In "Barbie Girls vs. Sea Monsters," Michael Messner discusses a "magnified moment" of everyday gender role socialization. Gender role socialization is "the subtle, pervasive process of becoming masculine or feminine" (Ferris and Stein 248) Children are socialized into gender roles through families, schools, peers, and the media, as well as other social institutions. Messner observes how a group of four- and five-year-old children construct gender as they begin their first season in an organized soccer league. Before the opening ceremony of the soccer league, the Barbie Girls began performing gendered behavior as they rallied around their team 's Barbie float and began singing a Barbie song. At first, some of the boys just quietly watched
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I had a difficult time with that assignment because I really couldn 't identify specific ways I was socialized to know my gender identity. In retrospect, the ways in which I was socialized to be masculine are much more clear. Although I still believe my parents did their best to not emphasis gender specific roles, I was actually receiving a great deal of exposure to socially acceptable male and female behavior through the media, school, and my peers. I have learned that simply watching television bombards children with acceptable gendered behavior. Television commercials and shows clearly teach children stereotypical behavior for boys and girls. Girls are expected to be submissive, less aggressive, popular, beautiful, and take on traditional nurturing roles; while boys are expected to be active, dominate, aggressive, and more independent. My school, friends, and community also emphasized appropriate gendered behavior. As mentioned in a previous assignment, I learned from my friends that having stuffed animals was not considered masculine, and when we were having recess at school, I learned the socially acceptable ways for boys to behave. The youth sports I participated in also taught me acceptable gender behavior. They were structured in the same way as the soccer league described by Michael Messner. Our coaches were mostly males and the females were the "Team Moms." Even a simple trip to McDonalds when I was younger taught me about my gender identity when we had to select either a boy or girl Happy Meal. The toys in the boys ' Happy Meals were action toys and the girls ' toys were usually ones used for quiet
I had a difficult time with that assignment because I really couldn 't identify specific ways I was socialized to know my gender identity. In retrospect, the ways in which I was socialized to be masculine are much more clear. Although I still believe my parents did their best to not emphasis gender specific roles, I was actually receiving a great deal of exposure to socially acceptable male and female behavior through the media, school, and my peers. I have learned that simply watching television bombards children with acceptable gendered behavior. Television commercials and shows clearly teach children stereotypical behavior for boys and girls. Girls are expected to be submissive, less aggressive, popular, beautiful, and take on traditional nurturing roles; while boys are expected to be active, dominate, aggressive, and more independent. My school, friends, and community also emphasized appropriate gendered behavior. As mentioned in a previous assignment, I learned from my friends that having stuffed animals was not considered masculine, and when we were having recess at school, I learned the socially acceptable ways for boys to behave. The youth sports I participated in also taught me acceptable gender behavior. They were structured in the same way as the soccer league described by Michael Messner. Our coaches were mostly males and the females were the "Team Moms." Even a simple trip to McDonalds when I was younger taught me about my gender identity when we had to select either a boy or girl Happy Meal. The toys in the boys ' Happy Meals were action toys and the girls ' toys were usually ones used for quiet