Mrs. Hamilton

Gender and Develop custodyt Gender-role development is one of the most important areas of human development. The moment a women maintains out she is pregnant she is often anxious to find out the sex of her child. The definitions of the terms sex and sex need to be understood. The term sex denotes the actual physical makeup of individuals that define them as masculine or female. Sex is determined by genetic makeup, internal reproductive organs, the organization of the brain, and external genitalia.The behavior of individuals as males or females, the types of roles they assume, and their personality characteristics, whitethorn be just as important as a persons biological framework. In order to differentiate between biological features one may take into experimental condition behaviors and social roles to establish grammatical gender. Sex and gender are often intertwined, and certain social expectations can be attributed to ones biological sex. The sex of a newborn mickles the a genda for a whole array of developmental experiences that will influence the person throughout his or her life.Overall, the sex differences between boys and girls in the graduation y ear of life are minimal. Boys may be a bit more active or fussier and girls more physically mature and less given to physical problems, but that may be the extent of the significant differences. Mothers cast off a tendency to ignore more of their sons emotional outbursts in comparison to their daughters outbursts. Boys may be rough-housed or played with in a more aggressive manor as well. This goes in line with stereotyping males as more hardy or tough and girls as gentle and soft. A parent can influence their child into these gender roles by the way they discipline.They may be harder on a boy than a girl for the exact same behavior. Children see what their parents do. Children learn when they try to imitate their parents (Putnam, Myers-Walis Love, p. 1). For example, a boy may grow up beholding hi s father fix things around the house and his mother be the one who always cooks dinner. Parents may also assign specific chores to the children according to sex, thus reinforcing gender roles in their development. Another way a parent influences gender development is by what they say to their children. Making comments nearly girls do this or boys do that supports the gender stereotypes.Gender roles development is crucial around ages 2-6 years when children are becoming aware of their gender, where play styles and behaviors begin to crystallize around that core appoint of I am a girl or I am a boy. Typically males have been pattern to be more aggressive than males however, in a take up reported by the American Psychological Association, Inc. , reveals our interpretation of these results emphasizes that aggression sex difference are a function of perceived consequences of aggression that are versed as aspects of gender roles and other social roles (Eagly Steffen, 1986). How a p arent teaches the child and role models aggression, play, chores, and toys may have more of a factor of gender roles than being biologically male or female. The areas of gender differences include brain development where on that point are fewer connections between hemispheres, right brain reliance on space/movement, single focus, sexual response, and emotional response. males hear less at higher decibels then females and tend to hear better in one ear than the other.Testosterone levels are different as well including a correlation between the amount of testosterone and higher energy and aggression, sex drive, and higher amounts throughout the teenaged years. Male babies, on average, are born slightly bulkyer and heavier than female babies. Newborn girls, on the other hand, have slightly more mature ske permitons and are a bit more responsive to touch (Craig Dunn, 2010, p. 188). By age 2 ? , most children can readily distinguish between male and female, and accurately resolve th e question of whether they are a boy or a girl. Gender-role stereotypes are fixed ideas about appropriate male and female behavior (Craig Dunn, 2010, p. 189). Distinguishing between feminine and masculine appears to be shared in almost every culture, although cultures may differ in their definitions of what masculinity and femininity entail. Childrens concepts of gender depend in disassociate on the childs cognitive development. A 3-year-old boy might put on a dress and now believe he has turned into a girl, whereas a 5-year-old boy now may understand that his sex is not going to change, which is referred to as gender constancy (Craig Dunn, 2010, p. 89). Developing gender identity is partly a result of models and rewards. Again, what a child sees and hears growing up about male and female appropriateness will shape their gender personality and roles for the future. In William Pollacks intelligence Real Boys, he dialog about boys in America being in crisis and teen-aged girls lo sing their voice, mostly as a result of societys stereotypes about girls and boys. Pollack talks about boys and men wearing masks of masculinity to hide their true inner feelings.Boys are being taught, at a young age, to be tough, act wish a man, and if you display feelings you are considered weak or other assorted names given to men who show vulnerability. These stereotypes are limiting and are hinder the development of children. As a society, we push boys into grown-up roles faster than their female counterparts. Moms and dads on the whole begin pushing their boys away by less hugs and kisses at an introductory age than girls (Pollack, 1999). In a study done on drawings of grade-school aged children, there were vast differences in the subject matter the participants drew.Boys drawings contained a profusion of violence, of villainy, and of vehicles girls drawings were in full of benign animals, bugs and flowers. In the drawings, boys seem more influenced at this age by the medi a in drawings of superheroes, whereas the girls depicted more domestic-type scenes (McClure-Vollrath, 2006). During the feminist movement, there was a theme that men were the problem and women were the oppressed. By characterizing gender this way, development can fail to address effectively the issues of equity and empowerment that are crucial in bringing about positive change.Gender biass and roles are ultimately power relations (Cornwall, 1997, p. 8). Through the feminist movement, many tidy sum changed their ways of thinking surrounding men and women, but there is still room for re-thinking when it comes to boys. Boys get mixed messages, to be manly but empathetic, cool but open, strong yet vulnerable. Society has come a long way in liberating girls and women from the gender straightjacket. There is still room for improvement to break down the roles our boys are forced into by letting them own their feelings and communication with them in a way that allows them to express the ir fears and distress.Gender identity normally develops in children by about age 3, when they most often are able to identify themselves as boys or girls. People with gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria can remember as early as age 5 as having feelings of being born in the wrong body or wanting to be the opposite of their biological bodies reveal. Children who deviate from the socially prescribed behavioural norms for boy or girl children are quickly pushed back in line by parental figures. Behaviors, mannerisms, and play that appears to be gender nonconforming to a parent may feel perfectly normal to the child (Mallon DeCrescenzo, 2006). Western society continues to reward parents for conforming their children into their gender roles by buying Barbies for girls and dump trucks for boys, flat if they have asked for something different. Sexual orientation is different from, and not determined by, ones gender identity. In most cases, the onset of gender identity disorder can be traced back to childhood. In an interview with a 46-year-old male who struggled with gender dysphoria all of his life, he reports as early as 5-years-old he was dressing up in womens clothing and wished he did not have a penis.After years of therapy and insight into his disorder, he has been able to attribute his confusion to some things that were said in his lieu at an early age. He remembers his mother saying that she was convinced when he was in her womb that he was a girl, and she would often tell him that he should have been a girl. He remembers people telling him how pretty he was and that he would have made a beautiful girl. All of these things contributed to his confusion about his gender at a very young age. He never felt attached to his mother, and later he would find out that his mother would just let him lie in his crib and cry as an infant.He reported that his mother had his 1-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister to look after, and she was too busy to take care o f a fussy baby. He said he spent most of his life trying to establish masculinity as society and family would see it, so that null would know the terror and confusion he lived with on a daily basis. Eventually, he would decide that his only way out would be suicide, he thought then the pain would finally end. God did not allow him to take his life and instead he found his value in Christ and was set free from his pain and found acceptance of who he was in Christ.He started going to therapy and completely turning his life around, living as a man, and finally decision gender acceptance rather than dysphoria (Robbins, 2011). Roles of home environment, peers, and teachers in the acquisition of gender difference in behavior and attitudes play a role in gender socialization (Lau, 1996). Gender role socialization according to a study done cross-culturally found that it could be narrowly defined by the type of sex-typed behaviors such(prenominal) as play activities and toys.In summary, gen der identity is a learned behavior that starts at a very young age and can hinder or enhance a childs development. Gender plays a role in how a person defines themselves and grows as a person depending on their safety and security in being male or female and what that means to them and what they are taught at a young age. Bottom line is that men and women are different, and as a society and as parents being a boy or girl does not meet we have to fit into a certain box, as people are unique in of themselves, and that is what we can enhance and nurture to develop.