Gender Socialization Of Childhood

Childhood is described as the first social identity consciously experienced. During this time period, which has different time lengths and definitions that vary by culture, children are seen as “free from the pressures of adult life”. This can be true in instances of certain ethnicities, genders, and classes but the complete opposite in others. Childhood is different for different people, not everyone gets to have a carefree childhood and experience what more privileged people see as normal. Jenks argues that ‘childhood is not a natural but a social construct’ and that it is always associated with a variety of meanings and experiences. Assessing this view we need to remember that childhood is transgressive and that we need to …show more content…
Parents usually assume boys are physically and mentally different from girls so, they treat them differently. Will et al examined this by watching young mother interact with a baby doll they assumed as a girl, they gave her a doll to play with and described her as “sweet”. Then they were given a doll dressed in different colored clothing and gave him a train to play with and gave him less smiles. Despite being treated different from one another the two dolls were the same dressed in different clothing being treated differently just because of their genders. Parents consciously and unconsciously treat their children differently through association with objects, behaviors, and expectations. Smith and Lloyd figured out that toys were used to push children into certain roles in life. Girls were given dolls and domestic toys to enforce “housewife” and “motherly” roles while boys were given active, roughhousing, hands on toys to enforce “working” roles. Another way parents affect their children 's childhood through gender is their expectations. Girls are expected to do more domestic chores such as dishes, cooking, cleaning, and their behavior in public is more controlled than that of their boy counterparts. Young girls lifestyles are more at home while boys are more public. Martin and Ruble suggest that children look for clues on what they should consider gender appropriate from primary sources such as parents and peers, and secondary sources like the media (hence why media gender interpretations are so important). Peers shape and reinforce gender through games that are traditionally played by one gender. Sports such as football and rugby have male association while cheer and tennis have female association. Similarly, activities and pastimes have gender roles. For example, an interest in cars and heavy metal is