Discuss the process of gender socialization and identify specific ways in which peers contribute to the process

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Peers help children learn prevailing gender-role stereotypes, as well as gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate behavior. During the preschool years, same-sex peers have a powerful effect on how children see their gender roles; children are more socially acceptable to their peers when they conform to implicit societal norms governing the "appropriate" ways that girls and boys should act in social situations and what prohibitions exist in such cases.

Male peer groups place more pressure on boys to do "masculine" things than female peer groups place on girls to do "feminine" things. This distinction between the relative value of boys' and girls' behaviors strengthen the cultural message that masculine activities and behavior are more important and more acceptable. During adolescence, peers are often stronger and more effective agents of socialization than adults. Peers are thought to be especially important in boys' development of gender identity. Male bonding that occurs during adolescence is believed to reinforce masculine identity and to encourage gender-stereotypical attitudes and behavior. As young adults, men and women still receive many gender-related messages from peers.