The choice of toy(s) is up to you (except for Barbie). You can analyze Research Paper

The choice of toy(s) is up to you (except for Barbie). You can analyze gender-neutral toys. To what extent, if any, is gender-sp - Research Paper Example These gender norms define what acceptable masculine and feminine behaviors are in a given culture. Likewise the way in which a person becomes a part of society in the form of a male or female is the gender identity. It defines who we really are and becomes an integral part of our inner selves (Ryle, 2011). We may say that the process of gender socialization begins right at the time of our birth, when parents name their kids and we are assigned either a boy or a girl attribute. Then as a child grows he/she begins to understand the distinct specifics of both genders through, for example the surrounding events, interactions, education and entertainment. Family conditions and norms also shape up the gender role. This may include different treatments for siblings of other genders, like a boy may be allowed to go out more often than his sister, and perhaps the sister being scolded less harshly than her brother. The surrounding environment also play a great role, for example the color room, either blue or pink, may define the gender roles for children at an early stage. Then there is a wide variety of gender-specific toys and there preference for kids, like Barbie dolls versus Power Rangers. Gender-specific role is also emphasized in boys and girls through their gatherings and there topic of conversations. Boys often meet and play in larger groups as compared to girls’ preference for small groups and they often exchange information that is completely different. Through these differences we gradually collect information throughout our lives that define distinct gender roles. Hence interaction through the process of gender-socialization is important in defining the gender-specific roles. The above discussion is a brief reflection on what most of the social constructionists believe. They believe that the gender-specific roles are indeed learned through society and experience. They believe that certain behaviors such as ferocity and aggressiveness are more characte ristic of masculine than feminine gender, so boys often prefer to go with toys like cars, guns that fire fake bullets, robots and action figures etc. Conversely feminine gender is more characteristic of beauty, spontaneity, emotionality and like emotions hence they prefer toys like Barbie dolls, kitchen sets etc. However, Deborah Blum argues that the biology does play an important role in defining gender roles and establishing gender role identities. This is discussed in the following part of the paper. It has been experimentally shown that even very little kids respond different to the gender-specific toys. While this might be a great hint that some of the gender differences are biological and in-born, we cannot deny that socialization plays a major role in distinguishing gender roles after the birth. So it is rarely just one thing that accounts for the cumulative effect. We may view it as an interaction of genes with the environment. So to think that gender is entirely dependent o n socialization may be misleading because some of the differences are natural and in-born (Ridley, 2004). How Toys Promote Traditional Gender Roles There are rich and obvious sex differences in children toys and these are same across majority of cultures. Girls are heightened to play with dolls