Gender Socialization

from: Amanda

I think this picture tells a whole story about gender in childhood. Throughout a child’s youth, they are given certain toys that society has chosen for their gender. It is typical to see girls playing with baby dolls, stuffed animals, and dress up clothes while boys are more likely to play with automobiles, army men, and video games. At a young age, these types of gender specific toys are pushed onto children.
This is a picture of a baby deciding on which toy he/she would rather play with. In this picture, the baby could be a boy or a girl. Because the clothing is neutral, there is no way of knowing. The toy on the left is a car and the toy on the right is a “princess dog” stuffed animal. Both toys make noise and are interesting. The baby in this picture decides to play with the car and pays no attention to the “princess dog”. From this picture, it is clear that the baby must be a boy. The baby is obviously more comfortable playing with boy toys rather than girl toys. At only seven months old, this baby boy can already tell the difference. I took this picture in front of the fire place to add focus on the baby and the two objects and to show how intense gender socialization can be.

In our society, we are very focused on gender identity and what we consider the appropriate toy for the appropriate sex. However, some feel that it is important to expose children to a variety of toys and experiences. Interestingly, it appears that children have a natural instinct to choose the toys we have designated for them based on gender.