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After completing the assigned readings, I have realized just how much gender

socialization plays a role in society and that there is a large variation of factors that can influence

gender socialization. These factors have a massive impact on how individuals see themselves and

how they act. For example, socializing a young toddler born a male by giving him a Tonka truck

to play with might influence the gender roles he takes on when he grows up. Some of the factors

that influence gender socialization are nature-based while others are nurture-based. Nature comes

in because children and people in general are born to be social creatures. We are programmed to

have a desire for human interaction and relationships. Obviously, if we are born with this innate

desire, then biology and genes influence this; there must be something in our DNA that is

biologically and chemically created for this to be true. I personally tend to sway my opinions

toward the nurture theory over nature, so to me, nurture has an even bigger role than biological

makeup. The nurture piece comes in when it comes to society and the environments we are

exposed to. Not every individual is going to experience the same environments and grow up in

the same way, so their own personal experience is going to affect the way they view gender

within themselves and in others. It is also important to keep in mind that nature and nurture can

be bidirectional, which means they can impact one another in both directions and do not stand

alone. I still believe society plays the biggest part in gender socialization.

Gender socialization can begin before an individual is even born. I know that sounds

impossible, but an example I can think of off the top of my head is a gender reveal party. At

these parties, blue means boy, and pink means girl. Already we can see gender socialization

happening just with colors. After the child is born, gender socialization continues. By just two

years of age, children are aware of the physical differences between males and females,

understanding that they are not the same sex. Gender socialization is the major reason for
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children being able to understand these differences, especially through how a child is raised. In

her article, Melissa Hogenboom writes about an example of this when it comes to her daughter.

Her daughter gravitated towards items that were marketed for girls before she was even two

years of age. Hogenboom talks about how she attributes her daughter’s preferences to gendered

language in the early years and gendered ideas in later years. The article also talks about how

toys marketed towards boys and girls is one form of gendered language and ideas. This reminded

me of the example I talked about it in the first paragraph about the Tonka truck. A girl may be

gifted a doll or makeup while a boy may be gifted a truck or dinosaur. This will inevitably

impact gender roles. Melissa Hogenboom says these preferences are socially conditioned, which

makes sense to me. Parents are socializing children based on how they have been conditioned

while their children do the same when they become parents. The cycle never stops.

Gender socialization can also be seen in the baby X project, where an “xperiment”

follows baby X and the many barriers it faced growing up. People became increasingly curious

about X’s biological sex, and some even became angry when they did not get a direct response of

“boy” or “girl.” We can see gender socialization throughout this story. For example, when family

comes to visit X and its parents, they insisted that they know the sex and became frustrated when

they would not be told. They wanted to know what kind of toys to get the child and wanted to

base these decisions off of sex. People’s interactions with X and the family were largely based

on gender. The idea that baby X’s sex or gender would be kept secret was baffling and confusing

for many, and it impacted the way they behaved. Even Peggy and Joe, parents at the school,

insisted that X be considered “mixed up” by a medical doctor. Both of these stories taught me the

profound impact that society has on gender socialization and that both nature and nurture play a

role.