Gender Stereotyping Effects On Children

“Pink is for girls!” a 7 year old boy says to the boy wearing a salmon colored shirt beside him. It’s a phrase we hear all too often. So much so, that we most likely barely bat an eye at the sound of it. And that right there is the issue. Enforcing gender roles on these young and vulnerable minds is harmful. Gender stereotyping is damaging to the psychological development of a child or teenager. You cannot alter the sexual orientation of a child no matter how much you disagree or disapprove of it. Gender stereotyping is unfair and does not allow children and teenagers to fully express themselves during such a crucial time in their developmental growth. Being a more open minded individual can be very beneficial to the children and they are the future. For starters, allowing a child to play with a toy of the opposite sex will not influence their sexual orientation. Some might argue that for instance that giving a boy a Barbie doll they request …show more content…
Girls are taught to be delicate and fragile. Boys are taught to be tough and basically mask their emotions. This may force them to act a certain way that they are not. This in turn causes insecurities and self esteem issues especially in the adolescent years which are such a crucial time with the search for self identity. Bullying is also a major problem in this aspect. Not only can the child be bullied by someone that was raised with the damaging belief of gender roles but being that young children are like sponges, they can also become the bullies. Children are every vulnerable and if they are forbidden something, they’ll simply believe that it’s wrong with little explanation necessary. This can then lead to becoming judgmental and begin bullying out of insecurities or taught behavior. Bullying has been known to lead to depression and unfortunately, even