Sexism in Society Starting at Childhood

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Sexism in Society Starting at Childhood

Author and feminist Alix Kates Shulman said once: “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see, you think it’s just reality” (McEneany). That quote sums up perfectly the way our society runs. There is no class teaching children how to act according the their gender. Yet little boys and little girls learn at a very young age what is expected of them. They get ideas about their gender roles from their parents, their school teachers and subconsciously from the toys they play with and the television shows they watch.

Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of our culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because the girls don’t want the icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? The issue of color may go deeper than just fighting for toys. Studies have been done showing that school classrooms, especially for younger grades, are typically decorated in “boy” colors and reflect an environment that is most comfortable for boys (Bruning 23). Parents and teachers may be able to help reverse this thinking by buying toys in gender neutral colors and by using the same colors for boys and girls.

Children start to define their gender identity in early preschool (Zhumkhawala 47). This means that the toys children are given go a long way to further (or help change) gender stereotypes and inequality. In general, boys are given trucks, blocks and doctor’s kits, encouraging them to build, explore how things work and be a...

... middle of paper ...

... a simple as changing the way our children play with their toys.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Arbetter, Sandra R. “Boys and Girls: Equal but not the Same.” Current Health 2. Dec.

1991: 16.

Bruning, F. “Separating the Sexes in Toyland.” Newsday. 27 Nov. 1973: 21-24.

Hanmer, Trudy J. The Gender Gap in Schools: Girls Loosing Out. Springfield, N.J.

Enslow Publishing Inc, 1996.

McEneany, Colleen. Feminist Utopia. 10 Oct. 2001.

www.amazoncastle.com/feminist.html.

Morgan, M. “TV and Adolescent Sex Role Stereotypes: A Longitudinal Study.” Journal

of Personality and Social Psychology. 43.5 (1982): 947-955.

Signorielli, Nancy. “Television and the Perpetuation of Gender Role Stereotypes.” AAP

News. Feb. 1998: 103-104.

Zuhmkhawala, Sehba. “Dolls, Trucks and Identity.” Children’s Advocate. Nov.-Dec.

1997: 47-49.

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