Gender Identity and Socialization

The term gender identity generally refers to an individual's feelings of being a man or a woman; it is a self-identification of gender. Socialization is the process through which infants develop into mature adults by learning the norms and values of the society. Gender socialization represents the idea that gender is socially constructed and that individuals learn gender roles and develop gender identity through human interaction. Through gender socialization, social expectations about what are appropriate masculine and feminine behaviors are communicated to members of society. Socialization processes transmit definitions of proper gender roles to individuals and shape their relationships to others in society as well as understandings of their place in it.

Some scholars argue that gender socialization can act as a mechanism of social control which defines and sanctions behaviors and attitudes about gender. Gender norms guide and restrict people's understanding and actions about what it means to be a male or a female as defined by culture. Researchers have found that extreme pressure to conform to traditional gender norms results in negative consequences for both men and women in U.S. society. For instance, boys who display femininity are often subject to severe social sanctions to reinforce norms of heterosexual masculinity. Some scholars explain that this is due to the coercive system of homophobia, defined as the fear and hatred of homosexuality. For girls, traditional gender expectations are embodied in beauty myths and the normative ideal of a thin body. These rigid and forceful gender role expectations can lead to social problems. Researchers associate high mortality rates among men in U.S. society, and high depression and proliferation of dieting and eating disorders among women, with gender ideologies.