<span>Beforehand,
men were expected to go to work and provide for the family that way, while the
wife was to provide for the family at home. Women were expected to handle the
emotion and have mental strength and men were supposed to have physical
strength and show no emotion. Men and women were supposed to fill the roles
that society thought were to be filled by their specific gender</span>
One of the first questions people ask of expectant parents is
the sex of the child. This is the beginning of a social categorization process
that continues throughout life. Preparations for the birth often take the
infant’s sex into consideration (painting the room blue if the child is a boy,
pink for a girl). Today it is largely believed that most gender differences are
attributed to differences in socialization, rather than genetic and biological
factors.
Gender
stereotypes can be a result of gender socialization. Girls and boys are
expected to act in certain ways, and these ways are socialized from birth by
many parents (and society). For example, girls are expected to be clean and
quiet, while boys are messy and loud. As children get older, gender stereotypes
become more apparent in styles of dress and choice of leisure activities. Boys
and girls who do not conform to gender stereotypes are usually ostracized by
same-age peers for being different. This can lead to negative effects, such as
lower self-esteem.
Individuals
are socialized into conceiving of their gender as either masculine (male) or
feminine (female). Identities are therefore normatively constructed along this
single parameter. However, some individuals do not feel that they fall into the
gender binary and they choose to question or challenge the male-masculine /
female-feminine binary. For example, individuals that identify as transgender
feel that their gender identity does not match their biological sex.
Individuals that identify as genderqueer challenge classifications of masculine
and feminine, and may identify as somewhere other than male and female, in
between male and female, a combination of male and female, or a third (or
forth, or fifth, etc.) gender altogether. These identities demonstrate the
fluidity of gender, which is so frequently thought to be biological and
immutable. Gender fluidity also shows how gender norms are learned and either
accepted or rejected by the socialized individual. Basically in today’s society
gender and sex are different things. Sex is the body you were born in and
gender is which stereotype you identify as.