Gender Typing

From: Jenna
Meet Jersey, a respectful seven-year-old girl, and her four-year-old, strong-willed brother, Julian. By looking at this picture you can pick up quickly that both children have learned the difference between separate social worlds relating to boys and girls. Laurie Rudman touches on this in her article, "The Two Cultures of Childhood", by giving examples of how segregation takes place between boys and girls through gender specific toys, toy preferences, and interaction styles.

The toys centered across the floor in this picture are separated into gender specific toys. Boy toys tend to be hard and sharp, which is intended to represent a boy's behavior as being rough and tough. Girl toys tend to be soft and smooth, which represents a girl's behavior as sweet and nourishing. Gender specific toys are learned by children very early on in their lives. In some cases, they have been taught to avoid being seen playing with toys that are supposed to be for the opposite gender (Laurie Rudman, 2015).

According to Laurie Rudman's article, both boys and girls like to play with miniature human figures, where they can act out different fantasy roles. As you can see from the picture, Julian enjoys playing with superheroes and Jersey enjoys playing with dolls. When girls play with dolls like Barbie and all the clothes, shoes, and dream houses that go along with the Barbie doll, it encourages girls to role play common feminine stereotypes such as shopping, grooming to be pretty, caregiving, and accessorizing. An example of this can be seen in the background of the photo where a Barbie doll is standing in front of a mirror looking at herself in the Barbie dream house. This is a model of gender socialization where girls feel they need to look and dress a certain way, so they can belong to a certain group of friends and to also fit the societal norms.

Interaction styles tend to be very different with boys and girls. When boys play with other boy peers they tend to be more competitive and aggressive; they do not like to share toys and are more destructive. When girls interact with other girl peers they tend to be more caring, share toys, and are less likely to be aggressive or competitive with one another. The way Julian and Jersey are posing in the photo symbolizes interaction styles. Julian is throwing his body back, which I was not intending, but he was getting frustrated with the process of taking a photo and I just happened to capture it. By him posing this way he symbolizes boy behavior of aggression. Jersey has her hand on her hip and is pretending to pour Julian something to drink. This models how girls are very nourishing and caring as she is pouring Julian something to drink.

As you can see, this photo touches on various aspects of gender typing that are picked up early on by children. Jersey and Julian are great examples of this!


Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.