Gender Socialization plays a big part in a child’s life in shaping their femininty and masculinity. Every child is brought with to have played with at least one toy to have called their own. Now, the purpose of the research that has been conducted is to take a further look into how toys that is sold through stores and played by children. This will then give hindsight as to how what is considered the gender norm has a part in gender role stereotyping and the affect these toys have on children view of gender characteristics.
Adolescent is essential in understanding gender development. With a society that classifies everything in feminine or masculine. Children are identifying by colors and toys. Girl’s wear pink, play with dolls and have pretend kitchen while, boys wear blue, play with action figures and have pretend guns. These differences are still instilled in young children what is socially acceptable. Some stores have tried to combat the gender stereotype by eliminating toys aisle and instead use a genderless aisle. The removal of gender label removes gender stereotypes. However, gender differences are also evidences in marketing advertised. Stores like Walmart and Toys R US recently, tried to tone down their gender specific children’s marketing. Toys can be representative as way children should be gender identities. For example, females should play with dolls. However, playing with dolls does not naturally portray person as feminine or it proves a girl as female. By
Introduction
Ever since I was a child, I have witnessed countless stereotypes and prejudices based on gender. This is partly owing to the knowledge that I have amassed thus far concerning some of the cultural gender stereotypes. For instance, I have developed preferences for peers of the same gender. My observation of these phenomena has sparked fundamental questions concerning how individuals perceive clothing, dressing styles, color, and other life issues in general. St ill, upon observation of the aforementioned areas, I realize that common prejudices founded on gender dominate people’s talks, their purchasing behavior, and how well they relate to individuals with such preferences.
The Target store located at Dallas Highway in Marietta, Georgia, was chosen for the fieldwork assignment. This particular store was selected because of recent renovations to the toy area. The new arrangement of the toy department appears slightly different than traditional organizations of toys in the past. The location of the toys is in direct relation and physical flow from the baby equipment, supplies, and apparel. Toys transition from birth in the infant area initially in terms of age demographics, type of activity, and brand of toy to more obvious gender divisions beginning in the preschool toys. In the toy section for school age children, gender separation is clearly established. Gender divisions become more obvious in this age group according to colors, themes, and character depiction. The girl toys feature pink, purple, and pastel colors. The highlighted décor in the store’s displays and packaging for girls involves embellishments such as pictures of girls, flowers, glitter, and jewels. The boy section portrays color schemes that are primarily in blue, red, yellow, gray, and black. Packaging images are of male children. The sections including educational toys, games, sporting equipment, outdoor play, sound and music, building, puzzles, and arts appear to be more gender neutral although some gender specific items can be identified by color or themes such as princess/fairytale or Ninja Turtle. The configuration of the toys clearly states that color, themes, and character representation are irrelevant to infants and toddlers, while parent’s attitudes about color and gender may be important aspects of unintentional socialization in the maturation of children. Marketing strategies appeal to children, but adult’s perception of ...
Toy stores are perfect places for a sociologist to use their sociological imagination. Gendering and racism is thought to be something that is socially constructed as opposed to biologically constructed. Gendering starts during infancy, and around 2 years old children start to internalize these gender differences. I argue that children’s toys help socialize children into gender specific roles. Toy stores, like Target and Toys R Us help us understand what types of toys help to gender children. I will explain how the toys in the toy aisles differ and compare. Not all toys are either male or female, some toys are gender neutral.
A sex stereotype consists of opinions about the mental traits and features and the activities that are suitable to males and females. Sexes title roles are defined by actions while the sex typecasts are the notions and approaches about manhood and feminist. Masculinity stereotype is much powerful as they distress conceptualizations of ladies and males and develop communal classes for sexual role. According to Sharon, a stereotype signifies a trick in which people fall in. According to Claude and Joshua, they claimed that the persistence of the undesirable typecasts distresses those who are in the categorized assemblies. They suggested that people are likely to sense vulnerable in the conditions that they feel that their presentation will classify them as samples of their collection’s undesirable
Bette Davis says, “When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.” There are so many stereotypes when it comes to women. Women are supposed to be behind the superior male. Women are supposed to be ladylike and gentle. The crazy thing is that when a woman goes outside of that typical stereotype; it is considered wrong and unjust. Men have stereotypes as well. They are meant to be macho and have the upper hand. They have to smell and act like the guys in the Old Spice commercials. But as it seems, we all have a certain role to attend to. According to Michael Kimmel, “gender refers to cultural definitions of masculinity and femininity – the meanings of maleness or femaleness” (Kimmel, 2014). This is how society differentiates between what men or women should be. According to thefreedictionary.com, “the overt expression of attitudes that indicate to others the degree of your maleness or femaleness” (Thefreedictionary.com, 2014). The main point here is that society tells and guides people how to act and how to be a man or woman. For this paper, I will go outside the stereotype of how a woman should act in public.
Morgan Thoutt
SOC 100
Due: April 11, 2014
Spring 2014
ESSAY #2
Sex-Stereotyped Traits:
“Boy’s don’t cry” is a phrase that virtually all boys have heard in their lifetime. Masculine and feminine stereotypes are social constructs that are used to form the understanding of what is expected from both genders. Gender is a social term meaning that our culture developed what it means to be a male or female.
Gender Stereotype
According to the writers in chapter, “Gender Stereotyping And the Media”, gender stereotypes are harmful to men and women. Gender stereotypes set impossible standards for men and women that lead to unhappiness, loneliness and possibly violence towards themselves. Stereotypes affect relationships between a man and a woman. Moreover, stereotypes dictate the behavior of boys and girls that lead to violence.
In the society we live in today, the general culture that has merged the idea that there are very distinct differences between men and women. Consistent with these messages, men and women have a habit to observe each other in ways that are nearly identical with the common gender stereotypes (Vogel, Wester, Heesacker, & Madon, 2003). For instance, men are looked at as having more powerful sex drives and as being a lot more tolerant of extramarital sex (Oliver & Hyde, 1993). Women are considered to want to be committed to one person because they would get a lot more positives in being in a devoted relationship rather than being single (Peplau & Spalding, 2000).