Gender

  All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was at Target. This week for homework we had to visit a department store,and look at the gender socialization involved in the store products.I chose Target and there I was definitely surprised. I went to the toys section of the store and looked around. The " girl" toys were much different, than the "boy" toys. The girl toys were pink and  fuzzy, while the boy toys were green, blue , and violent.The girl toys were soft and with flowers, hearts etc. I noticed one thing about the dolls for girls, for the most part they all had long hair and dresses. The boy action figures were all dresses as if they were going to beat someone up. I was trying really hard to look for gender neutral toys, but that was hard; I did however, find games like, Monopoly and Memory etc. that are pretty neutral. Ever since I was little I learned that girls wear pink, and boys wear blue, no one actually taught this to me.Gender is what society expects and prescribes of you based on your biological sex. This is hard for me to accept, because  I think that society  constricts peoples wishes , and almost makes people feel ashamed for not fitting in this cookie cutter shape. From such a young age children are given a mold and rules to follow without them even knowing so. The toys, clothes,sports, and even hobbies that boys and girls are allowed to play, by society's rules leave very little room for individuality. Socialization is great when used properly.It gives a great structure to society,but it also can bend us by our fictitious desires to draw such a thick line of division between boys and girls. 
 




Socialization "is a continuing process where by an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior,and social skills appropriate to his or her social  position." From birth children learn what society expects of them just by the sex they were born with. They acquire their gender this way. There is a well defined line for boys and girl toys. The similarity in clothing for each sex leaves very little room for individuality. We have come far as a society, but have even more left to go. 

OH BOY

  All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was babysitting over the weekend. I was babysitting a little boy named Arnold. He is seven years old and  is a very tough little boy. I asked him a  couple question, like what his favorite color was etc.  He answered all my questions as expected. His favorite color is blue and he loves to play sports. This all made me think about nature vs. nurture, and the gender role topics we've been covering in the classroom. Arnold wants to be a policman and told me he thinks that boys shouldn't cry. He was molded as the sterotypical boy.

   We learned the difference between gender and sexuality this week. Arnold's gender and sexuality are both the same, he is a boy and acts as a boy. However,I was thinking of what really influences his choices. People are born a blank slate, so our behaviors are all learned; were his parents  the ones that influenced him into liking sports and the color blue?All the things that we've been talking about in class really have made me think. Was Arnold at the young age of seven already a victim of the meadia's sterotypes? The first thing one sees when entering Arnold's room is the football wall paper. All the men stereotypes really take a toll on younger generations as well. When Arnold said that boys aren't supposed to cry, that really worried me. I believe that is healthy to show emotions. That qoute is greatly overused and shouldn't even excist, it gives men a bad outline of attitude. I was really thinking sociologically all weekend and seeing how society molds each gender to be, is actually impressing. If only these unspoken rules applied to other things for example: being polite. Society has done a great job at molding each gender to it's given behavior. It's done such a great job that acting other wise not specified by these "rules" creates conflict. The conflcit theory can be seen with all the men and women that behave in opposite characteristics. We should all just be accepting of each other because at the end of the day no one is alike. We all have different characteristics and seeing the things that we have in common will generate less stress.

Chinese Mothers

  The article about Chinese mothers was really interesting, and it made me think a lot! I think that Ms. Chua is doing the right thing as a Chinese mother; although it seemed harsh. Every culture has it's own ways of functioning and parenting skills are just one of the many differences within each culture. Ms. Chua's parenting style proved to be effective when  Lulu was able to play " The Little White Donkey" .  I think that the article was very bias it seemed to be dissing Western's style of parenting. The article  made it seem like Westerns are okay with the failure of their children. I don't think I can be as Harsh as  a Chinese mother when I have kids, but I will attempt to find a happy medium. Ms. Chau's parenting style was okay by me only because it seemed like she truly did want her kids to succeed . To each is own ,and tough love is indeed a way of showing " love" ( hence the name : tough love). I believe Ms. Chua's children will thank her later on in life when they are successful. The way Ms. Chua showed to care for her Lulu actually says a lot about her as a parent; she never gave up on Lulu, she believed her daughter was capable of doing anything. 

Analyzes: 

COOLEY : From Cooley's looking glass self which is : "the self image we develop from the way others treat us" ( classroom notes) 

Lulu's looking glass self would be  low when she is not able to do something right and he mom insults her by calling her  names like "garbage" etc. However when her mom does praise her for excelling at something her looking glass self goes up. When others give her compliments for her good work it goes up as well for ex. her piano recital parents were impressed with her wonderful job and she was given praise. 

MEAD: Lulu would have a very small "I" since Ms.Chua is not letting her be spontaneous for the most part. 

Her significant other ( Ms.Chua) and  her would probably not have a close bond because Ms.Chua is very strict. 

Generalized : Lulu probably has a lot of outside people influence her in her drive to succeed 

Freud : Lulu's interaction with her mom ( Ms. Chua ) influences her personality most likely in a negative way because she will feel that she always has to be perfect in life. As we know no one is perfect. 

Her ID: WILL BE VERY CONTROLLED BY HER MOTHERE

       EGO: WILL HAVE AN EASY TIME RATIONALIZING

       SUPERGO: VERY INFLUENCED BY HER MOTHER'S MORALS

***NOTE: As far as socialization goes Lulu and Sophia are very oddly socialized compared with the average American kids.  It is save to say they will be successful in life, but at what price. They can only be "perfect" for so long. They will not have too many friends because they are not engaged in extra curriculum activities of any kind. They are made to succeed and nothing else.