Chapter 12: Learning Gender

Society has many definitions that play a role in how people express themselves. The first boxes that people tend to put people in, is their gender. There are two boxes that can be filled male and female. It is harder to bend those definitions that society has put on people since they have been so ingrained in the way we look at people. We raise our children on these definitions on what gender is defined as and set them up for a future in a society that has expectations for both of them. Children start to be raised in a binary world from birth.

Girl baby on the left. Boy baby on the right.

When a baby is born the doctors set them up for how they are going to be treated for the rest of their lives. Boy babies get blue blankets and girl babies get pink blankets. From then on they are going to be treated differently by society. When the parents bring their babies out of the hospitals the baby’s gender is celebrated by many expressions. These expressions tend to be different based on what gender the baby is. Girl babies tend to be surrounded by expressions such as, “she is going to grow up to be a beautiful young woman.” Boy babies will be addressed as, “he looks like a tough little man.” You will not usually hear those expressions being used on the opposite gender. This sets the children up to have different sets of expectations on the way they are going to grow up. They are set up for two different tracks in life. Girls are expected to be delicate and “lady-like.” Boys on the other hand are expected to be tough and “manly.”

This video explains the different ads shown on cartoon network and how they play into gender norms for boys and girls:

As the children grow up the toys they play with set them up for different walks of life. Boys are set up with things such as Legos and model power tools, to set them up for jobs where they are going to be out of the household. They are set up for man-dominated fields where they are expected to use their hands and be tough (430). Girls are given toys that are focused on preparing them for life taking care of the household. These toys are objects such as baby dolls, kitchen sets, and when I was little things such as toy vacuum cleaners. This emphasizes the inequality in the family structure, where the women stays home and takes care of the house while the man goes off to work (425). Though toys have started to blur the gender binary, children still are strongly set up for roles that society expects them to fall into as they get older.

Gendered Toys

As children start to get older they have already been immersed in a sexist society. They have beliefs that each gender has a certain roles that they must fit into and that one may be inferior to the other (407). They learn that there are two roles and two genders that they must fit into. Boys that exhibit more feminine qualities that may want to play with “household based toys” are viewed as being “fairies.” Girls that are more masculine and love to play with cars are labeled as “butch.” Endless teasing as a child for breaking out of gender norms is a strong encouragement to fall back into the life path society has for them. Though there has been an emphasis on trying to stop the bullying, society still sets up those expectations that children have for each other. The children are being taught that stepping out of the boxes for gender is wrong.

This poem done by spoken-word artist Guante shows the stereotypes that are placed on men and how it is hard to break out of the norms of what masculine is. Although it is not as related to children I still think it shows a good example of how society expects boys to "man up" and to suppress any form of "femininity" that they may have.: 

Gender inequality starts early. Children are set on two different paths the minute that they are born. They are given boxes that are hard to break out of and when they are challenged it makes people uncomfortable and the parents are questioned on how they are raising their child. The social construction of gender has affected many children and provides a framework for how they should be raised in today’s society. Being a child that broke many of the rules I know that it is difficult to fit into a society that believes that we must raise our children in a two gender world. Until people start being able to blur the lines of “what is right” for each gender to “play with” as a child they are still going to have those expectations hanging over their heads. 


Work Cited:

Newman, D.M. (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday life. 9th Ed. Pine Forge Press: Thousand Oaks, California.