The Role Of Socialization On Gender Identity

Both Deborah Blum’s The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over? and Aaron Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes” challenges the concept of how gender behavior is socially constructed. Blum resides on the idea that gender behavior is developed mainly through adolescence and societal expectations of a gender. Based on reference from personal experiences to back her argument up, Blum explains that each individual develops their expected traits as they grow up, while she also claims that genes and testosterones also play a role into establishing the differentiation of gender behavior. Whereas, Devor focuses mainly on the idea that gender behavior is portrayed mainly among two different categories: masculinity and

Gender is actually a set of rules, customs and traditions assigned to people of a particular sex. Gender is not biological but sex is. Rather, according to Lorber, it is influenced by our society and our culture. By proving this claim, Judith Lorber has put forth the example of the man and this example is efficient in distinguishing “gender” as a practice than as an innate attribute.

Although men and women have significant biological differences, the question whether gender-specific labels stems from these biological differences or are gender constructed remains a polarised nature versus nurture debate. Whether it is through the process of socialisation or genetic make-up, “gender identity” is given from a person’s birth, determining how a person culturally interacts and the expectations society places on them. Along with a “gender identity” comes a whole set of “norms”, “values” and so-called “gender characteristics”, which are supposed to define the differences between a male and a female. According to the World Health Organisation (n.d.), the term “sex” is often used to define the biological and physiological

In the last several years, numerous feminist movements have brought a great deal of attention to the gender equality issues many societies face. Is this increased awareness helping towards a neutral gendered socialization process which will inevitably eliminate the inequality? Gender socialization is the process where an individual is impacted by agents of socialization through their life stages which consequently creates the gender roles we see in today’s society. The only way to start working towards a gender equal world is by making changes towards the gender socialization process.

Men and women are sexually dimorphic: they possess characteristics that differ on average for males and females of a given species. These attributes can be physical, but are also seen in behaviour. This is also known as a sex difference. Given that differences in behaviour between the sexes have long been the subject of social discourse , it is paramount to examine to what extent these differences are dependent on society, or whether they have a basis in biology. Here, it is beneficial to observe the behaviour of children, instead of relying on self-reporting- this provides empirical evidence for a sex difference. They will not have been exposed to as many potentially gender-shaping stimuli as adults have, and so their observation can provide more accurate results when examining phenomena that cannot normally be seen. Therefore, it is also of particular use to investigate why some children show more gender-typical behaviour than others. As all behaviour is controlled by the brain, the terms “sex” and “gender” will be used interchangeably, despite some convictions that the term “gender” has more social connotations than the term “sex”.1

Although in contrast Geoff Dench believes that societal gender roles are beneficial; women stay home with the children and do housework, so that the men can take care of the family and be the breadwinner. “Over-emphasis on female independence, and rejection of sacrifice, has spawned a frog culture in which the sexes are polarizing, and men are becoming increasingly marginal as they revert to a wild state” (Dench). He is stating that because women want more independence, the men are no longer feeling as needed to provide for the family, thus feeling marginal. The most negative aspect of understanding and the attempt to change how we are affected by gender socialization is the discomfort it brings to people. Despite an increased number in people

Accordingly, there are two assumptions that certain scientists claim who are conducting research on sex and gender, namely a so-called ‘sex difference’ regarding (1) that all females and males behave and act differently according to their sex (2) psychological patterns are based on their biology and, therefore, genes (Caplan & Caplan, 2007). Both assumptions are built upon binaries and are rather alarming and very dangerous. Moreover, further issues with these assumptions are that (1) they argue through a calculated average referring to performances of participants which leaves out individual performances (2) it is rather unfounded hence genes can be changed and differ between individuals. Accordingly, both assumptions are based on biological

How one thinks of themselves as a man or woman encompasses the crucial core of gender identity. The terms sex and gender are often used synonymously but have different meanings. Sex refers to a person’s biological traits between men and women. According to the Carolyn Hannan, the biological traits are not mutually exclusive as there are individuals who possess both, but these traits tend to differentiate humans as male and female. In contrast, the concept of gender is a way to identify oneself psychologically and socially. The term gender defined by the APA, American Psychological Association, refers to the “attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex.”. Therefore gender is acquired through psychological, cultural, and social means to help promote and mold gender identity.

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.

Because mealtimes are perceived as socializing events, family interactions are more likely to include a wide range of control acts that aim at controlling children behaviors. In a cross-cultural study of families dinnertime discourse, Blum-Kulka (1997a) indicated the use of “social control acts” or directives as an important aspect of family dinners across cultures (p. 142). Similarly, in a study of 20 Swedish family dinner talk, Brumark (2006) stated that regulatory utterances constitute about %7 of family dinnertime conversations. In this regard, behavior regulation during mealtime is not limited to the habits of eating dinner but also is concerned with socializing children appropriate behaviors and politeness.

Sociologists assert that an individual’s sex can have significant disparity to their gender. Sex is defined by biological means including an individual’s anatomy that has been assigned by natural causes. Contrastingly gender has interdependent elements that put an individual in specific socially constructed categories. (McLennan, McManus, & Spoonley , 2010). From the outset these categories are noticeable. An example can be found in the way in which the actions of newborns are analysed and how these perceptions can completely differ based on the infant’s gender assignment. For example, the crying of a biologically male child is viewed as an indicator of masculinity and power while contrastingly that of a female is perceived as weakness. These types of gender socialisations set the foundation for the discrepancies between the ideologies formed for men and woman. The consequences of gender are not only significant to human development but also abundant in society, seeing gender play a role in all aspects of life. The profusion of influence exerted by gender roles claims principal accountability for continual inequalities in our society (Massey University,

Gender is a social construct, a dichotomy that exists in all societies (Costa, 1994). It is used to describe the socially constructed differences between men and women, referring not only to individual identity and personality, but

Throughout history gender differences are have thought to start evolving early on in a child’s life. Through the process of socialization not only underneath the parent’s care, but through experiences with other children and adults children start to develop a sense of gender identity and how they should behave based on their scientifically determined sex. Gender is defined by how one performs a given role and the characteristics they display that determines whether they fulfill a male or female role in society (Newman 139). Each culture varies in how the two genders are characterized, based on values that have evolved over thousands of years of history. However, many basic traits of men and women are agreed upon throughout the world. Males are stereotypically known to be strong and assertive, smarter, go-getters. They are the dominant sex. Their appearance is known to support their psychological characteristics with large muscles and tight jaw-lines. Their strength has shown to give them the upper hand in history. Females in Western society have historically always been known to show emotion easily and are thought to be as softer psychologically and physically and are generally less aggressive. These characteristics have made it harder for women to be taken seriously, to obtain the same rights as men, and to be treated fairly. The two widely known genders, male and females exhibit characteristics almost completely opposite one another, dividing the two genders completely.

The boundaries of gender are expansive. Many theorists have debated the etiology of gender and the norms within a gender. Recently, given the expansion of the types of genders these theories have been studied more closely. Thus it has been offered that gender is both natural and socialized. There are biological and social factors that play into the identity of a person.

From a biological point of view, humanity comprises two sexes, men and women. It is determined by a person’s sexual anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones. It’s inborn, the moment we have been born, we are judged as male or female according to the physiological characteristics. But gender difference is based on the concept of gender, which refers to socially defined differences between men and women. In the society, we are treated different because of different sex; we accept different education, grow up in different culture and so on. Then men and women will have many differences that are gender difference. Gender differences can reflect in different aspects, such as physiological, social behavior, communication, etc. I’m going to explore that gender difference are mainly reflected in what areas of life in this paper.