Gender Expression and Development

Gender Expression and Development

Contemporary media plays a vital role in influencing children’s perceptions of the genders’ roles and behaviors. Analyzing various media sources, from videos to cartoons, comic books, and movies, displays the commonalities and characteristics that send indirect messages on gender to the young audience. Furthermore, studies within the scientific domain aim at the situational context of the picture put up by the media and the effect of the picture on various domains, including emotional expression, social expectations, personality traits, and physiological influences. Gender stereotypes of males as more active, men are seen as dominant, aggressive, and physically strong, while females are often presented as soft, emotional, and depending on males. Such depictions are helpful in the continuation of gender roles and could impact the child’s perception of the correct behaviors, whether it is for boys or girls (Perry et al., 2019). Thus, boys get the lesson of not exposing their weaknesses and getting angry, while girls prefer to stress looks and do caring roles.

The role of gender in media is what sends subliminal messages to children early in their lives as to the normalized behavior in society. The message contained within these texts prevents children from understanding that gender is diverse and only maintains inequality by reinforcing the concepts of gender as binary (Thahirah & Sobur, 2024). For example, boys might be taught that any display of emotions other than aggression is unacceptable, while girls can be pressured into focusing on their outward appearance over other personality traits.

While biological gender differences do exist, scientific studies emphasize the ratio of influence from societal expectations and cultural norms rather than innate characteristics on gender development. Gender discrepancies in cognitive capabilities, social positions, self-respect, and self-worth are formed by environmental agents, not being a result of inherent biological features (Masi et al., 2021). This implies that social intervention and change in media images play a role in countering the effect of gender stereotypes on children’s development.

Gender-specific media messages, as well as observational learning, contribute to the understanding of the socio-cultural aspects of emotional expression. Boys might be under pressure to restrict themselves from being vulnerable and display aggression, while girls are supposed to be caring and emotionally expressive (Ward & Grower, 2020). These biases restrict individual liberation and perpetuate the status quo gender divisions, which lead to gender bias.

Gender-specific and emotional expressions in caregiving are social norms that prescribe the kind of role one should play. Boys are often encouraged to be involved in rough plays, whereas girls are taught to be compassionate and sympathetic. These stereotypes put a limitation on personal expression, and, in that respect, they only lead to gender inequality by preserving traditional gender roles (Yang & Ryu, 2021).

Cultural norms may differ from one geographical area to another or in different cultures. These cultural norms regulate the expectations and expressions of people according to their gender. Strongly defined gender roles may characterize some cultures; others will view them as more flexible, while others define masculinity and femininity more elaborately (Thompson et al., 2020). The cultural difference underscores the significance of taking into consideration the context when it comes to the examination of gender development and expression.

Although personality traits also have a say in that, they impact how people deal with their emotions. Male and female roles in modern society differ a lot in many ways. Assertiveness may be preferred among males, while empathy is an essential quality for women (Cirillo et al., 2020). However, the quality of these traits is not entirely related to gender and might vary from one individual to another, which puts into doubt the notion of universal gender difference.

The difference in hormones and physiology can preclude emotional communication due to the difference in gender. For instance, the aggressive behaviors displayed by males who are dominated by testosterone or who show nurturing behaviors would be displayed by females dominated by estrogen (Vongas et al., 2020). Despite the fact that biological factors are a huge input in the development process of gender, culture may override their impact in the end, showing the complex interrelations between nature and nurture in the shaping of gender.

Conclusively, media presentation of gender is of great deal importance to child development for many children. It acts as a guideline on gender-specific dos and don’ts and creates the basis of their social association. Even though there are some sex differences, the reality of upper-society pressures and culturally enforced rules significantly contribute to the stereotypical perceptions of genders. Eliminating these stereotypes is a crucial and essential part that needs to be handled to achieve equality between men and women, as well as the healthy development of children. Media depictions may be evaluated, and various gender representations can be supported for harmonious communication and improving an even society.

References

Cirillo, D., Catuara-Solarz, S., Morey, C., Guney, E., Subirats, L., Mellino, S., Gigante, A., Valencia, A., Rementeria, M. J., Chadha, A. S., & Mavridis, N. (2020). Sex and gender differences and biases in artificial intelligence for biomedicine and healthcare. NPJ Digital Medicine, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0288-5

Masi, G., Berloffa, S., Milone, A., & Brovedani, P. (2021). Social withdrawal and gender differences: Clinical phenotypes and biological bases. Journal of Neuroscience Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24802

Perry, D. G., Pauletti, R. E., & Cooper, P. J. (2019). Gender identity in childhood: A review of the literature. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(4), 289–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418811129

Thahirah, N. H. A., & Sobur, A. (2024). Kritik objektifikasi perempuan pada lirik lagu nxde karya (G)-IDLE. Bandung Conference Series: Communication Management, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.29313/bcscm.v4i1.12097

Thompson, B., Roberts, S. G., & Lupyan, G. (2020). Cultural influences on word meanings are revealed through large-scale semantic alignment. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0924-8

Vongas, J. G., Al Hajj, R., & Fiset, J. (2020). Leader emergence and affective empathy: A dynamic test of the dual-hormone hypothesis. PLOS ONE, 15(12), e0244548. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244548

Ward, L. M., & Grower, P. (2020). Media and the development of gender role stereotypes. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 2(1), 177–199. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010630

Yang, E., & Ryu, J. (2021). Do we perceive emotional gender gestures of virtual avatars as intended? International Journal for Educational Media and Technology, 15(1). https://ijemt.org/index.php/journal/article/view/24

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Gender Expression & Development
Using the Internet and the South University Online Library, review a variety of media characters, analyzing how male and female characters are portrayed. Media can be videos, cartoons, comic books, movies, etc. What are some common themes and characteristics in these portrayals? What messages do these send to young children about gender roles? Critically evaluate the scientific evidence for gender differences in a variety of areas such as social roles, cognitive abilities, education, self-esteem, and self-confidence.

Gender Expression and Development

In addition, address the following:

Emotional expression of gender: How did the social-cultural aspects of media, observational learning, and other factors influence your perception of gender-appropriate emotional expression?
Social expression or expectation of gender: Is there a difference between genders in terms of expression of responsiveness to babies or nurturance? Do we encourage little boys to express feelings aggressively and little girls to articulate and verbalize their emotions?
Geographic expression or expectation of gender: Are there differences within or across various cultures and geographical areas?
Personality expression of gender: What does personality have to do with the expression of emotions?
Physiologic expression of gender: How do hormones and physiological changes impact emotions?
Compile your responses in a 2-page Microsoft Word document. Cite all sources using APA format.