gender differences
A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents andsays three simple words: "Its a boy," or "Its a girl!" Before anewborn child even takes his or her first breath of life outsidethe mother's womb, he or she is distinguishable and characterizedby gender. The baby is brought home and dressed in clothes thathelp friends, family, and even strangers identify the sex of thechild. Baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are dressedin pink. The baby boy may be dressed in a blue jumpsuit with afootball or a baseball glove on it. The baby girl may wear a bowin her hair and flowered pajamas. As the boy begins to grow, heis given a miniature basketball and a hoop to play with. Thegirl is given dolls and doll clothing to dress them up in. Evengoing further, eventually the boy may play with Legos and LincolnLogs while the girl gets a Play School oven and a plastic tea setwith which to play house. Sounds pretty normal, right? The Sociologists have developed a theory which describes the wayin which individuals represent themselves to society. Thistheory is called the social construction of self. By self, wemean the capacity to represent onesel
When deviation from theseroles occurs, it is seen as breaking the norms of society. Peer groups are also highly influential to gendersocialization. In a perfect world, there would be no genderdifferentiation, no racial tension and no "politicalcorrectness". Imagine a baby born with no visible sex organs. Thisis where the family has an influence on gender roles. Another aspect of everyday life that is highly influentialin gender socialization is the media. But where and how didthese stereotypes come from? In terms of gender roles, a functionalist would argue thatin preindustrial societies, such as those which depended onhinting and gathering, men and women fulfilled different rolesand took on different tasks because it was most useful orfunctional for society to do so. The dominant role assumed by men, in turn ,creates a pattern where male activities come to be more highlyvalued than female ones. The theory is says that the self isproduced or constructed through interactions with other peopleover a lifetime (Kornblum, 128). These conceptsare roles that the man and the woman take in society. Likewise, if a boy wishes to play with dolls, he maybe shunned by his peer group and teased for acting like a girl.
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Acceptance Essays
