Gender Socialization Essay

Submitted By kelliejeanstansberry
Words: 412
Pages: 2

Families influence our gender expectations. They make sure their kids dress a certain way and the kids do not get to choose their own clothing that is not gender based. The clothing the families choose for their kids reflects their gender identity.
Families who are in poverty cannot afford to go to stores such as gap and justice that we compared for our project. These families are underprivileged and Johnson’s definition of privilege is white, heterosexual, middle/ upper class and non-disabled. Families with disabled children may have trouble shopping for them at these clothing stores because they are not structured for underprivileged families. Single mothers for example may not be able to afford the pricey children’s clothing at stores such as children’s gap, crazy 8, and justice.
An example of gender socialization was the skimpy colorful girls’ clothing at Justice. Cut off shirts, skimpy bathing suits, short shorts and skirts are showing girls that they should show off as much skin as they can at extremely young ages. In the Disch book there was an article called “The Social Construction of Gender” by Judith Lorber and this talked about how families dress their children in gender specific clothing and colors so that they do not have to be asked whether their child is a boy or a girl. It is important in our society to mark us as a boy or a girl to avoid confusion. In an example in the book a young boy in a stroller was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and dark blue pants with a baseball cap and this child was mistaken by