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To Be Gendered By Penelope Eckert And Sally Mcconnell-Ginet

415 Words2 Pages

In "Learning to Be Gendered", Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet argues that the gender identification does not begin at birth. The dichotomy between a male and a female in biology is what sets them apart. The authors address the false assumptions with gender identification for people who think they figured out the pattern for boys and girls. The article gives examples of instances where parents and adults have unconsciously made judgments for males and females based on their expectations and roles. As a result, boys have learned to perform as a male and girls have learned to perform as a female.
Boys and girls used to share similar characteristics and behaviors, but parents have stepped in and interfered with their personal choices. "Until about the age of two, boys and girls exhibit the same play behaviors...But whatever the …show more content…

“And while parents’ support of their children’s gendered behavior is not always and certainly not simply a conscious effort at gender socialization, their behavior is probably more powerful than they think. Even parents who strive for gender equality, and who believe that they do not constrain their children’s behavior along gender lines, have been observed in experimental situations to do just that” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 743). We all have experienced this process while growing into the common “big boys and big girls” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 742). Parents are making the mistake of teaching their kids to act the way they should because of the genital body parts each are born with. It will just raise the issue of gender inequality more when they grow up. A man will have such roles and a woman should have such roles. A person shouldn’t be honored for contributing as a woman or man in history but their actions instead. This is an inevitable act carried out by parents universally and will continue for a long

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