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Brittany Barry

Professor Ditch

English 113A

27 February 2017

The Society of the Feminine Story

Western society controls girls by designing toys and entertainment for them that make

them feel they cannot have the same roles as boys, which limits their opportunities for the future.

According to the articles, Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender by Judith

Lorber and No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses to Childrens

Gender Nonconformity by Emily Kane, society influences gender from the moment children are

born. The common idea that both authors have in the articles is that society influences gender

over biology, in that society labels childrens gender, that they put them in socially constructed

categories of what is male and what is female and that this controls the 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 opportunities I have chosen.

Scientific studies have shown that children learn the minute they are born, so the

entertainment and toys they interact with at a young age shape their gender and create

expectations of what they can be. In this case, parents can influence their childs choice of toys.

As Emily Kane states in her article,, No Way My Boys Are Going To Be Like That, But more

common were negative responses to items, activities, or attributes that could be considered icons

of femininity. (92). According to Judith Lorber, For the individual, gender construction starts

with assignment to a sex category on the basis of what the genitalia look like at birth. Then
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babies are dressed or adorned in a way that displays the category because parents dont want to be

constantly asked whether their baby is a girl or a boy. (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 enough to make their own decision. Its

almost like a pre-arranged marriage, when you dont get to have a choice of being labeled or not,

its done for you.

Since entertainment and toys are a big part of society, children are influenced by them

right after they are born so entertainment and toys affect the choices children make throughout

their lives. At an early age children are guided by their parents on which toys their gender is

supposed to play with. Emily Kane explains in her article, No Way My Boys Are Going to Be

Like That, Some mothers reported allowing domestic toys but with less enthusiasm, such as a

white, low-incomme, hererosexual mother who said regarding her three-year old son.(92). As

children get older, society expects childrens entertainment choices to be in the same category of

their gender role. For example, society expects girls 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 societys expectations by dressing their babies to fit into gender

roles and playing 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-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, we listened to the music

of Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus, and watched movies like A Cinderella Story, High School

Musical, Mean Girls, 17 Again and The Last Song. My brothers played with boy gender

toys like Pokmon and watched TV shows like Power Rangers. Also my parents were okay that
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my sister and I did masculine things like play baseball and soccer, watch Harry Potter, go

shooting, fishing and play video games, but even those sports and entertainment activities were

geared for 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 roles 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 dont think they can have careers in areas like science and math because Barbie is

a stereotype girl. Lorber and others call 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 successful females today in the

workplace.

Because toys and entertainment are part of our lives almost as soon as we are born, these

products 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 can have an impact and possibly limit the

future opportunities for girls and could also hurt our society, because young girls could get stuck
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in the belief there is only one way to be in life. The effect of both Lorbers and Kanes themes of

Society labeling gender is something that I relate to in my life as a female and the effect toys and

entertainment had on my life as a female. There is more discussion today about toys being made

for both genders and more of an acceptance for boys and girls to play with each others toys

without any labeling. This is important in society today because when you can accept gender

equality beginning at an early age with children and their toys it can help to broaden societys

viewpoint and help to lessen the result of labeling genders.

Cite Page

Kane, Emily. No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses to Childrens

Gender Nonconformity. Composing Gender. By Claire Renzetti. Boston: Bedford/St.

Martin's, 2014. 91-97. Print.

Lorber, Judith. Night to His Day?: The Social Construction of Gender. Composing Gender.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 19-30. Print.