Socialization Is Like A Two Sided Coin

Envision yourself entering a toy department and noticing numerous diverse aisles. In one aisle, you encounter toys packaged in complementary and color triads colors that include building sets (such as “LEGO”, “LEGO Super Heroes”, and “Angry Birds”) and a wide selection of action figures—Spider Man, Transformers, The Dark Knight, Power Rangers, etc. In the next aisle, adjacent to the aisle with complementary and color triads colors, you find toys packaged in shades of pink and purple. These toys range from “Hello Kitty” dolls to “Barbie Dream” house play sets. Inside a toy department, such as Toys R Us, it is extremely difficult to retrieve a toy that is not marketed explicitly or subtly by gender. If toys were marketed only according to

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

Toys play quite an important role in children’s lives, along with their socialization. Kids spend a vast amount of time playing with toys, alone and with their peers or parents. In todays age when it comes time to buying gifts for children everything is color coded. There are many boundaries

I decided that for this assignment that I would go to Walmart and observe their toy department. I chose this retailer simply because it was convenient, and it supplied a wide variety of toys for me to observe. Before I went to the toy aisle, I found myself reminiscing about

The gender based expectations are taught and the sometimes subtle, often overt lessons begin at a very young age. It starts with the color of the blanket a baby is wrapped up in, the toys bought for them to play with, and extends to the pretend play they engage in. So from the earliest ages of social awareness, society reinforces the ideals of masculine and feminine throughout life. Consequently, it is perfectly acceptable for a girl to put on a purple tutu and twirl about granting wishes to her stuffed animals, while it would be discouraged for a boy. He should be outside in the sandbox setting up his toy soldiers in a mock battle. In spite of the entrenched idea of gender, some mothers and fathers aspire to a more gender-neutral parenting style, that doesn’t restrict their child to specific societal ideals. However, the pressure to conform to the gender binary is ever-present and difficult to deconstruct. The boy that cries when he gets hit by a baseball is called a “sissy” and told to “man up” by his coach. The girl who tells her high school counselor, she wants to take auto

Abstract 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

• The expectation that 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

By looking through each aisle, I was able to determine what toys were presented for each age specific gender. The infant and toddler toys started off with not much difference and were gender neutral for the most part. They were even in the same aisle. The toys were generally plush animals, entertainment puzzles, and simple objects. As the ages moved up to pre-school there was more difference in what toys were for boys and what toys were for girls. The toys for boys were more vehicles while the girl toys were more play scenarios. This fit the description given in the textbook that, “by the time they are 12 to 18 months old, girls prefer…dolls, cooking sets, dress-up clothes, and soft toys, whereas boys choose vehicles, sports equipment, and tools (Etaugh & Bridges p 77).” Though the toys were varied, they still remained in the same aisle. The major separation of girl and boy toys began with the young school age kids. The girls’ section was focused on dress up, Barbies, and My Little Pony, whereas the boys’

Gender Roles: The Harmful Effects The idea of gender roles has been prominent throughout not only American History, but world history as well. Everyone understands that men are the ones who provide for their family while women are responsible for household work such as taking care of the children, cleaning, and cooking. The United States has come a long way in demolishing these gender constructs from presenting women the right to vote to recent strives in pop culture such as Benny’s gender crushing single and music video, Little Game, but the nation is still not quite to the point of completely shattering the often harmful gender roles that are set upon children and adults in society. As a means to prevent damage to future generations, parents should not assign gender roles to their children at birth.

Autobiographical Gender Socialization Essay What does it mean to be socialized in terms of one’s gender? During the process of socialization, one learns to behave accordingly within one’s society. So, gender socialization would be the process in which a person learns to behave a certain way based on their biological sex in their cultural context. Each culture has a different process of gender socialization, and each culture has different attitudes and norms associated with each gender. Some societies, and cultures, have more than two genders, like the Asian Indians and the Native Americas (Lindsey, 2011). Then there are other societies, like most of the modern world, have only two socially recognized genders. The United Sates

Products advertised to children are typically separated by gender. Certain toys and costumes belong to boys and others belong to girls. The gendering of children’s products reinforces stereotypes and affects the life trajectory of many children (Brasted 2010). Boy Toys Products advertised as for boys emphasize action. Their costumes are reflective

In one of the girl’s toy ad for a toy castle it has two girls playing with this a pink Barbie castle and looking very happy together. This ad uses the gender norm that little girls are supposed to be very friendly and are supposed to play with very feminine toys such as pink Barbie castles. The ad also has the girls smiling and looking very kind which shows the gender norm that girls are supposed to be kind and hospitable toward each other. Another gender norm present in the ad is that girls are supposed to share with each other. This is shown in the ad because the two

She backs up that statement by providing the static fact that in 1975, “less than 2% of toys were explicitly marketed to either boys or girls.” She dives deeper into how gender stereotypes and ‘gender norms’ are prevalent in present day society by explaining how marketing plays an influence on society, especially the children. According to the BBC documentary The Men Who Made Us Spend, children now are being targeted as mini consumers and that the average British child sees 10,000 adverts a year! Kessel also claims that advertisements on children’s channels are the “most explicitly gendered thing you’ve ever seen’ and that in the advertisements involving girls, the girls are seen “in a whirl of pink and high-pitched voices” whereas the advertisements involving boys, the boys are seen “[in a whirl of] blue with a backdrop of angry guitar music.” By evaluating how marketing influences children to gender stereotype, she was able to strengthen her argument.

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.

Biological factors (sex) and The next model is the socialization model which says that gender is purely a creation of societal influences. According to this model, children and adolescents learn everything about gender roles from various social influences, including their parents, the media, and by their peer groups. Based on the roles of genders portrayed through these sources, children construct views of what normative behaviors for males and females looks like, and behave accordingly. In Dowd’s article, “What’s a Modern Girl to Do,” the author had two choices about how to behave based on what she learned from various socialization sources.