Gender is a social construction that humans are taught from a young age through socialization. We are taught that there are two genders in western society and through peers, media and more, individuals are taught how to "correctly" express their gender. by Supriya Haldankar

shald007_ — 2023-11-27 18:34:45 UTC

According to “The Social Construction of Gender” by Judith Lober, the construction of gender is created by humans. Individuals have to be taught how to act feminine and masculine. This is done through socialization from a young age from their peers, parents, media, and more. Young girls are given dolls and toys that relate to motherhood and pink, meanwhile, boys are given toys that have to relate to masculinity such as cars, and sports, and their objects are traditionally blue. My picture displays socialization for gender. The picture displays many of the same objects on each side such as both sides having a children's book but they vastly differ in content. Both sides have toothbrushes in different colors (pink and blue) both sides have water bottles in differing colors as well. On the left most of the objects are traditionally viewed as masculine such as strength and cars meanwhile beauty is viewed as feminine.

shald007_ — 2023-11-27 18:35:16 UTC

According to Lisa Marie Hogeland, many people tend not to identify with feminism for one central trend. Fear of feminism does not come from the fear of gender but rather the fear of getting involved in a political measure. In today’s present time, gender is seen as political and controversial. Although this narrative is false, the ramifications are very real, it ends up having people remove themselves from the conversation and not identify as feminists in an attempt to stay neutral.The picture I chose symbolizes fear of feminism. It is a man viewing feminism as destructive and crippling in fear as the “hammer of feminism” comes down.

shald007_ — 2023-11-27 18:35:43 UTC

The ramifications of the socialization of gender are not just boys and girls having different toys and objects. Boys and girls are taught different messages of how to perform their gender. Boys are taught they always need to be strong, and can't show sadness (especially not to cry). Insults for boys show a common theme of comparing them to a girl or calling them a girl. Through Peggy Oreinstien from “What it means to Be a man,” she covers that for most men crying is a rare but humiliating event. This is not due to the fact that women have more empathy but due to socialization. Around age 5-6, boys learn to not show emotions in public. The picture I used to represent this concept is a bunch of words and phrases boys are told from a young age. I interviewed 10 boys and asked them to tell me insults they have heard often growing up or things they still hear from their peers.

shald007_ — 2023-11-27 18:37:44 UTC

The ramifications of gender socialization are not limited to just men. Women are constantly told how to act and how to behave. Toxic masculinity tells men that they must be strong and aggressive, meanwhile, toxic femininity tells women to always act properly and cater to the emotions of men. It is okay for girls to cry but when women cry they are being too emotional or too sensitive. When women speak out their emotions they are told they are being dramatic. Oftentimes in high positions of power women cannot show emotions and have to be more ruthless than their male counterparts because if they do not there is the fear of sexist comments such as “Are you on your period” being made. For the picture, I compiled a list of comment insults women are told in regards to their femininity. The insults often have to do with women being weak and emotional.

shald007_ — 2023-11-27 18:40:02 UTC

Gender socialization effects are not just as simple as boys and girls internalizing messages, it quite literally affects the course of their life. Since girls are given dolls and told that their skills are humanity-based instead of stem-based, 61% of humanities degrees are women while 65% of stem are held by men. In the real world, this translates to women getting jobs related to the service industry, nurses, and teachers, while men take on jobs such as scientists, mathematicians, construction workers, and so on. For my picture, I chose to display female vs male jobs. On the left, I put jobs that are traditionally composed of women versus on the right jobs that end up being composed of men. Women's jobs are hugely in favor of humanities, while men jobs are mainly to do with strength and the “harder” subjects such as math and science.