Bodies Differences

How a physical process develops and how organs adjust to outside influences is determined by a child’s biology. For example, gender can affect development in various ways. Whether a child is a boy or girl can affect how they develop and learn. Research shows that boys have lower levels of school readiness than girls because boys tend to learn and develop differently from girls. Another determining factor on how gender affects development include stereotyping or abuse within the family. If those two factors are present, the experiences of a child could vary. Philosophers Piaget and Vygotsky discuss the importance of a developing child’s experience in their cognitive growth. For example, a girl born into a family that believes a woman’s only role is to be a housewife and raise children, may not be given the

In the research done on “Sex Roles, Pink or Blue: Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life,” by Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette at the University of Montreal stated that the physical environment of girls and boys will have an impact on the development of specific abilities and activities in children. In the research, three age groups were investigated and given types and colors of toys and have determined that boys prefer sports and large and small vehicles while girls had more dolls and fictional characters. The research proves that boys are more active and aggressive than girls. The research shows that as early as 18 months of age, children are already predisposed by sex stereotypes by their parents.

Parents of these children are not supporting their decisions of who they desire to be, leaning towards the sex of being more feminine (regarding female) or masculine (regarding male). As young as pre-school, children begin to show their common interests such as; playing with dolls, trucks, dressing up as princesses, building sky scrapers, playing with action figures, etc. This article mentions, depending on what they child plays with or how the child acts shows the risk of gender assessment. For example, this article is trying to say that if a young boy plays with a doll or dresses like a princess he

“Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the famous Bobo doll experiment Children pay attention to what adults do and observe their behavior. After, they may imitate the behavior they have observed. They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is ‘gender appropriate ' or not, but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for its sex” (Bandura, 1961). Certain situations impact a person life leading them to different paths.

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Once a child is born, he or she learns to view the world based on the behaviors of others. The child’s primary caregivers, usually the parents, and others present in the child’s environment, such as siblings, peers, teachers, and even the media, contribute to the development of the child’s perception of himself, those around him, and society overall. This concept is called socialization. “The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization” and it is through socialization that we “learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders” (Crespi, 2004). This concept of gender socialization leads to the inescapable

Environmentally, a child’s experiences impact gender identity. Depending on family values or morals, a child could be confused by their gender. When a baby is born, there is much control on colors (if boy or girl) and ideas of the parents on how they would want to raise their daughter or son. For an example, a father would treat his son in a rough or unemotional way, while a girl would be protected and nurtured. Known as traditional roles, a boy doesn’t cry or play with dolls, but he can roll

This is called gender socialization, which exaggerates sexual differences physically, experimentally, academically, and psychologically. Most parents are unaware that they play such a large role in creating a male or female child. But they are the first and one of the largest influences on their child. When parents have a female child she is viewed as sweet and gentle. The parents will even hold their daughter closer than they would a son. As they grow older boys are encouraged to explore while girls are kept closer to their parents. They are taught different approaches to many different problems in life. They may not realize it but through their interactions with their children they are encouraging their children to grow into a certain type of person based on their gender. The toys they are introduced to are even gender-based. Toys for males encourage them to develop such abilities of spatial perception, creativity, competition, aggression, and constructiveness. Toys for girls encouraged creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. Children’s rooms and clothing are specific color: girls are pink and boys are blue. Girls often wear dresses and skirts that limit their physical activity. These types of influences at such an early age lay a foundation for the child’s personality. By the time they reach school age they already have a sense of being male or female. In school peers and teachers enforce these differences even further. (Lips, 1979,

The authors use toys as an example for gender specifying children as male or females. They did a study to see what kind of toys that toddlers had at home. They found that girls had more toys for parties, wedding, cooking, and motherhood. And boys had toys that helped them with automotive skills and building skills. They express how parents do this to show children what they want them to do when they get older. Parents buy children toys to set their gender types early so kids know what gender type they have at an early age.

Within the American culture, our youth are taught that the masculine roles of the male has traditionally been associated with their role of being strong and dominant and the feminine role of a female has traditionally been associated with their role of being the follower and the nurturer. Children learn the gender roles beginning at birth through the socialization process. Historically our society has always identified male infants with blue and female infants with pink, however, with the turning of the 20th century more neutral colors are being thrown into the mix. More expecting parents are adventuring away from traditional blue and pink and choosing the neutral colors such as green and yellow. Children learn gender socialization through family members, education, other children and social media. Each reinforces the gender role by displaying and maintaining the normal expectation for each genders behavior. Our youth are taught at an early age of the separate expectations of each gender. Parents often teach the role not knowingly but through association. Boys are associated with trucks, toy guns and superheroes that teach them motor skills and independence, whereas the girls are associated with baby dolls, dress costumes, and toy kitchens which teaches them nurturing and social

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

Martin argued that preschools have hidden curriculum that genders children. One of the biggest parts of the hidden curriculum places an emphasis on the idea that girls need to be confined and take up less space. The hidden curriculum shows that it’s okay for boys to “spread out”. They argued that teachers will say something to a girl student if they seem to be taking up too much space. Boys however, are supposed to be bigger, which indicates the power of their gender status. The hidden curriculums within schools are not just covert behavior, they primarily focus on teaching overt lessons to students within the classroom. Based on the hidden curriculum in preschools, children are gendered in terms of bodily differences. Often times, teachers

In recent times, it has become much more common and socially acceptable for parents to raise their children in gender neutral ways. As queer rights, feminist movements, and gender equality take on a greater social relevance, many caregivers no longer expect their children to behave stereotypically “masculine” or “feminine;” children may even be praised for going beyond their gendered expectations (e.g., boys who can cook well or girls who are fit and athletic). Raising your kids without expecting them to conform to gender norms may allow them to develop a broad potential in many areas, rather than only allowing them to explore activities that are appropriate for their traditional gender roles. For example, if you are raising a girl, she may have the potential to become both a great mechanic and a talented dancer if you do not narrow her choices down to only those that are gender conforming. However, this choice in parenting may come with some unexpected issues and consequences -- ones that are as of yet unforeseen.

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first

Take note that this observation was done in the seventies and with a class of preschoolers is very important. When most people think of preschool you imagine fun, games and socialization, but in preschool is where you start to encounter the troubles of boys and education. During the study boys solicitation of teacher attention was almost equal to girls. The teacher responded more to the boys but almost with annoyance. When the teacher responded to the girls it was in a cute manner. “This indicates that boys and girls not only had different