Gender Identity Paper
Sociologists believe that by the age of five years old, females show a preference for dolls, arts and crafts, and playing dress up while males prefer cars, blocks, tools, and outdoor play. “The environment has a direct relation to personality traits, because characteristic adaptations are always involved in expression,” (Nature over Nurture, 2000). At a young age, children who are taught that traits and activities are appropriate or inappropriate for them to perform because of their gender tend to absorb those teachings and are influenced by them later in life. For example, young girls who are raised believing boys are innately better at sports than girls, may disclaim their interest in sports and go on to believe they are not good at them without practicing them to their full potential. Both males and females have proven to be great athletes but if at a young age, a girl is told she will never be as good as a boy she may never give sports and athleticism a chance. Young children learn by observations, if a young girl witnesses her mother performing the acts of a man then she will repeat those acts and believe that is what is appropriate for her. The same goes for the male gender, if a little boy observes his father doing something that a woman is more likely to do like sewing or interior decorating then that is what the little boy will believe is expected of him upon