Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation:Week3

Blog week 3<p>

 Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation<p>

 

When we think about all the media that children see everyday going to and from school, it is amazing that they can learn to understand how to play with others on any level. Children are given mixed messages constantly by the toys (how they are advertised, and the messages they get from people around them). Books are still portrayed as gender specific in most cases, but they are getting better and if you look you can find books that have stay at home dads, grandparents as the parents, interracial families and books that children can look at and understand about the many cultural differences that surround them each day. In some ways the society is getting more open minded about gender, sexual orientation, and diversity as a whole-but we have a long way to go before it becomes second nature for both adults and children to just enjoy being alive and not worry about what they are playing with or wearing for the day. Once we all become comfortable with ourselves then we can teach children the same (I hope!). <p>

This week we had to read resources dealing with gender identity and sexual orientation and how it relates to early childhood. Does a child being called a “momma’s boy” count in the same category? My son was called this for years by the children in our neighborhood and the school that he went to in Louisiana. My husband was serving overseas and my son was the only boy in the house, but he played with toys that everyone calls boy toys and did everything a person would expect a boy to do and he did help out with chores of all kinds and play with his sister. I found nothing wrong with who he played with, what he played with or how he interacted with other children. Some would say that momma’s boy and sissy are the same but I’m not sure about that. Also at a school I worked at when I first moved to Virginia there was a little boy of three and a half that wanted to play in the dramatic play area with the dolls everyday and some of the boys would laugh at him and didn’t want to play with him outside or in any other centers, he started being really quite and I had to have a class talk about it being okay to play with all the toys no matter what they were. In my classrooms there is no such thing as boy toys or girl toys-they are just toys that everyone can play with. Growing up I remember hearing the term tom boy and thought nothing of it because I played wherever I wanted and didn’t worry about that type of thing (at least not while my parents were alive). I used to love to climb trees and hunt for bugs and even jump off the roof of our house. When children hear comments about what they play with as being girly or a baby toy it can affect their self esteem, and their social skills in regard to being able to socialize with others. This can make it difficult to go to school when the time comes <p>

References: <p>

Course Media: "Start Seeing Diversity: Gender"

 

Course Media: "Start Seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation"

 

 

Spiegel, A. (2008). Two families grapple with sons' gender identity: Psychologists take radically different approaches in therapy. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2008/05/07/90247842/two-families-grapple-with-sons-gender-preferences

 

Maglaty, J. (2011). When did girls start wearing pink. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html