MEN ARE:› Masculine› Dominant› Strong› Aggressive› Intelligent› Rational› active (do things)

MEN LIKE:› Cars› getting drunk› casual sex with

many partners

WOMEN ARE:› Feminine› Submissive› Weak› Passive› Intuitive› Emotional› communicative (talk

about things)

WOMEN LIKE:› Shopping/Make-up› social drinking› committed

relationships

GENDER SOCIALIZATIONThe aspect of socialization that contains specific

messages and practices concerning the nature of being male or female in a specific group or society.

Males and females are socialized differently through:

THE FAMILYPEERS

SCHOOLMASS MEDIA

Sex vs. Gender

› Sex refers to a person’s biological sex: whether they are male or female.

› Gender refers to the role or behaviors a person has been socialized into according to their sex, whether they are masculine or feminine.

› Gender socialization is important in determining our beliefs about acceptable behaviors for males and females.

FAMILY

Sometimes this begins before birth : › families will purchase gender-typed

clothes, toys and nursery decorations.

After birth:› children are spoken to differently › boys are played with more roughly› household chores are distributed

differently › given different rules (curfew)

PEERS During school years, peers are more

socially accepted by their peers when they conform to gender stereotypes.

Male peer groups place more pressure on boys to do “masculine” things while female peer groups place more pressure to do “feminine” things.

There are differences in how these are perceived if they do the opposite (girls in jeans playing soccer vs. boys in dresses playing hopscotch)

SCHOOL

Sex segregation in organizing students- competition between males and females.

When complaining about sexual harassment, teachers may take a “boys will be boys” attitude.

Textbooks omit or minimize the contributions of women. When they were represented, it was in stereotypical roles.

MASS MEDIA

The media have a unique ability to shape our ideas about gender.

Women are under represented in both adult and children television programming.

When women are represented as having careers or professions, they may also be portrayed as unable to balance this with the rest of their lives (children/love)

Often depicted as incomplete without a man…Sex in the City

Advertising: Women are far more likely to be completing domestic tasks (cooking, cleaning, shopping) while men are completing “manly” tasks (taking care of yards, cars or playing games).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=113mRmchumY&feature=related

Gender in Media 10 min