Reflection Of The Social Norms Of Our Society

Through looking at cards congratulating the arrival of a baby, I have noticed the stereotypes that they convey and how they reflect the social norms of our society. They demonstrate society’s division of gender roles and how these differences are communicated. Based on the sex of an infant, the process of gendering the baby begins immediately often before the baby is even born, simply by two words: girl or boy. They generalize what a baby girl should be verse what a baby boy should be. I noticed that nearly every card directed for a baby girl was pink and even the font varied from the cards for boys. The color pink is often associated with girls because it is seen as softer, more delicate, and prettier which reflects what women should be. The girl's cards had the tendency to have a cursive font and used words like sweet or princess.

Society expects girls are expected to be elegant, sensitive, emotional, and nurturing. Whereas society deems blue to be more suitable for boys because it is viewed as stronger color. People expect boys to be My favorite representation of this was in a card that said, “ baby boys are morning chirpers, mealtime slurpers, big-time burpees, squirty pee-ers, super poopers, sleepy off their schedule troopers!” because it shows that boys aren’t held to the same standards that girls are. All of the descriptions above would not be considered ladylike, and these actions would be looked down upon and discouraged if they were done by a girl. This is a perfect example of gender roles, which are set into place by society and determined before the baby is even born.

These gender roles determine what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. These gender roles that society has created are how we are supposed to think, act, speak, and carry ourselves. Women are typically supposed to be feminine and courteous. Whereas men are supposed to be brave, emotionless, and strong. Furthermore, the socially produced meaning of gender shapes things like the kinds of toys and styles and colors of clothes we give to them and even affects the way we speak to babies and what we tell them about themselves. I find it frustrating that girls have the expectation to be ladylike and that society is enforcing this inequality. I also find it to be limiting that there is a divide in the toys that are given to babies based on their gender.

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This is a display of symbolic interactionism in relation to gender, that society builds these gender roles and that our social structure reinforces them. So even by having cards members of society learn these gender roles which then in turn results in inequality. What I noticed to be missing throughout these cards, was there was not much racial variation. In cards of the cards that had photographs on them, every baby was white except for one. Furthermore, again all except one supported the classic American family which included a married mother and a father. However, one card was directed at congratulating the new dads. This goes to show that in our society, it's still almost taboo for a homosexual couple to have a child.

Although I do feel that our society has become less traditional and more accepting, our society is still not completely accepting of those who differ from you. By acknowledging this display of gender roles in something very simple and common such as cards reveals just how deeply embedded they are in our society. We are socialized from the start of our lives to distinguish what sets a man apart from a woman and the behavioral norms that are associated with each gender. I hope that through the awareness of these stereotypes, we as a society can continue to break or work towards breaking this divide.

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