Gender Roles

Gender Roles
In most cases, you are either one of two things, a male or a female. From the time you are born your parents usually steer you in that direction of either playing with dolls and makeup or trucks and dirt. The reason everybody acts the way they do is because of the way that they were brought up and the influences our elders had on us. Children internalize parental messages regarding gender at an early age, with awareness of adult sex role differences being found in two-year-old children (Witt,1). In my opinion the sex role differences are found much earlier than two years old, even at one year old little girls wants to hold their dolls and be just like mommy.   Sons have a definite edge as far as parental preference for children is concerned. Most parents prefer male children throughout the world (Witt,1). I completely agree. I think people want males because of their role as being the strong protectors of the family that will carry on the name. Generally girls do not carry on names because they marry and their name changes to their husbands, which is their role as being a female. A study of children's rooms has shown that girls' rooms have more pink, dolls, and manipulative toys; boys' rooms have more blue, sports equipment, tools, and vehicles (Witt,1). Like I said before, from the time children are born, parents just overpower their children with gender identifying objects to make them know that this is what they are and that’s it. When the child doesn’t follow the parents’ guidance, for example, a boy wants to play with a doll, or put a dress on it usually makes the parents a little uneasy, and is automatically assumed that he is a homosexual or feminine. That is just an observation that I have made, and I think most people would agree with me. Luckily for girls, if they want to go play with trucks or be with the guys it is a little bit more accepted, probably because the parents or whomever just think it’s a phase. All in all, it is pretty clear... [continues]

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