Unit 13.docx

Unit 13 Socializing Gender Now, you’ve already been introduced to the concept of socialization. Recall general socialization, the learning process through which individuals develop self-hood and acquire knowledge, skills, and motivations required for participation in social life. In this case, we wi...

Unit 13 Socializing Gender Now, you’ve already been introduced to the concept of socialization. Recall general socialization, the learning process through which individuals develop self-hood and acquire knowledge, skills, and motivations required for participation in social life. In this case, we will focus specifically on gender socialization. This is a massive part of everyone′s experience. This is the learning process through which individuals learn to become masculine and feminine according to the expectations of their current cultures. Recall I said that sex is like a coat rack, that’s what’s given to us whereas gender is the coat and what we are choosing to do with it. There are specific ideas of what should be put on this rack. Its something as banal as color. Pink is a girl color and blue is a boy color. Now, girls still wear blue, but boys may be stigmatized when they wear pink. It is a simple process. Its one of the most powerful forces in our lives. Ultimately, it is the accumulation of a thousand details we have internalized to achieve masculinity or femininity. I will remind you that thinking of gender as binary leaves out may people who do not fit this. I will show how focusing on the extremes of male and female, with stereotypes, reinforce something that is not biologically accurate. There are lots of agents of gender socialization in our lives. Of course, family is primary. Both family and school are intentional forms of socialization. We are trying to teach you what it means to be male and female and they’re very powerful. For example, girls may dress in pink frilly dresses. The way they play with their dad may be sophisticated and delicate; she may be treated like a princess, pose like one, and spend time indoors. They may be directly facing each other. Whereas a father and son may play soccer outside, get dirty, have less physical touch, and not face each other. They may make more powerful stances, with more attention to posture and more use of leg space. Now imagine if this was reversed. How strange would that feel at first? It would be weird to make the boy wear a pink, frilly dress whereas it would be less weird if the girl played soccer with her dad. This is because in some ways, male stereotypes are much more strongly reinforced than female ones. These are just two examples, but they are already full of stereotypes. Media, another form of gender socialization. This is unintentional; it is not intended to socialize children yet there is still high media consumption by children. If I were to look at mainstream media and shows and decide what they tell us about boys and men, is obvious. Males are supposed to be physically aggressive, even violent. They do not show emotions including fear and sadness. They’re tough and control all their feelings and thoughts. That is a very dominant message which is not at all how females are depicted. There may be exceptions, but it is usually the opposite. Religion is another agent of socialization. Consider pastor Joel Olsteen of one of America′s largest megachurches in Houston, Texas. Before he preaches a sermon, he holds up his Bible. He says "This is my Bible; I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do." This is very powerful gender socialization as Joel Osteen wants everyone there to recite the word of God. That said, the word of God is whatever interpretation or version that Osteen believes, and, in the process, he claims to be a voice of God. Which is a typical male thing in many religions like Judaism and Islam. So, the power of the male voice in religion is a significant form of socialization. Religion may also affect dress code. For example, Amish women are expected to dress in a certain manner, as do Muslim women who can′t even show their face and that’s part of their religious socialization. Themes, there are some dominant themes as we learn about gender socialization. These are based on typical gender stereotypes that we tend to reinforce. There may be intersecting variables such as class and status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and single parenting. There are many themes, but these are the biggest ones. In addition, while there may be exceptions, I am talking about general patterns. Females Sociability-females are "supposed to be relational, verbal, communicative, self-disclosing, sensitive, and kind. These are things expected from adult females, so this is what we teach and socialize. We don’t do this in the same way with boys. Were far more concerned with girls being empathetic and kind than boys in general. Popularity-already in elementary schools, girls may be jostling for hierarchy positions for popularity in a classroom. And it′s not that boys don’t have that too, but it functions differently. Many girls may go through a Polly Pocket phase. Every girl needs to have a Polly Pocket that they bring to school and if they don’t, they must not be very cool. They must stay on top of trends in terms of fashion and accessorizing in all kinds of ways. Physical appearance-of course, this is huge. It dominates every young girl′s appearance. We live in a culture that values females the most through appearance. Not their intelligence, not their skills, and not their character, but their appearance. Way more attention is given to clothing compared to boys. Girls are encouraged to wear dresses, booties, jewellery, and cute socks. This begins at a very young age and can be very toxic when they reach adulthood. This does not only affect females but also males who are trained to focus on appearance. Wife/mother-it is assumed that every girl will be a wife, mother, or both. This is such as powerful assumption that is not socialized to the same extent in boys. In fact, many girls are pressured to have children when they don’t want to have children. Despite what she has been socialized with, there is nothing wrong with her and she is not selfish. Males Independence-early on, men are taught to be autonomous, self-motivated. There are some interesting studies in which they would observe parents in a public context, in a park or mall with both male and female children. Parents are way more willing to let a boy toddler wander much further away than they are a female toddler. These results were very consistent. So, there’s clearly something going on there. We want our boys to become more independent in ways that girls are not supposed to be independent. Emotional suppression-this is a very dangerous one. We expect males to be fearless, tough, aggressive, and able to handle any situation. They’re not allowed to express sadness or vulnerability and if they do, they’re seen as weak or not tough and calls their masculinity into question. In my classes, I’ve had male students open up about the costs of this lifelong socialization and the harm that emotional suppression brought to their life. They said that they had difficulty identifying and managing their emotions. We encourage this with girls, yet boys are shut down when they do it. This is psychologically harming many males in society. Achievement-boys are supposed to aspire and achieve. They’re supposed to be competitive. If they’re not competitive, this is problematic. If they’re not into sports or do not want to win, this is worrying for some parents. Earner/provider-let′s think of a couple that’s deciding to move in together. They may be partnered or married. They’re making long-term plans to be together. Let′s say the male works part-time at Starbucks and hasn’t been able to secure full time employment. The female works as a dental hygienist and has far more job security and benefits than he does. This dynamic would be judged by some since society may teach us that males are supposed to provide. Yet this dynamic would not be questioned in reverse. This illustrates a deep double standard that functions against males because there is a greater expectation that they have their act together in terms of vocation and income than females. This is changing, but not that fast. This means that we teach girls to have empathy, listening and communication skills so that they can care for others. Eventually, they will have kids, be married, and take care of things. We don’t do this to boys. Boys are not socialized to be emotive because its not expected they will take care of their children. We ask women to do this. On the other hand, boys are groomed for success. They’re taught to be self-sufficient and ambitious. They’re taught that someone will rely on them so they must do everything they can to ensure that. This influences the function they have in a relationship. Women are supposed to thus be supportive, the encourager and caregiver, to prop their husband and children up. Whereas men take the stage. They shape their own narrative in terms of a career, a sport, in competitive world. These are very different themes that we present. This has begun to change. We are slowly encouraging girls to be independent and strive for careers and education and play sports. Yet, the reverse is mostly not true. Boys are still not accepted if they are quieter and gentler and if they want to be partner with an ambitious female. That they want to be a provider and be supportive instead of taking up the stage. Yet this is not problematic the other way around. This tells us something about the pervasiveness of these stereotypes and how deep they run in society. Gender stereotypes harm both males and females. Gender Socialization in the Family In this video, we will focus on family, which has an enduring impact on our gender socialization. It stays the mostly in our lives. It′s mostly unconscious because children learn more from actions of parents rather than what is taught. So, if a parent teaches that men and women are both good cooks and should cook but at the end of the day, if the mom ends up doing the cooking, the child will absorb this more easily than what is said. Similarly, when a child grows up with an emotionally inexpressive father; never seen his dad cry, although they may never hear "boys don’t cry," this is what is internalized. Our earliest notions of who we are as people comes from these early stages. And when we have very specific gender stereotypes taught to us, they have a profound effect on our values, beliefs, and motivations and what we understand about ourselves. Gender socialization includes a significant difference that’s class based. How gender is expected to come out in an upper-class family versus a blue-collar family is very different. Pre-natal context. If you survey people who are about to become first-time parents and ask them if you want a boy or a girl, many more will say they want a boy. This is observed worldwide and even deepens. There is a desperate need to have that first child be a boy. Sometimes there are policies that encourage that. China for many years, had a one-child policy that was legally enforced. You were financially penalized if you had more than one child and even forced into an abortion if you were pregnant. The policies were very aggressive. Because people prefer a boy vs a girl, they wanted that one child to be a boy. If one could afford it, they sought out imaging to determine the sex and would abort if it was girl. In rural contexts, if a second child was born and it was girl, then that child was often killed. It′s called gendercide, killing babies based on their gender, mostly. This is convenient as females are valued less in many cultural contexts and doing so removes a burden for many families in India, China, and Africa. Many fathers prefer sons and though mothers would like to have a girl but speak as though they would want sons because they know that’s what their father would want. In some cultures, you have failed as a mother because you have not produced a male heir. So, there are some very strong prejudices about the sex of a baby. I am assuming that some of you may have attended a gender reveal party. Note the differences in these images. Of course, the boy is revealed with an explosion and the girl reveal is a soft fog. a) naming the baby-I was researching baby names and came across themes such as "tough"boy names that show your boy is a fighter and the pretty names for girls. So, the way we name our children reflects gender stereotypes. Boy names tend to have hard consonants like Jack and Derek. Versus girl names that flow more like Sarah and Angela, they don’t have harsh sounds and syllables. Of course, there are unisex names but there is strong differentiation for the most part. b) If we look at parental interaction, most people would believe that we treat male and female babies the same way. There was a study done in the 1970s that was called Baby X Experiment and various replications have yielded the same result. But the way the experiment worked was, let′s say I′m the subject. I′m put in a room with a window that can only see one way. So the people from outside that window can see in but can′t look out. And I know that I am part of a study that is looking at humans and how they interact with babies. They′re getting the study set up and as theyre getting everything set and ready to go. They bring me a diapered infant and hand it to me and say to me, can you hold this girl while we get things ready? I do not know that this is part of the study. What do I do with her? I cuddle with her and call her a sweetie. That she′s cute with long eyelashes. I′m going to cuddle her and stroke her. And then they come and get the baby, and still say they′re setting up. They bring another baby, this time a boy. I might say, look at you, you′re a tough little guy and stand him up. And I say how strong he already is. Then they keep saying that the setup continues. They bring another baby and just say to hold the baby without specifying the gender. Then, the subjects did not know what to do. This shows that we have clear scripts with how to interact with a female baby versus a male baby that the subjects didn’t know how to react when the gender was neutral. In general, boys experience lots of movement and physical contact but less eye contact, speaking to. This is significant in terms of body language and communication, being looked at is a powerful experience of being recognized as important. So that eye contact is key in development and babies who are not looked at can be psychologically harmed. Boys acquire more advanced motor skills whereas girls acquire more verbal & interactive skills. There was another study done with an infant. The gender was not specified and they filmed the infant when they were startled. They brought in test subjects and played short video of that infant. They asked, what do you think the little girl is feeling? People said, she looks frightened, surprised, and upset. Then they brought in another group of subjects and they watched the same video. This time, they asked what the boy was feeling. They said he was angry, aggressive. The exact same video was viewed very differently based on gender. This is significant because that infant experiences these interactions all day long. This profoundly shapes their sense of self. This is not nature. This is nurture. c) room décor Likely, girls will have rooms with soft colors like gray, purple, and pink and big soft pillows and blankets. The little boys room has very bold primary colors and may have more toys that invite active play like legos, dinosaurs, and action figures. Of course, they are all hard and plastic. On the other hand, the girls room does not really encourage any type of play and rather she may have big closet with lots of accessories so there is already a focus on appearance. So he′s going to engage with the world and she will play with her appearance. Very different environments. So although gender is a spectrum, the world we live in imposes it as binary and is very rigid about it. Childhood There are clear emotional scripts in childhood. Boys can express anger, but not their sadness or fear whereas girls are allowed to talk about their emotions. Express and identify them. They tend to be shut down if they are angry however. We judge girls much more harshly when they′re angry than boys. Its normal for boys to be mad but its not normal for girls to be mad. We would think less of her character than we would the boys. So boys are encouraged to tough it out and girls are encouraged to talk it out. Behavior reinforcement. Aggressive behavior is encouraged in boys because boys will be boys whereas girls are rewarded for gentleness, empathy, and compliance. Shyness in girls is more appealing, cute and sweet than in a boy. And so, natural traits in a child are forced into certain directions that may harm them in the long-run if that is not who they truly are. Family chores. I′ve taught enough classes to infer that 70% of students would say the labor division is divided in their home. 15 years ago it would have been 90%. We do still have strongly gendered reinforcements that women do cooking and cleaning and men do the outside stuff and techical maintenance. This can be harmful because we are limiting the life skills that children acquire. Some men lament not learning to cook and women who wish they learned how to maintain a car. Children′s toys-boy toys encourage spatial and visual manipulation and the development of gross motor skills. They often also encourage aggression and competition. They tend to be more portable and relate to the outside world. Vehicles, sports equipment, LEGO. Whereas girl toys encourage more placid play which means motor skills are increasingly underdeveloped because the toys they are given do not encourage motor skills. There′s much more emphasis on nurturance and physical attractiveness. Many toys are about dressing and undressing dolls which invites them to think about appearance. Even some toys for girls are already highly sexualized. Toys need to be far less gender stereotypical if we want gender stereotypes to stop harming children. Children′s books-I will take about some first day of school books. I did a systematic study of the public library where I live. I found 80% of the first day of school books had boys as protaganists and girls were in the background. So, if you want to stop reinforcing that boys do all the action and girls are in the background, you need to think about the stories that you read to them. That said, they are hard to find. Children′s clothing-in the 1900s, all children including boys wore dresses but around the 1920s we started to assign blue/red and pink/purple. This was reinforced by the capitalist market because they make more money by making parents buy multiple sets of clothing for each gender. Girls clothing tends to be far more decorative. It is also restrictive and it is important how they sit, run, and how they play. It also makes females more vulnerable. It may invite looking at them in ways that are innapropriate. Some girls already learn how to "pose sexy" at an early age. To an extent, girl clothing is becoming increasingly sexualized. Lingerie and thongs are increasingly marketed to earlier ages. Gender Socialization in the Peer Group In this video, we will talk about the peer group. This is another major way gender socialization happens. Unlike family, peer groups are more egalitarian in the sense that despite differences there is sense of likeness in relating to the same situations. In elementary school, an important aspect for boys is athletic prowess and coolness. A suave and aloof factor. Youre going to do well if you can exude toughness and defiance. This is reniforced among boys which comes from gender stereotypes in the media. In higher grades, there is a focus on success with girls. So romantic success makes you a real man. Increasingly, peer networks may become more extensive and for males, their male networks are larger. Whereas females tend to have smaller groups of two or three. Males also tend to share activities that revolve around sports and automobiles whereas females tend to be more focused on interpersonal interaction. There is much more empathizing, share feelings, and identifying feelings. That said, females tend to show higher levels of indirect aggression whereas men are more physically aggressive. There is less focus on athletics and more on physical appearance. Thus, socioeconomic status plays a bigger role because it factors into appearance. Can you buy the newest cool stuff, accessories, brand names? Female subculture has been expanding to include male dimensions, valuing autonomy, achievement, initiative, and sports. But as I noted before, the same cannot be said about boy subcultures. They have not expanded in the female domain. Boys are not rewarded for being more sensitive, for expressing sadness and fear, and wanting to more emotionally bond with each other. Thus, females have more permission to adopt the male stereotypes than the reverse. Boys have less permission to enter the world of feminity. If we look at the world of play and sport. Here, boys have been invested in large, rule-bound, competitive, occupying more space type of activities and interactions. Girls tend to play in smaller groups, its more relational, theres a more cooperative element to it and usually just takes up less space than boys are wanting to do. Also, when boys play, there is less face to face interaction. Again, this does not always apply but I am identifying large patterns seen in research. Boy play tends to be striving, leadership based and competitive. Girls tends to be more intimate, more inclusive, and collaborative. Originally, sports was used to shape boys′ character and turn them into men. To prepare them for the public sphere, for competition, managing emtions, and learning to strive for excellence. Learning to work as a team, take directions, and order and that is becoming part of female sport as well. It also pushes all the conquest themes that we see in male gender socialization. Even, sports commentators use war-like language. Even in sports articles, which talk about trenches, blitzes, long bombs, drawing first blood, sudden death, over time, etc. Sports also often bonds a father and son. It is not uncommon for the son′s self-worth to develop around performance to please his father. More recently, girls play has become more like boys play. In sports, women can now push gender boundaries. That said, females are getting less attention in sports. A 2010 US study reviewed sport viewership on TSN. 38.7% of viewed sports were men′s basketball, 19.4% was men′s baseball, 17.1% was men′s football, 8.4% was mens ice hockey and the smaller bits were all female sports. Thus, around 83% of sports receicing coverage are male-dominated. This is very much the part that is making female sport difficult to attain equal pay both in contracts, price earnings. According to Stats Canada, 61% of non-immigrant males are participating in sport and 39% are females. When looking at the Canadian immigrant population, it is 72% of males and 28% of females. This is significant in showing whos participating. Already, this starts from very young and this persists into adulthood because of early childhood play. Even if females are successful in sport, they are treated differently. Male athletes such as Michael Phelps may be photographed with all their medals, showing strong poses, and face directly toward the viewer. Whereas female athletes like Serena Williams may be photographed wearing skimpy swim suits with their backs facing toward the viewer. There is nothing like medals or a racket showing that she′s a tennis player and her achievements. Often, when elite female athletes get coverage they are sexualized. Summatively, men act and women appear. For example, at a football game all the attention is given to men and women are the pretty props like scantily dressed cheerleaders who dance provocatively. Same Sex vs Cross Sex Peers When children are very little they′re encouraged to play as boys and girls together in loosely structured-groups. But as they grow older, increasingly they get separted in daycares, churches, nurseries, kindergartens. So, their play and how their encouraged to play and the fact that we direct so strongly the nature of the play causes separation in terms of playing with each other. Now, as the children get older and older they no longer play with each other very much, they play in same-sex peer groups. In earlier grades already if this does occur, the interaction may be labeled as romantic. They get gossiped about and they get forced into thinking, if I play with a boy or girl, that must be romantic. This is problematic in the adult years as well in marriage and common law. If a woman has male friends outside the marriage the husband may not take well to that even if they do not have a reason to be suspicious. Of course, this is changing and younger generations are encouraging cross-sex relationships that do not have to be romantic. There are lots of good things that happen here because of that. The only way we can fight gender stereotypes is by bonding with each other and seeing our humanity despite our gender and different experiences.