The expectations that identify gender come from sex
categories: male or female, they are defined in biological terms and are viewed
in terms of difference and opposition. All people in the male category are believed
to be naturally different from all people in the female category, and they are
held to different normative expectations when it comes to feelings, thoughts,
and actions (Coakley, 2010; p.258). Assumptions
like these lead to stereotypes that create a gender ideology, such as: “men can’t
do this, and women can’t do that.” To learn the factors and influences that
impact a child’s sex role we talked about the main three stereotyping agencies during
our class discussion.
Agencies of Sex Role
Stereotyping
1)
The Family
·
The first question asked when the woman is
pregnant, boy or girl, showing the deemed
importance of gender
·
Parents direct behavior towards masculine and
feminine activity. This is where the early
influence starts
·
The toys and color of the clothing that the
child receives. When are class talked about their
childhood toys, all of the men said they played with cars, action figures, and
sports toys. All of the women said they played with dolls, toy-ovens, and princess
items when they were young girls.
2) School
·
Reinforces differential expectations. In class, we reviewed a kindergarten’s year-end awards, some
of the girls awards were: “best-sharer”, “cutest”, and “sweetest”. It was
clearly obvious that the awards for the boys encouraged a different, more powerful
ideology. Some of the awards were: “best thinker”, “funniest”, and most
creative”, these awards suggest possible careers as a lawyer, doctor, or just
any job that requires more than a high school diploma. The girls’ awards suggest
that it is more important to focus on appearance and personality, rather than
pursuing a career as a doctor or lawyer.
·
Steers boys and girls to different activities. This refers to the suggestive encouragement that a
certain kindergarten’s awards mentioned above imprint on a child at this young
age.
3) The Media
·
One of the most influential and persuasive
forces. The media’s influence is seen primarily in Magazines
and TV because they focus on women’s outfits, hair, and makeup which create the
societal ideology that it is acceptable for women to build themselves on their appearance
and wardrobe. The focus on men mostly pertains to whether or not they have
muscular builds and their athletic ability. From this, the ideology that men
are expected to be athletic and gritty is created.
·
Pre-school children watch 24 hours of TV/week. The media-influenced ideologies that I mentioned above
are being fed to kids at an extremely young age, putting the “acceptable”
society expectations in their young minds.
·
By the time kids graduate high school, they have
seen an average of 100,000 commercials. This is
another way that the media keeps shoving society’s “gender expectations” in
children’s heads.
·
Sets agendas of how we act, feel, and think. During class, it was said that TV tends to portray the
woman as three things: the sex-goddess, homemaker, or the bitch. Notice, that
none of these inspire or suggest that it’s acceptable for women to be athletes.
As you can see, girls
are at a disadvantage from the start. Between the family, school, and the media
women athletes are not spotlighted and given anywhere near the same respect as
men are. Title IX has definitely made progress in giving women equal and same opportunities
as men, without it the story of Samantha Gordon
would not even are thinkable. Samantha Gordon is a
nine-year old girl who not
only plays, but DOMINATES a Utah-little
league football league. Her stats for this season: Nearly 2,000 yards rushing and a total of 35 touchdowns in this year’s
just-completed season. She also was the leading tackler on her team and her
performance has earned her national attention and even her
own Wheaties box! Samantha Gordon hopefully can encourage other girls
and young women to play any sport of their choice and to not be discouraged
from perfecting their craft. Will she or any female make the NFL? Who knows,
but if she can inspire other young women then it is a defiantly possible.
To read more on Samantha Gordon go to: http://espn.go.com/new-york/story/_/id/8660812/samantha-gordon-9-year-old-female-football-star-utah-makes-wheaties-box
To SEE her in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFSGhasyHhY & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oclLKHg9rsc
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