Barry 1 ® Brittany Barry a Professor Ditch, ¢ ‘ English 113A, t 27 February 2017 ( £ é } \ ‘The Society of the Feminine Story ,) - iN ‘ \ / vy Society bontrols girls by designing toys and entertainment for them that make ep © them feel they cannot ar the same roles as boys, which limits their opportunities for the \ future. According to articles, “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender” by = RQ = Judith Lorber and “No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That’: Parents’ Responses 6 ‘ \ ‘ to Children’s Gender Nonconformity” by Emily Kane, society influences gender from ¢y . f . the moment children are.born. The common idea that both authors have in the articles is h. Q = 5 that society influences gender over biology, tha society labels children’s gender, that they put them in categories Seat is is male and what is female at this controls the ecteniasinendomneniar eee roles they play in society. In the same way, society has influenced my life experience and taught me to choose my gender and controlled the types of o) Peas Thave 20 > stosen i ra . FEC Dey Li Ss . ? 0 ae WE e am v Scientfestdies have shown that chien lear the minute they are bom, 30 the “(h . “ entertainment and toys they interact with at a young age shape their gender and create y s expectations of what they can be. In this case, gender identities are shaped early on starting with newborns, According to Judith Lorber, “For the individual, gender [ constfuction starts with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitaliaBary 2 look like at birth. Then babies are dressed or adomed in a way that displays the Son because parents don’t want to be constantly asked whether their baby is a girl or aboy.” (20). Furthermore, she says, “Every society classifies people as girl and boy children, constructs similarities and differences, and assigns them to different roles and responsibilities.” (21). So, children are categorized and gender labeled before they can even talk and the majority of society seems to accept this before they are mature swe on” to make their own decision. Ara? Wh BO XW mn q Since entertainment and toys are a big part of society, children are inftuened by them right after they are born so entertainment and toys affect the choices chil throughout their lives. By the age of two, children learn which toys their gender is supposed to play with and as they get older, society expects children’s entertainment . choices to be in the same category of their gender role. For example, society expects git to wear feminine dresses and play with dolls; Society expects boys to wear masculine blue shirts and wear baseball caps, and play with cars. It seems parents continue to follow society’s expectations by dressing their babies to fit into gender roles and playing a 1, With the right gender toys, because according to Emily Kane, one of her interviewees in the article expressed, “If we go into a store... I try to shy my son away from the PowerPuff toys...I would steer him away from a pink shirt. (Asian American, middle- ray v class heterosexual father.” (93). My family also fits into society gender roles, as my \ sister and I grew up with toys expected of girls like Barbie Dolls and toy kitchens. Also, e we ee music of Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus, and watched movies like “A me & gf {Bany 3 Cinderella Story”, “High School Musical,” “Mean Girls”, “17 Again” and “The Last Song.” My brothers played with boy gender toys like Pokémon and watched TV shows “7 like Power Rangers. Also my parents were okay that my sister and I did masculine like play baseball and soccer, watch Harry Potter, go shooting, fi play-ideo games, but even those sports and entertainment activities Caton girls. For instance, I had a pink baseball glove and played a singing video Nintendo game. The way I grew up, affected my attitudes about being a female and the feminine roles I play in my life now. For example, my little brother always asks me to bake cookies, Also, before my Dad goes on his business trips he always asks me to help him choose his shirts and ties to match his suits. Doing this helped me to decide to choose a career in fashion. From my early childhood experiences, I was conforming to my gender. Controlling gender is a way that society attempts to know how many men and women work. Lorber explains, “Human society depends on a predictable division of labor, a designated allocation of scarce goods, assigned responsibility for children and others who cannot care for themselves,” (21). Society puts men in jobs that require aggressive and powerful rotes and woman in jobs that require nurturing. Society molds how each person acts and why the person wants to do a job. ‘There are consequences, positive and negative, to society designing entertainment and toys to tell girls and boys what they can do. The positive to designing entertainment and toys for genders is that toys can be role models for both genders. But a lot of females who play with toys like Barbie just don’t think they can have careers in areas like science and‘math because Barbie is a stereotype vin ots ie this “social construction”. Social construction makes boys masculine like all other boys and girls feminine like all other girls. Over fifty percent of the world population is made up of females. There are many < sucessful females today in the workplace, ws 2 YD Q ~~ Besa toys snd eprtinment are part of our lives almost as soon as we are born, these i XN foes have a big influence on who we are. Society stereotypes and fits entertainment to genders, force fitting girls toys for girls and boys toys for boys. Toys and & entertainment make girls feel they cannot do the same things as boys.\This limits the future opportunitieS For girls ana HUF our society. Fhe effect of Both Lorber’s and something that I relate to in my life asa Kine’s themes of Society labeling gender female and the effect toys and entertainment had on my life as a female. There is mot discussion today about toys being made for both genders and more of an acceptance in society for boys and girls to play with each other’s toys without any labeling.& _ was" Bary 5 Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender” by Judith Lorber Lorber, Judith. "Night to His Day?: The Social Construction of Gender." Composing Gender. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 19-30. Print. “"No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That’: Parents’ Responses to Children’s Gender Nonconformity” by Emily Kane Kane, Emily. “No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That’: Parents’ Responses to Children’s Gender Nonconformity.” Composing Gender. By Claire Renzetti. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 91-97, Web.