Title: Gender Socialization | Introduction to Sociology
Headings: Gender Socialization
Gender Socialization
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Content: 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. In Western contexts, gender socialization is frequently viewed as a binary, or a concept that is exclusively comprised of two parts. In other words, individuals are socialized into conceiving of their gender as either masculine (male) or feminine (female). However, some individuals do not fall into the gender binary. For example, individuals that identify as transgender have a gender identity that does not match their assigned sex. For example, they may have been assigned male at birth because they have a penis, and a gender identity that is feminine. Individuals that identify as genderqueer have a gender identity that challenges 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.