How We Learn Gender

Although I believe that biology has a part to play, I believe that most gendered traits are learned through socialization. However, gender socialization is so prevalent on a day to day basis, that it is difficult to determine which of the varying traits between the sexes are biological and which are socially constructed. Technology has even enabled family and friends to begin treating the expected child like it's a boy or girl, before the child is born.

There is a hilarious you tube clip that I recently watched and it provides the perfect example. Three children are in the back seat of the car dancing and singing along to "Single Ladies," two of the siblings are girls and the other is a little boy (around 3 years old). Well, the father in all innocence says "you're not a single lady buddy" which sends the little boy into a fit. Eventually the father tries to reassure the son that he can be a single lady if he wants to. Among my friends with children, I see parental gender socialization occur all the time. Whether they advise their son to stop playing with girl's toys, or get flustered with their little girl for getting her dress dirty, these actions help to develop the gender traits that are so ingrained in society.




In addition to parental socialization, peers and the media play an important part in gender socialization. Young children quickly learn whether their actions are acceptable based on the reactions of their peers. Someone completely unaware of gender roles could learn a great deal about them by watching T.V. commercials. It would be very interesting if we could discover what gender traits found amongst the sexes are completely biological, but that would be a seemingly impossible task.

*WMST 200 students: There seems to be a problem with my comment section. Feel free to leave a response to my blog on black board. Just title it -Katie's blog comment- or something like that. Sorry for the inconvenience!