The Psychological Effects of Gender Roles
“Let the boys be boys.” You’ve heard this phrase before. Often repeated by parents regarding their little boys. So what makes a boy, a boy? Rambo like characteristics? Muscles? Short hair? Wearing blue? Wearing T-shirts and jeans or playing with sporting equipment? Well last I remember, the main characteristics boys shared were penises. The role gender association play in the lives of our children can sometimes affect them negatively. The messages that gender roles send, is that in order to be part of society, you must fit into the norm or the status quo or most importantly what society
deems as acceptable. But all the while, trying to incorporate individuality and establishing ones sense of self. Two conflicting ideas that can confuse a child and also alter the way they live their lives.
There are two colors that are designated to babies that serve one purpose and one purpose only. Most infant boys were the color blue and girls wear pink. Seeing that it is difficult to determine the sex of an infant without general exposure to the genitals, most parents choose to clothe they’re young child in the respective colors so people will know whether it is a boy or a girl. After all, what male infant wears pink? When the children grow older, do they still continue the practice the color identification game? This is wear it changes. When boys reach the age wear they start dressing themselves and start buying their own clothes, they will continue to wear the
blues and the greens and even yellows and reds, but not pink or violet, cause those are “girly” colors. Girls on the other hand, when they reach the same age still continue to wear the pink and violets and can even wear the blues, yellows, blacks, and greens. So why can girls make the “cross-over” without being teased or mocked but boys cant without being called a gay or a fagot.
The clothing issue goes farther than that. The fashion industry does make boundaries with clothing. There is women’s clothing and men’s clothing. Women can wear men’s clothing, and at times its the stylish thing to do. Young girls can dress like boys or wear boys clothing and at times will only be called a tom-boy, but that is acceptable to society. Let’s see a man in public wearing a dress, and we stop and go out of our way to break our necks just so we can get a good look....
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...d am able to observe what is going on and what can happen. I’m am in no way implying that making your infant son wear blue is bad and if he wears pink as he gets older, it your fault. I know that I probably wouldn’t be to happy about the fact that my little boy is wearing pink either, but its how you approach and deal with the situation the can have an effect on your child. Many parents would probably tell their children this type of situation, “ Pink is for girls, take it off. What are you gay or something. Are you a sissy? Act like a boy.” (Finaut) It is brought upon so negatively and makes the child feel low and incompetent, especially if they are told this by their fathers. Not everyone will agree with my point of view and that is something I understand, but its all about being open-minded which is obviously not the message gender roles send.
Works Cited
Finaut, Jim. Personal Interview, 11, July 1999.
Hales, Dianne. Invitation to Health: Power of Prevention, eighth edition. California: Brooks/Cole, 1990.
Richards, Orland. Personal Interview, 13 July 1999.
Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Ballantine, 1990.
The creation of an identity involves the child's understanding of the public disposition of the gender normalities, and the certain gender categories that
“You can’t wear that, pink is a girl color, and you’re a boy.” As rude as it sounds, it’s just what these innocent little girls
For a long time pink has been associated with femininity, which gives us the underlying assumption that girls are sweet, gentle, and delicate because that is what pink has come to represent in our society. Yet, the colours used in the toys meant for boys are black and blue which are seen as tough and aggressive. Coincidently, sweet, gentle and delicate is how society sees girls and how they believe they should act when they become women. Furthermore, tough and aggressive is how we want the men to be in our society. Critical sociology looks to gender as a competition where one gender is
These colors also covered a child in that pumpkin patch that day, covered with a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts. “Ah, a boy, I thought. Then I noticed the gleam of tiny earrings in the child’s ears, and as they got off, I saw the little flowered sneakers and lace-trimmed socks. Not a boy after all. Gender done,” (Lorber). This child, me, never grew out of this style of clothing and always went for the comfortable lifestyle avoiding jeans and skirts for more “boyish” graphic tees. Society may look at me and think this person is not ready to be a woman or this thing is not fit to be a man. At the end of the day the only thing I want to be is myself. “Individuals are born sexed but not gendered, and they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine,” (Lorber). Without the ability to specifically identify who or what a person is, a plethora of people feel left in the dark, and aren’t sure what to do without their carefully constructed classification system. Do I even fit in with the social construct of gender? Or am I just this special child X that defies the stereotypes, growing up and leaving other members in the dark just by showing my true
As kids play with toys, they watch other kids and examine which toys others begin to play with. If the girls are playing with dolls, other girls will participate with the act of playing with dolls because it’s what they think is appropriate. Same goes for the boys, if one boy is playing with trucks, they will all begin to play with trucks for the very same reason. Later on as they begin to flourish into grown-ups, it becomes coherent that growing up will be very much different for the two genders and involves gender differentiation that they pick up on their own and from society. They begin to change for the good of themselves, such as the young ladies will begin to speak in a higher voice only to acquire a quality that is itself gendered (cuteness) and the young men will begin to speak in a tougher voices to obtain authority. All these actions and behaviors that young boys and girls contribute, is solely done by the two genders in order to participate and function in the real
“And it’s a girl!” The doctor tells the parents in the hospital room. The first thing to run through a person’s mind after hearing those words is the color pink. It 's common knowledge to people in American society that if someone is having a baby girl, it is standard to get them pink clothes and toys, and for boys it is typical to get these things in blue. From this moment on, children are already told what is expected of them when it comes to their gender. This has been tradition in society for decades, but it may have some negative effects on the children that arise from it. How children are raised in society, either with traditional or modern gender roles, will influence how they act when they are older.
In our current culture, there is a huge difference between what is considered to be for girls or boys. From birth, children are told what colors and styles of clothing they wear, what toys they should play with, and how they should act. Often, girls are told they cannot play with toys considered to be for boys and boys are told they are not allowed to play with toys considered to be for girls. Children who do decide they want to play with the toys not traditionally for their gender are often scolded by family members, pushing the children back to their gender-specific toys. Gender socialization starts at birth and continues from adolescence, to adulthood, causing specific and detrimental differences
But then you can’t just determine one’s gender because of that, there are lots of girls who loves boys clothe or rather who loves being boyish, but are not gay and there are boys who actually behave feminine, have a tiny voice, loves to wear tight pants and they are still straight. In the reading “‘No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That!’: Parents’ Responses to Children’s Gender Nonconformity” by Emily Kane, she talks about how parents determine their kids ' gender and sex, how parents are the major teacher when it comes to gender and of their children, through clothes, toys and other things they purchase for them. They teach the girls to behave like girls, wear them pink dresses and the boy dresses as heroes: superman, batman… in this reading, some parents talked about how they are ok with their daughters behaving boyish and not ok with the boys playing with Barbie dolls. I ask what is the difference between boys and girls, there are so many things boys do and girls do too, there is Bill Gate and there is Christy Walton, there is Michael Jackson and there is Beyoncé, Messi and Alex Morgan. All I am saying is that everyone, men or women, boy or girl can also be great in life not minding their
Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was written to advance the rights of woman and national education in 1792. The essay is a philosophical feminist work that was highly controversial during this time. The mission of Wollstonecraft’s essay was to further the notion that men and woman are equal. Interestingly, Wollstonecraft as well wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Through her writings, Wollstonecraft sought to enforce the idea of equal opportunity for women to close-minded thinkers. A major issue of the eighteenth century was that women were greatly oppressed, with no political rights and were limited to few occupations.
While our current society has become more accepting of other genders that do not conform to the typical male and female genders it holds, it is still quite persistent in that act of gendering certain items, behaviours and attributes as feminine or masculine. This gendering occurs even before birth with events such as the baby shower where the baby 's sex is revealed, but it is mostly recognizable in the toys advertised and sold to children. Burack states that, “ gender socialization is the process of interaction through which we learn the gender norms of our culture and acquire a sense of ourselves and feminine, masculine or even androgynous”, children therefore experience the effects of gender socialization from their toys and the society they grow up in and often keep the mindset that they have learned throughout their lives (Gender Socialization).
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a text written by Mary Wollstonecraft with the focus of education and gender being the main theme evident. Wollstonecraft advocates education as the key for women to accomplish a sense of dignity and a mental self-image that can empower them to live life to their full abilities and effectiveness. The text analyzes how women are suppressed from their privileges due to the ideals of the overall European society. Women are illustrated as slaves, who are confined in the home, and only do domestic work, care for the children and they inhibit "natural" characteristics such as being humble, pure and beautiful. Women are revealed as frail and easy going, which is the core reason society regards them as not adequate
Tannen, D. (2007). You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York, NY: Harper.
Parents are the first and most influential role model in a child's life. As a parent teaching kids to “play with the opposite gender, shatter stereotypes by partaking in opposite gender behaviors, as well as questioning all generalizations” will result in an unbiased and accepting child (Solomon). If a parent thinks more close mindedly and reinforces said stereotypes the child in question will likely believe and follow the stereotypes. A fear that the removal of gender bias and stereotyping will result in getting rid of gender altogether and the so called “order” that is in place today is ridiculous. Gender does not define a person's ethics or values in regular society. The country and âlaws will still run efficiently, it's just a matter of equality in every way for both women and men. Another thing often forced onto children is religion. While forcing children to go to church or follow any religion is another argument, churches also participate in reinforcing gender bias. David Csinos
Digital evidence Digital data stored in computers or digital systems or transmitted by them can be Use in proving or denying a crime may be digital or non-digital. The main aim of digital criminal analysis is to address digital crimes, which are committed using computer hardware or those located on digital systems or networks. Digital criminal analysis is the use of technology techniques in the criminal investigation of illegal cases, including the examination of the device or the target system, analysis of operations and retrieval of data and files in order to obtain a digital evidence used in legal
“Healthy Children”, an online website source by The American Academy of Pediatrics, comments that “As your child develops her own identity during these early years, she’s bound to experiment with attitudes and behaviors of both sexes, there’s rarely any reason to discourage such impulses” (“The American Academy”). The new myth will allow a boy to wear dresses every day or a girl to only wear sport shorts, without being judged or discriminated. Americans and kids will not be judged on gender rather by who they are and how they define themselves. In the future, children will not grow up thinking that there are qualities certain genders need to follow you can have any qualities, a boy will not be judged if he cries and being passionate will not be considered feminine. Americans will be able to establish their gender identity