From the moment he/she born, that one word defines most if not all of their life choices starting with the clothes they wear to the decorations in their room to the toys they play with. “Children develop gender-typed patterns of behavior and preferences as early as age 15 to 36 months” states a psychological viewpoint on gender stereotyping in children. This is a shocking factor as if children are able to make preferences at such an early age, it is clear how gender stereotyping comes about. This is due to the fact that young children look up to elders who instill in a young boy or girl values and
Girls are often viewed as playing with Barbie dolls and boys with GI Joe action figures. As quoted from Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, “most parents would be upset if someone gave their son Barbie dolls.” This is because society’s gender norms have boys characterized to be masculine and tough, not feminine and soft. Mass media can also contribute to this issue by displaying males as aggressive, while females are displayed as being more unassertive. This creates two very distinct roles as the norm in a society. An example of these two distinct roles are in television shows, such as Two and a Half Men.
MichelleE.Visiois with the Psychology Department at Southwest Missouri State University This article can be used to show that children at a young age are engraved with the thought that sports are separated among gender, and that not all sports are for everyone. My study will discuss reason why girls and boys shouldn’t play on the same team so this article will be used to further prove my point that most boys don’t want to play same team as girls and vice versa. Furthermore this article
The child realizes there are two categories: boys and girls, and each belong to one of them. Parents and teachers who interact directly with children consistently observed differences among behavior, learning style, interests, concerns of girls and boys. Based on what I observe is that, girls tend to dress up more nicely, sexier than boys. If there is function or special occasion, girls will spend the whole day or the day before the occasion starts, to find the most satisfied dress or blouse to attend the occasion. But for boys, boys will only pick up the clothes just before the occasion starts.
In the case of the child models, this can be seen on television programmes such as “Toddler in tiaras”. These children are dressed up in short, tight dresses wearing fake tan and covered in make-up. When I was their age, I wouldn’t have been allowed to wear anything like these things. But yet, in today’s societies, it is the parents who are controlling the children and making them do this in most cases even if they may not want to. This also shows how social structures will have a major effect on the lives of children which is my next point I will be talking
And these messages are not exactly morally acceptable. They are sexis and racist. There are tons and tons of examples of cartoons that teach kids at a young age the themes of racism, sexism and making young girls think they have to be perfect like Cinderella. In the many cartoons and Disney movies, they are teaching society from a young age certain themes and messages that correspond to how us children growing up are suppose to live our lives and how we are suppose to view the world. For example, the Disney tale of Cinderella(1950) teaches little girls they need to be beautiful and pretty to be loved.
Every person in the society has to be educated in the Turkish education system which still includes sexist statements in spite of coeducation. Kindergartens give cars to boys, give babies to girls, provide doing sports for boys and provide playing house for girls. In primary schools, social studies class affect gender in the same way due to books, environment, and teachers. For example, the image of a boy and a girl who are asked what they want to become when they are grown up, the boy immediately dreams about being a doctor when the girl thinks about the housework and being a mother, takes place in one of the Turkish Minister of Education social studies class book. Moreover, teachers are also sexist and educate student sexistly.
The moment a child is born, society presents it a complex gift steering the course of its future. Gender is the most important social construct in the human life as it shapes the way we interact and navigate the world we live in. From the colours that the baby is wrapped in to the hues of wallpaper in the bedroom – a girl, is most likely to be thrown into a world of pastel pink and lavender, if you are a boy, you are most likely to be surrounded by bold red and blue hues. We are already starting to be forced into identifying with a specific gender. Dolls, plastic vacuum cleaners and Fischer Price kitchenettes are given to girls, and are taught that Barbie and Bratz dolls are gender appropriate toys; shopping, fashion and makeup is that which defines femininity.
In our society exists another social norm, a code called, “Behavior Code”. Even at this moment, many idiosyncratic babies with different characteristics are born around the world. In their adolescence, however, many boys and girls question themselves whether their behaviors are in accordance with the behavior code. For instance, some girls grow into tomboys — “girls start wearing stylish clothes and watching from the sidelines as the boys acted and spoke” (Pipher, p1). But, unfortunately, at some points of their adolescence, those idiosyncratic girls lose thier authenticity and become a part of the society, behaving correspondingly to the behavior code.
Even the way that it is state as a person being a girl and boy has many judgments is it “Of the many presumed differences between the behaviors of males and females, some are real, some are found only inconsistently, and some are wholly mythical.” (McGraw-Hill, 2017). This is something that every person must come to point with at some point in their life. I grew up with now real understanding of the difference of a girl and a boy, that there really were any differences. I just knew that I did not want to play with barbies and dolls like my sister but rather I wanted to play with trucks and cars and see how high I could climb up a tree. I just thought of myself as being me.