Reflection #7

In Monday’s class, I was interested in the discussion of gender roles. Before a baby is born, the first question someone asks is whether or not the baby is going to be a boy or girl? After the gender is discovered, caregivers start to plan the color of the baby’s room, clothes, and accessories. Is it safe to say that society establishes their child's gender identity before the baby is even birthed? When the baby finally arrives, some parents start to introduce a certain type of toy that’s seen as more masculine or more feminine to their baby. For boys, the image of cars and action figures comes to mind; however, the image of dolls and easy-bake ovens comes to mind when discussing toys for girls. Either way, I think it is interesting to see how our environmental upbringing influences are behavior in how we identify as a certain gender. From personal experience, I have a female cousin who has three older brothers, and she was introduced to “girl” toys at an early age. As she grew older, Kiely (pseudonym) didn’t like to play with the girly toys, she preferred playing with games and toys that her brothers were interested in; those games involved football and Madden NFL football video games just to name a few. Like we discussed in class, her preference of wanting to play with “boy” games wasn’t seen as such a huge problem. On the other hand, if she was a boy that preferred playing with toys like a Barbie doll then I feel like people would have made it a big deal because of how society views gender roles. How would you feel if your son or daughter was interested in a certain type of game that isn’t accepted by society’s stereotype of having gender-differentiated games? Would you encourage them to pursue the types of play that he/she was interested in? Furthermore, children are influenced by their parent’s exposure to gender stereotypes which affects their own beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and behaviors (Witt 1997). This exposure can affect their social life at school where they are surrounded by other children who may be easily influenced. To encourage children not to develop gender “consistency,” adults can limit the influences of gender roles by implementing non-traditional alternatives (Berk & Meyers 391). For instance, the caregivers can switch roles of cooking in the kitchen or driving the car sometimes. Therefore, kids wouldn’t think that an act such as baking would be considered something that “girls” do. Works Cited Berk, L.E. & Meyers, A.B. (2016). ​Infants, children, and adolescents (8th Edition)​. Pearson: United States.Witt, D. Susan. “Parental influence on children’s socialization to gender roles.” Adolescence, vol. 32 , no. 126, (1997), pp. 253. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9707142747&site=ehost-live&scope=site. via /r/PSY205_01_Oxford https://ift.tt/3jhl8OP