Growing Up Gendered: Think back to your childhood and fill in the following: “When I was a child or teenager, I was taught that a proper young man or women should______.” Think about the following topics:  Etiquette  Physical appearance and hygiene  Sex and Dating  Emotions and affection

Lecture Four Gender Socialization: Learning Masculinity and Femininity

Socialization Gender Socialization: the lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire a gendered self identity and the rules, roles, and social relationships of the social world Why is it important?  How society reproduces itself Through socialization people learn:  Language, cognitive skills  Roles  Self identity  Values, beliefs, ideology

Agents of Socialization Family  Roles, emotion, sexuality Education  Hidden Curriculum: unstated lessons that we learn at school from peers and teachers Work  Clerical work vs. managerial work Mass Media  Vast cultural space in our society

Toys and Gender Socialization Toys and Play  Children separate themselves into same-sex groups for play  Children’s toys are gender neutral until they reach the age in which they are likely to enter school  Toys foster specific traits and abilities Girls -Creativity, nurturing, attractivenes Boys – exploration, construction, competition

Incredible Hulk VS. Barbie’s Glam Vacation House

Masculinity in Children’s Films MCt35oFY&feature=related

What would you do if your child was gender variant? Knowing that gender-variant adolescents are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than other teens, would you choose to provide your child with hormone treatments that delay physical maturity?  Why or why not? Explain How do you think your choice will affect your child’s adult life?

Mass Media and Socialization There are many agents of socialization in our society today –family, school, peer groups – but one of the most powerful socializing agents today is the mass media We live in an “advertising environment”  Adults see an average of 2000 advertisements a day  Children see an average of 40,000 commercials a year  We use 6.5 hours of mass media a day

Goffman: Gender Advertisements Presentations of social interaction are equally important as the actual events in studying society Symbolic representations of behavior  Functional ranking  Relative size  Ritualization of subordination  The Feminine Touch

Magazine Ads and Gender

What is the focus?

TV Ads and Gender Coors “Wingman”  Burger King “Manthem” 

“Killing Us Softly” 1. Jean Kilbourne comments that the impossible, ideal image presented by advertisers "wouldn’t matter so much if it didn’t connect with the core belief of American culture that such transformation is possible; that we can look like this if we just try hard enough, buy the right products. If we’re not beautiful, or thin, or rich, or successful, it’s because we’re just not trying hard enough."

As you watch the film consider the following questions… How does Kilbourne say that advertising and violence against women are linked? Do you feel that the media reflects or creates the ideal image of beauty in our society or both? Why? Why do you think gender & sexuality play such as significant role in modern advertising?