Between baby showers, birthdays, holidays and more, buying toys or clothing items for children can be fun and overwhelming. Make an argument for or against buying gender specific toys, clothing etc.,

Between baby showers, birthdays, holidays and more, buying toys or clothing items for children can be fun and overwhelming. Make an argument for or against buying gender specific toys, clothing etc.,
Summary CHILDREN’S KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEFS ABOUT GENDER• Children are able to distinguish females and males as early as 3–4 months of age. • By age 2 or 3, they can label their own gender and show some awareness of gender-typical objects, activities, and occupations. • Awareness of gender stereotypes for person- ality traits emerges later in the preschool years. • Stereotypes become more flexible after age 7. GENDER-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS • Preschool girls and boys are similar in their motor skills. • Differences favoring boys become more pro- nounced in adolescence as a result of both environmental and biological factors. • Participation in sports is associated with posi- tive traits in females. Their participation has soared since the passage of Title IX. • By age 3, gender differences in toy choices and activities are well established. • Gender segregation, the preference for same-gender children, emerges by age 3 and increases during childhood. INFLUENCES ON GENDER DEVELOPMENT • Both parents, but fathers more than mothers, encourage gender-typical toys, play activities, and chore assignments for their children. • Parents talk more to their daughters, give them less autonomy, and encourage their pro- social behaviors. • Maternal employment is associated with less stereotyped gender-related concepts and pref- erences in sons and daughters. • Older siblings influence the gender develop- ment of younger siblings. • Boys receive more attention from teachers than girls do. They are more likely to be called on, praised, and criticized constructively. • Girls are also shortchanged in school textbooks. • Children exert strong pressures on each other to engage in gender-typical behavior. • Boys are viewed more negatively than girls when they engage in cross-gender activity. • Children who are heavy television viewers are more aware of gender stereotypes. • Exposure to characters who show nontraditional behaviors reduces children’s gender stereotypes. PUBERTY • During puberty, sexual organs mature and secondary sex characteristics appear. • Menarche is a major event of puberty. • Girls who mature early tend to adjust less eas- ily than late-maturing girls. PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ADOLESCENCE • Adolescent girls and boys show similar pat- terns of identity development, focusing on both occupational choices and interpersonal relationships. • Girls begin to show lower self-esteem than boys in early adolescence, and the gender gap widens during adolescence. Explanations include girls’ dissatisfaction with their physical appearance, shortchanging of girls in school, and girls’ “losing their voice.” Black girls have higher self-esteem than other girls. • Early adolescents show an increasing diver- gence in gender-related behaviors and atti – tudes, known as gender intensification. • Adolescent girls, compared to boys, have a more negative body image and are more likely to diet. Cultural pressures for slimness are partly responsible. Chapter 4 Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence Websites Sports Empowering Women in Sports http://www.feminist.org/sportshttp://www.girlpower.gov http://www.girlsinc.org/ http://www.nedic.ca/ If You Want to Learn More Bailey, J. (2016). Sex, puberty, and all that stuff: A guide to growing up. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Publishers. Belgrave, F.Z. (2011). African-American girls: Reframing per- ceptions and changing experiences. New York: Springer. Bryan, J. (2012). From the dress-up corner to the senior prom: Navigating gender and sexual diversity. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Garcia, L. (2012). Respect yourself, protect yourself: Latina girls and sexual identity. New York: New York University Press. Greene, S. (2015). The psychological development of girls and women (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Greenspan, L. & Deardorff, J. (2014). The new puberty: How to navigate early development in today’s girls. Emmaus, PA: Rodale. Grogan, S. (2017). Body image: Body dissatisfaction in men, women and children. New York: Routledge. Kilpatrick, H. & Joiner, W. (2012). The drama years: Real girls talk about surviving middle school—bullies, brands, body image, and more. New York: Free Press. MacDonald, F. (2016). Childhood and tween girl culture. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Morris, M.W. (2016). Pushout: The criminalization of Black girls in school. New York: The New Press. Richardson, N. & Locks, A. (2014). Body studies: The basics. New York: Routledge. Wainwright, P.A. (2015). Growing courageous girls: How to raise authentic, strong, and savvy girls in today’s mixed-up culture. Hanover, PA: Chaucer Press. Wardy, M.A. & Newsom, S.S. (2014). Redefining girly: How parents can fight the stereotyping and sexualizing of girlhood from birth to tween. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. Zurbriggen, E.L. & Roberts, T.-A. (Eds.). (2013). The sexualization of girls and girlhood: Causes, consequences, and resistance. New York: Oxford University Press.