Gender Socialization Essay Research Paper Gender Socialization

Gender Socialization Essay, Research Paper

Gender Socialization

A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents or parent and

says three simple words: Its a boy, or Its a girl! Before a newborn child

even takes his or her first breath of life outside the mothers womb, he or she

is distinguishable and characterized by gender. The baby is brought home

and dressed in clothes that help friends, family and even strangers identify

the sex of the child. Baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are

dressed in pink. The baby boy may be dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a

football or a baseball glove on it. The baby girl may wear a bow in their hair

and flowered pajamas. As the boy begins to grow, he is given a miniature

basketball and a hoop to play with. The girl is given dolls an d doll clothes

to dress them up in. Even going further, eventually the boy may play with

Legos and Lincoln Logs and the girl gets a PlaySchool oven and a plastic

tea set with which to play house. Sounds pretty normal right. Why. As

illustrated in the not-so-fictional scenario above, gender socialization begins

very early in life. Society has accepted such stereotypical things as baby

boy blue and baby girl pink to help identify the sex of a child. Heaven forbid

the little Joey looks like a girl or b aby Michelle is mistaken for a boy.

Mothers and fathers make it easy for everyone to distinguish their bundle of

joy by utilizing the socially established gender stereotypes. But where and

how did these stereotypes come from. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a

definite answer to that question. We seem to accept that blue is for boys

and pink is for girls. Boys generally play with balls, toy trucks and building

blocks whereas girls spend their time with dolls, tea sets and stuffed

animals. But these are the stereotypes that are influenced by the parents. A

baby child isn’t concerned with his or her gender identity. As the child gets

older though, he or she will begin to develop an identity for his or herself

and establish a personality th at reflects their masculinity or femininity. In

Nancy Chodorow’s essay “Family Structure and Feminine Personality” she

examines the development of gender identity and personality. Except for the

stereotypical examples I have given above which again are e stablished by

the parents, Chodorow states that the development of a child is basically the

same for boys and girls until the age of three. During those first three years

the mother is the dominant figure in the child’s life. The father plays a limited

role until the child reaches the so called Oedipal period (beyond age 3). It is

at this stage that children begin to try to separate themselves from the

clutches of their mother and establish their own identity. Chodorow

examines how different this is for boys and girls. KFRC radio disk jockey

Ron Parker recently reported that out of a survey of one hundred fourth

grade boys and one hundred fourth grade girls, the boys receive an average

weekly allowance that is approximately 50% higher than the girls receive.

On the average, the boys receive $4.18 as compared to the $2.67 paid to

the girls. To look even further, the survey reported that the boys only

perform three household chores to earn their weekly allowance whereas the

girls are performing twel ve or more. Why are the girls expected to do four

times as much work around the house than the boys are. Chodorow writes

that a young boy is usually unable to identify with his masculinity through his

father. The father isn.t as readily available to th e boy as the mother.

Without the father to follow example, Chodorow concludes that a boy will

identify masculine characteristics be doing that which is not feminine. This

could be an explanation for the big difference in the number of chores the

girls d o versus the boys. Though you might disagree with the morality of

this statement, you have to admit that it is socially accepted that household

chores are feminine duties. Young boys are bound to realize this and

following Chodorow.s theory, will refuse to perform a lot of chores in an

attempt to become more masculine.GENDER.AND.THE.MEDIA

Another aspect of everyday life that is highly influential in gender

socialization is the media. What we see on television or at the movies, what

we read in the newsp aper or in magazines, what we see on billboards or

hear on the radio are all very significant on how we form a opinion on

gender identity. Media publishers have very successfully learned to .play.

to an audience and are extremely successful in communicat ing with the

audience they wish to reach. Advertisers are the biggest example of this

concept. Society is very apt in recognizing images seen in commercials and

printed ads and viewing them as socially acceptable behavior. For example,

beer compa

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