Toys Emphasis on Gender Roles There are many factors that influence and shape a child’s interpretation of socialization and gender roles. The media they are exposed to, home environment, teachers, peers (Macionis, John J), and even the toys they play with. Toys marketed toward boys tend to encourage masculine characteristics including dominance and strength. While toys marketed toward girls tend to encourage feminine characteristics such as emphasis on appearance and nurturing (Hercules, Kacey). Toys differentiate gender roles, attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex (Macionis, John J), through the difference in types and colors used when marketing to boys or girls.
Do toys teach children stereotypical gender roles? Toys are divided into two main groups: boy and girl. After observing ToysRus, most can determine which toys boys and which toys girls play with, portray stereotypes of gender roles. Through gender-inclined toys, girls acquire nurturing skills and boys acquire soldier-like skills. Boys’ toys concentrate on their physical abilities and attributes, while girls’ toys emphasis physical attractiveness and presence.
Most of the time the colors on these aisles are not very bright the colors are more natural. The toys are also more masculine and they show how men are successful and they try to inspire the kids that play with these toys to be more like the action figure that by being like them that they could also be successful. The toys for boys suggest that when they get older they are supposed to get jobs and do the repairs around the house. On the other hand the girl toy aisle is very bright and the colors range from pinks, purples, and yellows. The toys for girls are Barbie dolls, baby dolls, stuffed animals, and doll houses.
Through their gender-biased toys, typically, boys learn "warrior-like" roles and girls learn to nurture. Girls’ toys stress physical beauty and appearance while boys’ toys focus on respect for their physical abilities (Campenni 122). Gender socialization, through toys, teaches and reinforces stereotypical gender roles. In order to understand the influences today’s popular toys have on our younger generation, it is important to first understand gender socialization. "Gender" refers to the socio-cultural dimension of being female or male (Maccoby 6).
Outline and evaluate Gender Schema Theory Gender schema theory suggests that children learn gender stereotypes by actively structuring their own experiences rather than by observing and then imitating role models as social learning theory might suggest. Unlike Kohlberg’s theory, gender schema theory suggests that gender labelling or gender identity is sufficient for children to begin actively seeking information about their gender including how they should behave and how they should look. These schemas, that are clustered information on a particular subject, come from many sources such as parents, peers and in the media where gender stereotypes are abundant. Furthermore, children will only pay attention to schemas that are relevant to their own gender and therefore are similar to themselves. For example, girls will pay attention to how other females act and boys will pay attention to how other males act.
The learning influence of gender development, which I will be focusing upon, is based on how a child’s environment can guide their views and perspectives on the classification of male and female. Gender is one of the fundamental ways which social life of humans is organized. One of the first questions people ask when a child is born is whether it is a boy or girl. Starting at birth people often think that boys and girls are very different. Gender matters from the trivial to the most important aspects of a human’s life.
The article, “Recess Makes for Better Students,” tries to exemplify the effects of recess on elementary students by explaining how Romina M. Barros examined the effects of recess on children through her research and found that recess is essential to a child’s behavior and academics. “Recess Makes For Better Students” also mentions how another specialist, Dr. Jane Ripperger-Suhler, explains how recess is very important to a child’s mental and social development. On the other hand, the cartoon the author illustrated has two young children, one boy and one girl. The girl mentions, “I want to be a lawyer – they still get recess,” so they are probably talking about their future, while sitting on a swing set. Amanda Gardner, the author of “Recess Makes for Better Students,” and Matt Anderson, a cartoonist, both refute that recess is an essential part of a child’s life using different methods to convey their position of the argument.
Outline social factors that may influence gender roles. (8 marks) Bandura’s social learning theory suggests gender roles are learnt through observation of ‘social agents’ such as parents, peers and teachers as well as the media. This theory is based on the principles of operant conditioning with children being rewarded for behaving in their own gender and being punished for behaving inappropriately. An example of this is if a young boy is playing with dolls, he may be told off and explained to that it is wrong, likewise, a girl playing with cars and guns will told of or shouted at in the same way. Social agents model the appropriate gender specific behaviours; children observe these behaviours and learn the consequences for behaving inappropriately through vicarious reinforcement.
Summary: In “Justice: Childhood Love Lessons”, bell hooks notes that grownups, with their ways of discipline; often confuse children about the concept of love. (27). I agree with bell hooks; children are taught love is as simple as giving a hug or sharing your toys but when they are abused by their guardians with explanations such as “I do this became I love you” it will confuse them great deal. 2. Direct Quotation: bell hooks says, “Being hurt by parenting adults rarely alters a child’s desire to be loved and be loved by them [parents].
Every child growing up plays with toys no matter how young or how old or if they are a boy or a girl. Some toys are strictly gender oriented and some are geared for both male and female genders. This project has the sole purpose of discovering if children’s toys are gender typed. Our hypothesis was that children’s toys are gender oriented. All we had to do was go to a toy store for this project.