Gender is a social consruction; We are socialized to think about being male or female in a specific way.

Gender is one of the social constructs we learn from an early age and we often take it for granted. Nearly everyone is born biologically with a sex (that is male or female) and a sexuality (that is a sexual attraction such as heterosexual or homosexual). Most researchers who study people such as doctors, biologists, psychologists, sociologists will say that all of the research shows that people are born with their sex and sexuality. These are part of our biological makeup, our nature. However, gender is learned. Gender is how you react to your sex and sexuality. So, for example, if I am a heterosexual male, how should I act? What colors should I like, what clothes should I wear, how should I talk, what sports should I play, is it okay for me to cry, to be rough, to like violence, to be sensitive etc...These are all our gender and they are all learned reactions. From a young age, we treat people differently based on whether they are girls or boys. Checkout this post that shows how gender is a construct and because of that, our perception of gender changes over time. All of the agents of socialization are a part of this:

family: See this essay

toys: See this post from the Society Pages, or this page from the feministgal blog, and this redundant post from the Society Pages And see this post about other products that are pointlessly gendered thus reinforcing the idea of traditonal gender traits.

peers:  under construction


media See this post.

school  See this post.  Here is a post from sociological images that shows Barbie helps to reinforce lessons learned from teachers.

Nature vs. Nurture

Is Homosexuality A Choice?

 

 

Summary: Sociologists almost always find strong evidence of nurture over nature in our studies, but there is one research area where the environment and socialization has little influence: sexual orientation. The cartoon at left highlights that while social scientists cannot find links between being gay and socialization factors like parenting styles, biological believers find strong evidence for their nature arguments that claim sexual orientation depends largely on genes, hormones, and birth order. The video also highlights how the research reflects focus almost exclusively on gay men and not lesbians.  The core message of this video is still very sociological because it outlines that since sexual orientation is neither an outcome of socialization or a lifestyle choice,  “conversion” therapy is not only ineffective, but can actually become a damaging socialization experience itself-which we have already discussed.

Another way to look at nature vs. nurture is through the Olympics.  Watch the following clip from the 2012 London Games.  (click here)