A baby is born and the doctor looks at the proud parents and says three simple words: Its a boy, or Its a girl! Before a newborn child even takes his or her first breath of life outside the mothers womb, he or she is distinguished and characterized by gender. Thebaby is brought home and dressed in clothes that help others identify the sex of the child.Baby boys are dressed in blue and baby girls are dressed in pink. The baby boy may bedressed in a blue shirt with a football or a baseball glove on it. The baby girl may wear abow in her hair and have flowered pajamas. As the boy begins to grow, he is given aminiature basketball and a hoop to play with. The girl is given dolls an doll clothes todress them up in. When they get a little older, the boy may play with legos and the girlplays with a plastic tea set with which to play house with. Sounds pretty normal right?Why? As illustrated in the not-so-fictional scenario above, gender socialization beginsvery early in life. Society has accepted such stereotypical things as baby boy blue and babygirl pink to help identify the sex of a child. Heaven forbid the little Joey looks like a girl orb aby Michelle is mistaken for a boy. Mothers and fathers make it easy for everyone todistinguish their child by utilizing the socially established gender stereotypes. But whereand how did these stereotypes come from? Unfortunately, I don t think there is a definiteanswer to that question. We seem to accept that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Boysgenerally play with balls, toy trucks and building blocks whereas girls spend their timewith dolls, tea sets and stuffed animals. But these are the stereotypes that are influenced bythe parents. A baby child isn’t concerned with his or her gender identity. As the child getsolder though, he or she will begin to develop an identity for his or herself and establish apersonality th at reflects their masculinity or femininity. In Nancy Chodorows essay...
