Problems Associated with Gender Socialization in Society

As soon as a child is born a sort of social conditioning begins. The child whether a boy or a girl will end up being taught many different sets of behaviours and how they should act. A boy is taught things such as sports, how to be complete and self reliant. He is also taught to be strong; such as when you get hurt to not cry, as society expects boys to not cry. Boys are also taught not to show emotions in anyway and to not show anyone how they feel or to not give the correct answer if asked how they feel. Boys are taught that this is the masculine gender role, and since this is how boys are expected to act, then this is the only way boys should act. Apparently this is how boys become men. Girls on the other hand are taught many different behaviours. They are taught house keeping and how to cooperate with and please others. Girls are also taught to be soft; if someone falls down they are expected to comfort them and make them feel better. Girls are also expected to be emotional because it is part of their nature. Girls are taught that these are expected from a girl and that this is the only way to act. If there is sort of a mismatch between what somebody wants and what society expects them to do then there may be difficulties. If there is only a minor or small mismatch, society may accept that particular person, and may be able to cope with this reasonably well. If there is a major or large mismatch between what the person wants to do or act and what society expects, then society may not accept this person and there may be severe emotional trauma.

Typically the people who do not act as society expects them to, it is almost always a large or major difference or issue. Some things that is not expected in society but does occur b...

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..., even though they have been taught to suppress them. A boy can take the best of what the world calls feminine and include it in his life while still remaining a man.

If everyone in the entire world was raised equally, we would see that everyone would have the same basic capabilities. There would be differences that just won’t change but we would be almost the same as we are now. If this was true we wouldn’t hear about groups of people being discriminated against, and people wouldn’t judge by gender or by group, but by each individual person’s ability and talent. This is not as far out of reach as we think, every single accomplishment was at one time a dream. If more parents raised their children as children without imposing any of society’s gender boundaries anything can happen. Society won’t change overnight, but it is clear with everyone’s help it can change.