Gender Socialization
This document focuses a bit on the various social institutions that provide information about Gender Roles to children as they develop and lead them in developing a sense of Gender Identity.
We know that children understand a sense of Gender very early in life (likely by 3 years old children have a sense of themselves being a girl or boy and that there is a difference). So many of these influences happen early in life.
All cultures have Gender Stereotypes which are beliefs and images about males and females that may or may not be true.
Over the long term we see gender related differences in children (review these on page 203-204 of your text):
- Verbal Ability
- Mathematics
- Spatial Ability
- Social Influence
- Agression
- Emotional Sensitivity
Gender Typing supports that children learn what it is to be "male" and "female" in their culture by observing those around them. (The text has an excellent discussion about the relationship between parenting and gender typing on pages 205-206)
Consider taking a special look at one particular set of influences on gender, the media.
Explore a variety of media for views of sex-role development, gender identity, and the portrayal of gender stereotypes. Books (including children's books as well as books aimed at parents), movies, videos, newspapers, magazines (including children's magazines), and advertisements are all suitable subjects for analysis.
After gathering a variety of sources, apply principles from the text and lecture to their examples.
- What common themes or stereotypes are found throughout?
- Are there many instances of sex-typed behavior?
- Are there certain kinds of media that break stereotypic portrayals?
- What influence will these portrayals likely have on the development of gender identity and gender role awareness in children?
- Which stereotypes seem to be firmly rooted in our culture and resistant to change?
- In what ways have stereotypes changed in the past decade?
Because television is such an influential medium, particularly with respect to children, your students might also consider gender portrayals in various types of programming, comparing and contrasting children's educational shows (e.g., Barney, Sesame Street), cartoons (e.g., Animaniacs), action shows (e.g., Power Rangers), and situation comedies (e.g., Full House).