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Gender Role Models. Who Needs Em?

Decent Essays
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. Throughout my childhood, my mother and father both contributed to my growth and development since birth, this lead me to believe having a mother and a father would lead to the best outcome in life. Socialization theory clearly represents how my family interacted with me when I was a child, for example “socialization theory suggests that one function of the family is to teach children the correct behaviors associated with their gender” (Hick, Pg. 45, 2008). I was continuously exposed to the correct behaviors for my gender and never any different. I was clothed in a gender specific wardrobe and only had the option to play with gender specific toys. My parents also enrolled me in gender specific sports; for example, I took gender specific dance lessons at the age of three. This showed me what was correct for my gender and what I should be
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