User:Gendernonconformity

Childhood Gender Nonconformity
Childhood Gender Nonconformity When children do not act out the appropriate roles proscribed to their gender, they are seen as gender nonconformist. Gender, being a social construction, is not something that one “is” but rather, it is something that one “does”. “Doing” gender then requires children to learn what society has labeled for them as appropriate behaviors based upon their biological sex. When children fail to learn, or enact, these roles, and instead take on the behaviors and roles of the opposite gender, they become gender deviants.

Examples of Deviant Behaviors An example of gender nonconformity is when a little girl prefers to play with toys that are perceived to be masculine, or when little boys are too emotional or prefer to play with “girls' toys” like a Barbie they are seen as crossing the boundaries of what is socially accepted. However, studies show that girls have far more leeway and can teeter between genders for a longer period of time, perhaps not causing any alarm until their teenage years. While boys, on the other hand, have no such privilege granted to them but are more restricted earlier on. Furthermore, girls are often also praised for widening their interests to include things like sports and other types of behaviors and toys that are often seen as belonging to boys. Yet when boys also extend their interests to things that are beyond the scope of what is generally considered to be masculine, aside from a small amount of domestic skills such as cooking or cleaning, they are chastised and quickly turned in the opposite direction. , In one study,  “No Way My Boys Are Going To Be Like That!”: Parents’ Responses To Gender Nonconformity, author Emily Kane finds that parents of pre-school children play an influential role in recreating gender standards in their children.

The Social Construction of Gender
Studies have shown that gender is a social construction and not something that is innate. There are many factors that contribute to the socialization of children. Children learn what behaviors are expected of them through movies, books, and the more prominent role of parents. Parents play a significant role in shaping and influencing the gender of their children. An example of how subtly this can happen is seen through an analysis done by Michael Messner. He observes one boy soccer team and one girl soccer team interact with each other. Both teams were divided by gender and acted out typical gender roles, but both teams were playing the game in the same manner and were incurring injuries equally and no one seemed to point out these similarities between the gender but instead, the simple act of drawing attention to how “different” they are served to reinforce the gender roles that children are forced into. Where a parent puts their focus, regardless of how intentional or unintentional, will indelibly affect their child’s perspective about their gender and just what sorts of behaviors and actions their gender is supposed to adopt.

Because gender is socially constructed it is important that parents realize the role that they play in shaping their children’s identity. Additionally, what can be seen throughout research is the connection that people make by labeling men, or boys, whose actions are considered to be “too feminine” as being gay or as having a potential to become gay. Author Karin A. Martin, in her article, Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children, talks specifically about the role that a mother plays in perpetuating what she calls Heteronormativity which is simply the normalization of heterosexuality over homosexuality. Furthermore, she shows that mothers are simultaneously constrained by their own gender while they also recreate and reinforce appropriate gender roles for their children. She writes, “Mothers reproduce heternormativity in and for their children. It is important to note, however, that mothers are constituted by the very heteronormative context that they then reconstruct for their children. As transmitters of the cultural norms about heterosexuality, mothers are simultaneously constrained by what it means to be a good mother and the many dimensions on which mothers are judged by their mothering” It appears that a mother is faced with a choice that leaves either her or her child left with the social consequences of not following their socially proscribed roles. If she lets her boy child, for example, embrace “feminine” practices, she risks being called a bad mother for not appropriately gendering her child. If she narrowly abides by and enforces typically held, stereotypical gender roles for her boy child, such as not allowing him to partake of “feminine” games or attire or simply telling him to control his emotions, she risks her child’s self expression and continues the narrow gender roles for fear of her child being perceived as gay or weak.

Gender Nonconformity and Its Connection to Homosexuality The link between homosexuality and gender deviance in children, especially in boys, is a topic that there is much research about. As a boy’s behaviors and attire “often implicate their sexuality” The controversy over homosexuality is vast and the research as to what causes it, whether it is normal or right, biological or socially caused is increasing. Not specifically looking at homosexuality but at the role that parents play in gender nonconformity in their children, it becomes clear that the various ways that parents reinforce and socialize their children in typical gender roles significantly impacts a child’s life and their perception of the world around them and the roles they are to embrace and reject.

A Gender Neutral Approach
Many studies have been done that discuss the importance and impact of using a more gender neutral approach to child rearing. Karin Martin, author of the article, ''William Wants a Doll. Can He Have One? Feminists, Child Care Advisors, and Gender-Neutral Child Rearing'' talks about the way that First-wave feminism significantly changed the way that people thought about gender socialization. In this article she concludes that many gender neutral approaches were adopted during this time, but that the fear that such gender neutral practices would cause or could cause homosexuality began to again limit what sorts of gender ideas that people held. She states, "Children do not necessarily absorb what their mothers tell them without alteration, resistance, and integration with other cultural ideas and knowledge. Socialization is, in these regards, a two way process; children’s questions, actions, and reactions all shape what parents say and do with children” Additional studies have been done, and are still being done, to look at the extent that gender neutral upbringings or how a less restrictive display of gender roles allotted to children impact them in the long run.

Within many of these studies, it seems apparent that the goal should be to break down the harsh boundaries of gender and to “work with children to make the current male and female dualism irrelevant for moments in their lives.” McNaugton’s book, Rethinking Gender in Early Childhood Education, offers guidance to teachers who are implementing a gender neutral environment for their children. These are guidelines that parents too could benefit from using. Having an open dialogue with children about what they think and why they may feel that way is a great start. Then for example for a young boy, the curriculum would suggest that you expose him to different words and visuals that pertain to masculinity. The point of this exercise is to shift his focus from violence and aggressive masculinity which pervades our society and media to a nonviolent form of masculinity. A positive neutral representation for him to see would be a man being admired for being caring or presenting a strong man as one who is a supporter of honesty and equality. Giving boys the go ahead to embrace a different sort of masculinity allows them to practice emotional expression. "Without these expressions, boys learn to push their feelings down, which can lead to inappropriate anger, drug abuse, and alcoholism."