Gender Stereotypes and Toys Essay -- Gender Roles in Society

Often when a play off becomes pregnant and finds out the sex of the infant, stereotypes begin to form. If the child is distaff, their room testament often be painted pink with cutesy borders. The crib will rescue pink blankets with ruffles on them. The mollycoddle girl will be presented with squeezable toys and cute stuffed animals, as well as perhaps a bollix doll or two. At the baby shower, the mother will typically be presented with pink and purple clothing, the colors of choice for a fe virile child. When the baby finally comes along, she will typically be treated as a gentle princess. When it comes to girls, adults are often more careful, as if the baby girl will break. On the other hand, if the couple is having a male child, the room will be painted blue or one thousand with borders usually depicting superheroes or sports oriented paraphernalia. Though the boy whitethorn slang stuffed animals, they are typically of a more ferocious reputation than the stuffed animals a girl might receive. The blankets are usually blue or another color associated with little boys. Perhaps one of the boys first gifts will be a tiny little backstops mitt, or something else sports related. At the baby shower, the mother will receive blue and green clothes. Family and friends are more likely to take a little boy to a sporting event than their female counterpart. Clearly, from the split second a child is brought into this world, they are pushed toward a certain stereotype. Now, the real enquiry is Are boys naturally more aggressive due to higher testosterone levels, or is it more culturally defined, by the way we treat our children and the gifts we bestow upon them? As mentioned in Human Development A Lifespan View, Children dont live in a gender-neutral world for long. Althou... ... boys, who away from the battle regulate of their friends and brothers turn out to be surprisingly cuddly and clingy? (Blum, 238)Not all(prenominal) male or female is goi ng to fit the mold, if there in reality even is one.The stereotypes stated above created by society and parents are well-nigh often useless in truly predicting a childs choice of play and toys. Kids are going to gravitate toward what they enjoy. Even the creator Deborah Blum states I dont count in pastels, myself. I think jungle-green, blood-red. (Blum, 236) Stereotypes give us something to group people by, but we cannot always say a person by them.Works CitedBlum, Deborah. The Gender Blur Where Does biota End and Society Take Over? Signs of Life in the ground forces Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 6th Edition. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 573-580. Print.