certain genders plays a major role in how people are discriminated against. Gender is only one aspect of a person’s identity, yet society, especially in the past, places a large amount of value on a person’s gender. In my own experiences, people would consider me incapable of performing certain tasks for the sole purpose that I am a girl. They disregard, mock and belittle me for being a young woman, rather than see me as something more than my gender. Worse yet, I sometimes think myself inadequate, just because I am a girl, due to the sexist messages that bombard me on a daily basis by the media and people in my life.

Growing up in strict home with strict morals I would definitely say that I learned what the course text recognizes as gender roles throughout my childhood. I grew up in a family with a mom and dad who loved each other. I have always watched how my parents would interact and treat each other. They were male and female who would kiss each other and love each other. This is definitely what has lead to what I identify as my gender socialization. I have learned what is normal from witnessing a heterosexual couple. Also, growing up my dad would work and my mom would stay home and maintain the house. Watching this as a child I would not have expected anything less than for the male to work and the female be caregiver. I relate this back to gender

There are certain jobs that are not ‘acceptable’ for a woman, because she is a female. A woman should not dress and act a certain way because she is a female. These traditional codes of gender are complications for women because they are being defined as powerless, submissive, and delicate beings by the media. Although these definitions are not true, it still makes people treat women as if they were babies or flowers. This traditional code is more damaging for young women and little girls because they are seeing in the media how a woman ‘should’ act. They grow up and restrict themselves from certain lifestyles, sports, and other diverse activities because the media says they aren’t feminine enough and woman should not participate in them. It’s important for woman to break this traditional code so they can live freely without being judged and criticized. All women who break the traditional codes by participating in sports, dressing in ways that are not feminine, and other various actions are often criticized by friends, family members, peers, and strangers. These criticisms and judgments are one of the ways that cause women to limit or force themselves to make a balance between their masculinity and

As evident from the generalized patterns found in differences in behaviour and outlook observed between the sexes, it may be tempting, as has been done in the past, to conclude that gender is an unavoidable aspect of human existence as determined purely from one 's genes. Indeed, human physiology is subject to sexual dimorphism; statistically significant differences in brain size and rate of maturation of specific substructures in the brain exist between males and females (Giedd, Castellanos, Rajapakese, Vaituzis, & Rapoport, 1997), yet these physical differences fail to explain how individuals form their concept of their own gender, and why they tend to conform to their perceived gender roles as defined by the society in which they live, when these roles are ever-changing. Thus, it is important to differentiate between the physical and nonphysical traits, and how the labels of femininity and masculinity should not confuse the two aspects. As defined by Unger (1979), “sex” would be used to refer to the biological differences in males and females, while “gender” describes socioculturally determined, nonphysiological traits which are arbitrarily designated as being appropriate for either females or males. With more recent awareness and interest in matters of gender nonconformity and individual gender identity, new research now explains how these concepts of gender are shaped by social influences (Perry