A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents and
says three simple words: "Its a boy," or "Its a girl!" Before a
newborn child even takes his or her first breath of life outside
the mother's womb, he or she is distinguishable and characterized
by gender. The baby is brought home and dressed in clothes that
help friends, family, and even strangers identify the sex of the
child. Baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are dressed
in pink. The baby boy may be dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a
football or a baseball glove on it. The baby girl may wear a bow
in her hair and flowered pajamas. As the boy begins to grow, he
is given a miniature basketball and a hoop to play with. The
girl is given dolls and doll clothing to dress them up in. Even
going further, eventually the boy may play with Legos and Lincoln
Logs while the girl gets a Play School oven and a plastic tea set
with which to play house. Sounds pretty normal, right? The
Sociologists have developed a theory which describes the way
in which individuals represent themselves to society. This
theory is called the social construction of self. By self, we
mean the capacity to represent oneself what one wished to
communicate to others. The theory is says that the self is
produced or constructed through interactions with other people
over a lifetime (Kornblum, 128). When relating this theory to
gender roles, people act in a certain way to give an impression
to society. For example, girls wear pink to let society know
that they are female. This is the gender that they wish to
communicate to society because that is what is deemed to be
There are many agents of socialization that influence the
socialization of gender. These agents include family, schools,
community, peer groups and the mass media (Kornblum 136). As
discussed earlier, from the moment a baby is born, their...