From our first day in this world we are shown the gender binary. We are placed in a gender defining color and labeled "boy" or "girl." In this society that is filled with gender stereotypes, children often gravitate toward those stereotypes that fit their biological sex. They learn very early on what it means to be a boy or a girl. Attitudes and behaviors about gender are formed in the home then reinforced by peers, social experiences and media. By the young age of three, children have become aware of boy activities versus girl activities, interests and occupations. We see children gravitate towards peers of the same sex and activities identified with that sex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
In this campaign ad, we first see teenage girls who have spent years subject to gender defining roles and boys of all ages describe what it means to do things "like a girl." Then we see younger girls describe what it means to do those exact same things "like a girl." The difference between the portrayals showed me how gender roles and what it means to identify as a specific gender are socially constructed and LEARNED. They are learned.
What it means to be a girl or to be a boy in our society is largely based on constructed concepts that continue to be passed along through natural learning processes. If you don't fit the mold of one of the gender binaries, how can people identify your gender? Why do we feel the need to immediately label someone based on their gender? A better question is, why do we feel the need to immediately label someone's gender based on how well they fit our constructs of either gender?
For trans people, these social constructs are what make it difficult for people to label them based on their gender. When people are not able to see how someone fits into our society's box of what is deemed "normal," it makes them uncomfortable. This discomfort results in unaccepting views and policies.
Basically, we learn from a young age what it means to be a boy or to be a girl. We learn to be narrow minded by creating a gender binary. We learn how to label people right off the bat and that makes it difficult to understand that gender is not what we are biologically born with, it is how we feel we fit into this society. Gender roles and gender specific qualities are not inborn.
Check out this blog for more information on constructed gender roles and how are society is based on them:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/applied_social_psychology/2011/10/the-social-construction-of-gender.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
In this campaign ad, we first see teenage girls who have spent years subject to gender defining roles and boys of all ages describe what it means to do things "like a girl." Then we see younger girls describe what it means to do those exact same things "like a girl." The difference between the portrayals showed me how gender roles and what it means to identify as a specific gender are socially constructed and LEARNED. They are learned.
What it means to be a girl or to be a boy in our society is largely based on constructed concepts that continue to be passed along through natural learning processes. If you don't fit the mold of one of the gender binaries, how can people identify your gender? Why do we feel the need to immediately label someone based on their gender? A better question is, why do we feel the need to immediately label someone's gender based on how well they fit our constructs of either gender?
For trans people, these social constructs are what make it difficult for people to label them based on their gender. When people are not able to see how someone fits into our society's box of what is deemed "normal," it makes them uncomfortable. This discomfort results in unaccepting views and policies.
Basically, we learn from a young age what it means to be a boy or to be a girl. We learn to be narrow minded by creating a gender binary. We learn how to label people right off the bat and that makes it difficult to understand that gender is not what we are biologically born with, it is how we feel we fit into this society. Gender roles and gender specific qualities are not inborn.
Check out this blog for more information on constructed gender roles and how are society is based on them:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/applied_social_psychology/2011/10/the-social-construction-of-gender.html
