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.