For this week’s column I would like to bring in a bit of sociology and talk about how impactful gender is on our everyday lives and when gender-typing starts. Let’s first start off with the basics – defining the difference between “sex” and “gender.”
By sociological standards “sex” is defined as the solely biological attributes (ex: penis/vagina) of a person. “Gender” is everything else (ex: clothing, hairstyles, femininity or masculinity). Defining these two terms differently and making sure to understand their distinct differences is incredibly important when analyzing gender and gender typing.
From the time we are very little we are learning how to “act out gender.” Girls are given dolls to play with and told they are incredibly cute and a pretty little princess. Whereas boys are given toy guns and cars and told they are strong and very manly. Even though it may not seem like it, all these actions are teaching our children gender as well as what it means to be a little boy or girl. We even stereotype gender with color – boys are blue and girls are pink.
Let’s go back a little farther, to when babies are born. We start gender typing the day a child is born. When you look at the way baby boys and baby girls are treated it is quite different. People use a different tone of voice, different words, and different ways of holding a baby depending on its gender. Generally people will use a softer touch and voice if it is a girl. Even though this may not seem as though we are teaching gender, when you see, hear, and experience these things over and over, one remembers them.
When you go into a department store it is very clear the difference between boys clothes and girls clothes. Girls clothes tend to be bright colors with frills and lace. There are dresses with flowers and other dainty things. Boys clothes tend to be darker and more saturated colors and are decorated more simply with stripes or plaid. There also tends to be smaller versions of adult clothing for boys, such as baby overalls.
With so many things telling us how to act out our gender, is it any wonder we are so focused on gender as a culture? Even as we grow up there is gender typing everywhere. The clothes we wear are still gendered – they are no longer just bright and frilly for girls and saturated and simple for boys. but there is always a clear divide between the men and women’s section in stores. Women wear fitted clothing that is tight and shows off the body whereas men wear much looser clothing. There are still color distinctions but they are not as distinct.
Even though this has changed a lot in the last 50 years, there are still jobs that tend to be gendered. It is more likely for women to have jobs such as an elementary school teacher, nurse, or human services, whereas men are more likely doctors, lawyers, professors, or CEO’s. We still have yet to have a female President or Vice President. Even with the jobs we want or have, gender plays a part in whether or not we fit into that role properly by societal standards.
I realize that there is no way that gender will be completely gone from our society, as it is so ingrained within us that it is hard to even think it is not just innate within us. But I do think it is really important for us to understand that gender is only what we make of it. What we have outlined for gender is only there because we decided it to be there. There is no reason why boys should be assigned the color blue and girls pink, it just happened that way. It is important to not just take things at face value but to question and analyze them.
Feminist Quote of the Week: The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, “It’s a girl.” ~Shirley Chisholm
Photo Credit: Male and Female Sign