The Girl Scouts of Colorado claims to be an “inclusive organization,” who welcomes all children as long as they identify as girls (“Boy Wanting to Join Girl Scouts Told ‘No’”). However, an eight year old boy from Colorado, Bobby Montoya, wished to join the Girl Scouts and was turned away because he had “boy parts” (“Boy Wanting to Join Girl Scouts Told ‘No’”). In a news report aired by 9 News of Denver, Colorado, Bobby and his mother were interviewed concerning their plight (link). For his interview, young Bobby wore his long hair braided, and was clothed in a flowing shirt, skinny jeans, and knee-high boots: attire some may consider only appropriate for girls. Bobby showed the interviewer (and the audience) his toy collection, which consisted mostly of Barbies, Bratz Dolls, and My Little Pony Toys. Despite the fact that he identifies as a girl, dresses like a girl, and plays with toys that are generally associated with little girls, Bobby Montoya was discriminated against and was not allowed to join the Girl Scouts. After airing the interview with Bobby and his mother, the news anchors for 9 News interviewed a clinical psychologist to figure out whether it was Bobby’s mother’s ‘fault’ that Bobby looked and acted like a girl. The question that should have been asked is: is it anyone’s fault? This news clip of Bobby and his mother provides a prime, firsthand example of a child whose ideas of gender roles and identity are different from other children his age, but is anyone at fault? Does Bobby dress and act this way because of his own liking for girl-typed toys and clothes, or did his mother influence him? The big question is: are the types of toys and clothing parents buy for their children meant to introduce and reinforce gender ...
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...s parents buy for their children are meant to introduce and reinforce gender role concepts; whether or not they do this accurately remains to be seen until the child grows older.
Works Cited
Bailey, Michael J. Zucker, Kenneth J. “Childhood Sex-typed Behavior and Sexual Orientation: A Conceptual Analysis and Quantitative Review.” Developmental Psychology Vol 31. 1 (1995): 12. PDF.
“Boy Wanting to Join Girl Scouts Told ‘No’.” Online Video Clip. 26 Oct, 2011. Youtube. 10 Nov. 2011. http://bcove.me/k79glbg2
Francis, Becky. “Gender, toys, and learning.” Oxford review of Education Vol 36. No 3: (2010). 19. Print.
Freeman, Nancy K. “Preschoolers’ Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toys and
Their Parents’ Beliefs about Genderized Behaviors: Miscommunication, Mixed Messages, or Hidden Truths?” Early Childhood Education Journal Vol 34. No 5 (2007): 9. Print.
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.
Nontraditional gender socialisation can help the child develop a more complete understanding of their personality, that takes both their feminine traits and masculine traits into consideration. This can be illustrated by Jeremy telling his mother that he got to be “a complete person” (Bem, 1998, p. 190), when asked how his upbringing enhanced his life. Further this type of parenting allows the child to be more analytical of traditional gender roles and how they might be present and potentially affect their lives. This can make them more aware of them, and could help them avoid or fight against negative effects that might arise from their presents. This can often be advantageous. Bem educated her children about traditional gender roles and their negative aspects, like sexism, and through this allowed them to have the tools to identify them early on, like Emily did in nursery school (Bem, 1998, p. 119-120). When children are being educated about traditional gender roles and their disadvantages they have an easier time identifying them later on and possibly fighting
In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, “characteristics of people as males and females” (p.163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has regarding him- or herself and life stems from socialization—the development of gender through social mechanisms. For instance, when a baby is brought into this world, his or her first encounter to gender socialization arises when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby’s head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue cap) or a girl (pink cap). At the age of four, the child becomes acquai...
Young children are typically raised around specific sex-types objects and activities. This includes the toys that that are given, activities that they are encouraged to participate in, and the gender-based roles that they are subjected to from a young age. Parents are more likely to introduce their daughters into the world of femininity through an abundance of pink colored clothes and objects, Barbie dolls, and domestic chores such as cooking and doing laundry (Witt par. 9). Contrarily, boys are typically exposed to the male world through action figures, sports, the color blue, and maintenance-based chores such as mowing the lawn and repairing various things around the house (Witt par. 9). As a result, young children begin to link different occupations with a certain gender thus narrowing their decisions relating to their career goals in the future. This separation of options also creates a suppresses the child from doing something that is viewed as ‘different’ from what they were exposed to. Gender socialization stemming from early childhood shapes the child and progressively shoves them into a small box of opportunities and choices relating to how they should live their
The essay “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls” by Katha Pollitt, uses examples from scientific studies and hypothetical anecdotes in order to craft her primary argument. This argument appears to be that no matter what the case, parents will send messages to their children, and that they should simply pay attention to the messages that they send. Pollitt frequents broad statements regarding gender roles throughout the piece, that may be used as an attempt to relay to the reader what they may already know about gender stereotypes. Pollitt appears to be addressing future or current parents based on the examples she uses to support her claims, as many of them are related to the ways parents may indoctrinate certain ideals upon their children.
The toy industry makes it seem acceptable that only certain toys are suitable for one or the other gender by marketing them as such. For a parent to differ, it would mean stepping out of the box, possibly alienating their child from others with a choice that might seem odd. Rather than making their child feel or appear awkward, parents continue to support the gender biases found in toys, thereby promoting gender socialization. It is important however, that parents, as role models and consumers, must be diligent in their choices and make decisions that will help either negate or balance out gender biases in
First off, I will describe the role the toys are playing when it comes to the socialization process for boys and girls. The masculine wrestling action figures and construction vehicles are showing boy 's their gender roles. In the book, “You May Ask Yourself”, defines social roles as “the concept of gender roles, set of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as male or female” (Conley, pg 130). In the store it is fairly easy for parents to find which part of the store will fit their kids gender roles. For parents with young boys, all they have to do is look for the blue in the store. When looking for the girl toys, parents just need to find the pink. Parents are actively doing gender in their child
Even though our country supports equality in gender, differences still exist. This issue of gender and sexuality of our society has had one of the biggest impacts in my life since I was raised with five brothers. Since birth, I was immediately perceived by my parents as my gender role of girl and daughter. My brothers were given action figures, cars, and guns to play with. I was given the traditional girl toys Barbies, baby dolls and kitchen sets. Of course, I enjoyed my traditional girl toys but it might have been nice to have a choice and be able to have the same toys as my brothers to play with. I eventually concluded that I should be satisfied with whatever toys were given to me by my parents.
Throughout the course of history, toys have played a fundamental role in entertaining and stimulating the minds of children. From inflated pig’s bladders and knucklebones in the ancient times to ‘Nerf guns’ and ‘Barbie’ dolls in the present day, their purpose is to encourage imagination and impart values through play. However, since the 1970’s, the seeds of gender discrimination were planted when toy companies started segregating their products based on social stereotypes. Upon walking into a local Toys ‘R’ Us store, one can distinguish the division of toys meant for boys and toys meant for girls based on the colours blue and pink and their contents. But on September 4 2013, Toys ‘R’ Us stores in the U.K. had announced that they would be neutralizing their gender based marketing. If a major toy retailer such as Toys ‘R’ Us, had publicly announced their effort to gender neutralize their stores, it further supports that this is a real issue as even a multi-billion dollar company supports the notion. However, this issue is still rampant in the world as most toy manufacturing companies are unwilling to produce gender neutral products due to the fear of losing revenue. Chris Bryne, content director for timetoplaymag.com said that the toy industry will perpetually mirror the culture (of society), and reflect it back in their products. (INSERT MLA http://bigstory.ap.org/article/some-parents-struggle-find-gender-neutral-toys) Therefore, the cycle of manufacturing toys that impart stereotypical gender roles will not end, until the general public demands for them. By encouraging the cycle to continue, it’s far reaching effects are allowed to persist – reinforcing stereotypical gender roles through toys fuels the problem of gender opressio...
In fact, gender socialization appears very early in childhood, and it is generally regarded as one of the most related issues in early childhood. (Early Childhood, 2007) Children learn the differences between boys and girls by the environment they are exposed to, and the ideas are reinforced mainly by family, education, peer groups, and the mass media.
The behaviors that children seem to learn do have gender specific characteristics. Examples of male appropriate behavior includes: aggression, independence and curiosity. Female behaviors reflect the opposite of the male behaviors: passivity, dependence and timidity (Howe, 3). Parents have a strong impact on the sex roles that children acquire. If the sex roles are stereotypical in the home then the children will imitate the behavior that is observed in the home. Simple, parental behaviors such as who drives and who pays for dinner influence the children’s perceptions of sex roles (Seid, 115).
Emily Kane begins her book, The Gender Trap, with a flash back on her attempt at gender-neutral parenting in the midst of “traps” that make this effort frightening: our societal world is arranged to focus on the differences amongst girls and boys, as Kane saw in such ordinary experiences as the narrow selection of “princess” or “cowboy” themes when shopping for children's apparel. Kane also observed some of the everyday consequences of gender-unbiased parenting in, for example, the social rejection her son faced as a result of not having the toys unofficially necessary for playing with the other boys at his preschool. The rest of Emily Kane's book explores this “gender trap”—“a set of expectations and structures that inhibit social change and stall many parents' best intentions for loosening the limits that gender can impose on us”, in a social scientific manner.
The gender stereotypes we are experiencing today are outdated and need change. Right now, gender marketing is higher than it has ever been. A comparison can be shown as Robb states “In the 1970s…few children’s’ toys were targeted specifically at boys or girls at all; nearly 70% of toys had no gender-specific labels at all” (Robb). Since the 70’s gender marketing has climbed its way up to its peak. There is a sort of disconnect between marketing and new gender advancements that have been occurring recently. The gender standards that are currently being used are outdated and do not hold true as more women are excelling in the sciences, while more men choose to become stay at home fathers. The “Let Toys be Toys” campaign website claims that “themes of glamour and beauty in toys and playthings directed at even the youngest girls tips over into a worrying emphasis on outward appearance. Stereotyped attitudes about boys are equally harmful as the constant assumption reinforced in toy advertising and packaging that boys are inevitably rough, dirty, rowdy…which feeds low expectations of boys that undermine their performance at school”(“Let Toys be Toys”). These outcomes are not acceptable, and gender-neutral toys may aid in combat against these old age ideals, and could possibly help make the
Over the decades, a significant mark of the evolution of gender is the increasing social phenomenon in how society conceptualizes gender. Gender is a system of social practices for characterizing people as two different categories, femininity and masculinity and arranging social relations of inequality on the basis of that difference (Ridgeway & Correll 2004). Gender-neutral parenting (GNP) refers to raising children outside of the traditional stereotypes of girls and boys. It involves allowing children to explore their innate personalities and abilities rather than confining them into rigid gender roles that society has shaped. It can be argued that it is through socialization children discover how to operate in gendered structures, learn
Gender stereotypes are very prevalent in today’s early childhood classrooms with societal expectations playing a significant role in generating the negative outcomes of both sexes (National Union of Teachers, 2013, p. 4). These societal expectations perpetuate inequality and become apparent through various interactions, messages and materials as well as through professional documentation such as the Australian Curriculum or the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (Siraj-Blatchford, 2004, p, 22). This type of inequality disadvantages students creating restrictions on the possible opportunities they can encounter throughout life as well as impacting on their self-esteem and relationships (Siraj-Blatchford, 2004, p, 22) (National Union of Teachers, 2014, p, 3).