Reflection Paper On Gender Socialization

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Reflexive Paper Growing up, I was mostly surrounded by boys. Danny, my oldest cousin, was the good and behaved child. Leo, Danny’s brother, was the bad and misbehaved child. My other cousin, Jorge, was just like Danny, well behaved. Ironically, I spent more time with Leo, the trouble maker. One day, my family and I decided to go a river that was close to my grandparents’ house, about a twenty minute walk, to spend the day. I remember it being a cloudy day, but we still decided to go since there was nothing else to do. My grandfather carried me on his back and we began a journey which led to an experience that truly opened my eyes and changed my perspective in life. As we walked through the neighborhood, a couple of my grandparent’s friends …show more content…

Gender socialization is learning and noticing the “gender map”, which points out how society expects from female and male individuals to act. Since being little girls or little boys, those expectations start to reflect through our parent’s behavior and words towards us. By being a girl, you are automatically expected to be great cook, to learn how to apply your make up correctly and flawlessly, how to paint your nails, how to take care of a home and children, to play with pink dolls and kitchen sets. By being a boy, you are expected to know how to fix a broken car, to know how to play sports, to like science, to watch wrestling and car shows, to play with car toys and Legos. Since day one, our parents shape us into who they want us to be and to what everyone expects us to be. They are the first individuals who shape us and prepare us to follow gender …show more content…

Peer groups, which are individuals with the same age and interested, also shape who we are and who are supposed to be depending on our gender. My brother, who is 11 years old, is a gamer. Since his room is next to mine, I can hear everything he says to his other gamer friends over the microphone. They all call each other names and criticize their gaming skills. My brother was mostly raised by girls, all of his cousins are females and he is the only boy, apart from my stepfather, in the household. Before starting school, my brother was not as emotionally strong as he is now. He would play with my sister and her dolls and he never felt out of place because of his gender. After he started school and started associating with his peer group, his behavior changed. He became emotionally strong and his liking towards videogames became

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