Premium Essay

Sex and Gender

In: Social Issues

Submitted By greamreaper
Words 600
Pages 3
Most parents randomly buy toys for children without considering the influence these toys have on the behavior of their children. Many studies do indicate that parents treat daughters and sons differently in areas specifically related to gender expectations: giving them different toys (Lips 404). Children learn through the process of observation and imitation; hence, the children are exposed to the need of observing the environment in their daily lives. Most parents limit the type of toys their children play which is based on the sex of the child. Girls and boys are provided with toys that showcase the duties of their sex in the society. The following article seeks to show how toys are used to explain sex roles in the society by examining the Social Learning theory. The kind of toy a parent decides to buy for a child signals a particular message to their children. The kind of information children acquire from these toys affects their behavior in a particular way. For example, when a mother buys a doll for her daughter, she expects her to take good care of the doll. A child is expected to clean and nurture the doll as if it were a physical child. A girl attends to the doll as a mother would take care of the baby. The doll will be cleaned in a similar way the child observed her mother take care of another baby. A girl has already been prepared to become a future mother since the toys grant her the duty of being a mother (Lecture May 24, 2014). Children’s toys have also been manufactured on the basis of the roles ascribed to each sex in the society. The boys’ toys are designed in a way which shows the duties of men in the society. Boys’ toys are related to the aggressive and warring nature of men such as wrestlers and soldiers. The duty of security is assigned to men in the society and boys exposed to such kind of toys grow up acknowledging the role of

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